How The Rich Stay Healthy

How The Rich Stay Healthy

Liz Moyer, 10.03.07, 12:00 PM ET
FORBES

Botox. Blood filtering. Personal physicians on call. When you're rich, there's no end to what you can buy to look younger and live longer.

If the rich have anything in common with normal people, it's that health is a primary concern. And from the looks of a survey by Prince & Associates, a Connecticut firm that tracks the habits and morays of the rich, their health concerns seem to match those of the general population. The biggest worry cited by those with over $1 million in assets: accidents, followed by cancer and heart disease.

But priorities differ between the "super rich" ($10 million or more in net worth) and the merely rich ($1 million to $10 million). Super rich people care more, across the board.

Wealthier people, for example, are nearly twice as likely to fret about mental health. Maybe they've been watching too many old movies with batty old matrons. They're also more worried about heart disease, cancer, viral and bacterial illness and accidents.

Russ Alan Prince surveyed 431 individuals with net worths of at least $1 million; about a third of those with assets over $10 million. Of the total sample, 36% said accidents were their main concern, followed by cancer (27%), and heart disease (21%).

Prince says it's true that money means longevity. The rich can afford good insurance, preventative care and exotic treatments, after all.

How exotic? How about filtering the blood to rid the body of toxins (the stuff of rock star legends)? The procedure is similar to blood dialysis, in which the blood passes through a filter that removes toxins. The cost of a typical first dialysis treatment is at least $2,000. (Note: The federal government picks up 80% of the tab for people who need dialysis for medical reasons.) There's no saying how much a Swiss clinic for super rich celebrities might charge for such a procedure.

Plastic surgery and other cosmetic treatments are much more common. Almost half the people in the Prince & Associates survey said they'd had plastic surgery in the last two years. Again, the percentages skew higher for the super rich. Of those with more than $10 million in assets, 58% have had plastic surgery, and 81% say they will have it in the next two years.

In contrast, 42% of those with between $1 million and $10 million have had surgery, and 54% say they plan to have it in the next two years.

Lasers and injectible cosmetic treatments like Botox, Restalin and Juvaderm are increasingly popular alternatives to going under the knife, says Ken Beer, a Florida dermatologist to the rich, but these are still out of reach financially for most people.

New laser treatments, for example, using state of the art equipment to resurface facial and other skin, costs between $3,000 and $6,000 for a series of sessions. The injectibles Botox and Restalin can cost $700 a needle, and most patients need several needles in one visit for their treatments. Injectibles patients also require twice-yearly touch-ups.

Another popular treatment is earlobe restructuring--those diamonds can get heavy, pulling your lobes out of shape. This treatment, also using injectibles, runs about $700 to $1500.

The traditional facelift costs about $6,000, depending on the extent of the "renovation," Beer says. And once healed from the surgery, many patients are referred for injectible treatments as "maintenance."

It's no wonder Beer and his peers are flocking to conventions to learn about the latest treatments--he's got people jetting into Palm Beach from all over the country to get stuck with needles. The treatments "are so good," he says, "if you have the access and the money, the results are amazing."

http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/10/03/millionaires-health-botox-biz-cx_lm_1003richhealth.html