Risk Never Sleeps Podcast: Episode #190

The Billion-Person Plan to Make Longevity Accessible and Affordable

Date: January 15, 2026
Host: Ed Gaudet
Guest: Hunter Ziesing, Co-founder and Head of Partnerships, Longevity Health

Episode Overview

In this episode, Ed Gaudet is joined by Hunter Ziesing of Longevity Health to discuss their bold vision: making longevity services accessible and affordable for a billion people. The conversation covers Hunter’s journey from Wall Street to healthcare, Longevity Health’s three-prong approach to personalized longevity, the transformative role of AI in healthcare, and Hunter’s mission to drive behavior change at global scale.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Hunter’s Personal Journey to Healthcare

• Background: Hunter shares how personal losses (his father and five friends to preventable diseases) and a passion for health, wellness, and extreme sports led him from a Wall Street career to founding a cancer awareness foundation and, ultimately, to Longevity Health (00:43 – 02:23).
• Coaching Spirit: Hunter talks about running boot camps and being direct with friends about health, linking this to his company’s approach—providing clear, actionable plans for change (01:45 – 02:23).

The Longevity Health Approach

Three-Pronged Model (03:35 – 04:35)

1. Premium Longevity Clinics
   • Digital clinics offering comprehensive health and longevity testing similar to brick-and-mortar competitors, but fully online and at about one-third the price—$11,000/year.
2. Longitudinal, Personalized Data
   • Each client receives six core tests (DEXA scan, comprehensive blood work, sleep study, glucose monitoring, gut biome test, and sometimes genomics) plus detailed lifestyle evaluation.
   • A “personal longevity board”—physician, clinician, nutritionist, and exercise physiologist—supports each client via Slack, delivering accountability and a tailored action plan.
3. AI-Powered Expansion
   • The goal is to use AI to drop the cost from $11,000 to $1,000/year in the near term, and eventually down to $5–$10/month, aiming for a billion global users (05:14 – 06:24).

Notable Quotes

• On the myth of one-and-done health fixes:

  “We think you need a lot more data, and you need a lot of subjective data. It comes down to the, ‘Why are you? What’s going on in your life? What do you want to change?’”
  — Hunter Ziesing (04:36)

Demo: Longevity Health’s Platform in Action

Features and Functionality (07:17 – 10:05)

• Unified Health Dashboard: Clients can chat 24/7 with clinicians, access and store all health records (labs, scans, VO2 max, etc.), and use an AI “virtual doctor”.
• Human-in-the-Loop AI: The AI agent (“Jeffrey”) can pull up and analyze health records, offer action steps, and summarize every conversation with a follow-up email and plan revision.
• Current Limitations: AI doesn't act fully autonomously due to regulatory realities and the need to avoid “hallucination.” Doctors review every AI-generated recommendation.

Memorable Demo Exchange

• Hunter (09:08):

  “Hey, do me a favor. Just pull up my blood work really quick and tell me if there’s anything I should be thinking about with respect to my vitamin D and my creatine.”

• AI Agent “Jeffrey” (09:30):

  “Your BUN to creatinine ratio was elevated at 26...focus on aggressive hydration…”

• Hunter (10:05):

  “Anyway, you get the idea. It’s still a bit wonky. It’s not hallucinating… Beta test voice engine has some latency.”

Vision: Universal, Affordable Longevity

• Hunter’s Billion-Person Plan:

  • "Our plan down the road is to replace your primary doctor for $10 a month. That’s the plan for a billion users, and it’ll be $5 a month for your employer. It’ll be free with Medicare if you’re over 65." (06:14)
  • AI-driven care will one day become the front line for personal health management, with the system owning and controlling user data rather than third parties.

• Behavioral Change through Gamification and Social Incentives (10:09 – 13:58)

  • The plan includes gamification (social clubs, challenges, rewards), and real-world incentives (such as healthy food discounts).
  • “You need to give people the tools and the social stuff to motivate them… It needs to remind you, like, ‘Hey, Hunter, get off your fat ass…’” (12:29)

Insightful Reflection

• On U.S. health challenges:

  “People say they don’t care about health. They do care… They don’t have the tools, they don’t have the money and they don’t have the support.”
  — Hunter Ziesing (13:18)

Personal Reflections, Motivation, and Fun

Hobbies and Passions (14:03 – 14:22)

• Cycling and bike racing remain a core personal pursuit for Hunter.
• He also rebuilds historical barns with salvaged materials.

Lightning Round—Music, Regret, and Risk

• Albums for a Desert Island:

  • Eat a Peach (Allman Brothers)
  • Frampton Comes Alive
  • Rumours (Fleetwood Mac)
  • Live at Fillmore East (Allman Brothers)
  • Terrapin Station (Grateful Dead) (15:01 – 15:39)

• Riskiest Thing:

  • Emergency airplane landing with his family after a fueling error, followed by persuading his wife to get back in the plane—“the next riskiest thing” (17:34 – 18:49).

• Bucket List:

  • Fly around the world in a small plane.
  • Marathon in every country (inspired by his friend Dean Karnazes).
  • Most of all: “I really want to change the nature of preventive health for the planet. That’s what I’m trying to do now. That’s my legacy. This isn’t a money thing for me…” (19:03 – 19:35)

Quotes That Capture the Episode

• On AI’s Current Situation:

  “AI is still going to medical school right now. It’s in residency.”
  — Hunter Ziesing (05:40)

• On the future of health data ownership:

  “Every human on the planet on our platform will control and own all their data. Not EPIC, not Oura Ring, not LabCorp. It’s your data.”
  — Hunter Ziesing (11:35)

• On the fundamental challenge to healthcare:

  “The problem is not funding. The problem is changing behavior, changing the food supply, changing the drug system… It just pains me to see people walking around unhealthy. That’s what I want to change.”
  — Hunter Ziesing (19:30)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:43 – Hunter's personal health story and entry into healthcare
• 03:35 – Overview of Longevity Health’s three-prong approach
• 05:14 – Vision for AI-driven, super-affordable longevity care
• 07:17 – Live demo of Longevity Health platform and AI assistant
• 10:09 – How automation & AI update care plans and insights
• 12:29 – Behavioral change: gamification, tools, and social clubs
• 13:58 – How health apps and gamification changed Ed’s behavior
• 14:03 – Hunter’s personal hobbies and passions
• 15:01 – Desert island records
• 17:34 – Riskiest moments and bucket list dreams
• 19:03 – Hunter’s personal legacy and change for global health

Episode in a Sentence:
Hunter Ziesing’s mission is to democratize longevity by harnessing technology—AI, data, and behavior science—to crush the barriers of access, affordability, and motivation, empowering individuals to thrive for decades longer.