Treating loneliness as a health issue may encourage action while obscuring the broader social conditions behind it. Another analysis found that loneliness, social isolation, and living alone were each associated with about a 30% higher risk of dying prematurely. The financial consequences may also be substantial, with one study estimating that social isolation adds $6.7 billion to annual Medicare spending on older adults. When Hiltner entered graduate school to research isolation among older adults, she encountered clinical trials investigating a “loneliness pill.” Medicine did not claim loneliness firstHiltner also found that healthcare professionals did not initially seek responsibility for addressing loneliness.