Exclusive | Welcome to the Erewhon-ification of medicine where health is the hottest status symbol (but you CAN get it for less)

In a world of $160,000 “human optimization devices,” $10,000-per week wellness retreats and $22 collagen smoothies at upscale LA grocery store Erewhon, longevity has become not just a goal but a wealth-coded aesthetic.Health is now not just maintained, but curated and signaled.Interventions that once required prescriptions are now accessible via subscriptions and disposable income.Full-body MRI scans are booked effortlessly.

IV nurses make house calls.Red light panels glow inside private homes.

Peptides come with applications and waiting lists.It’s the “Erewhon-ification” of health care: Medicine is folded into the lifestyle economy, and access and image matter equally as much as the outcomes.That’s made it big business — and more and more companies are making pricey treatments, tests and tools increasingly more accessible to the masses.Medicine used to be largely reactive — when something was wrong, you went to a doctor.But the pandemic accelerated a shift towards proactive prevention that has moved beyond the clinic.“Instead of waiting to feel unwell, people are asking how to protect their energy and long-term health,” longevity expert Dr.

Michael Sagner told The Post.He describes this as P4 medicine: preventive, predictive, personalized and participatory care.But that preventive impulse hasn’t remained inside traditional health care.

It’s flourished inside a parallel ecosystem powered by venture capital, influencer marketing and advanced technology.“They cross paths in products and services, but this is a completely different model,” says Dr.Fady Hannah-Shmouni, the medical director of Eli Health.Prevention is no longer simply medical.

It is styled, packaged and sold. This new mindset has created a consumer movement built around upgrading your body — and within that, a subtle but powerful class distinction has emerged, with some receiving supervised, discreet access to advanced or experimental interventions.The global wellness ...