Insurers make it easier to join gym

JOIN THE CLUB: Bruce Cotta works out at the Newport YMCA, where he has a membership subsidized through Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s BlueCHIP program. / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCY
JOIN THE CLUB: Bruce Cotta works out at the Newport YMCA, where he has a membership subsidized through Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s BlueCHIP program. / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCY

Penny Phaneuf, 68, has been going to Gold’s Gym in East Greenwich for three years but this year, she’s only paying $5 a month.
Retired and in good health, Phaneuf is taking advantage of one of two programs offered by health insurers. At Gold’s Gym, it’s Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s BlueCHIP “Living Fit” program for Medicare members that subsidizes the cost of joining a gym. Gold’s membership plans range from $19.95 to $49.95, said Gold Gym Manager Richard Brodeur.
“We’re getting people that never would have joined a gym,” said Brodeur. “They see the value in it. They’re trying it and they like it.”
This year, the price dropped from a $15 copay to $5 for Medicare members aged 65 and older, and gyms and YMCAs whose patrons are taking advantage say that the BlueCHIP program and UnitedHealthcare’s comparable Silver Sneakers plan have boosted membership at their facilities. The Silver Sneakers plan has a $15 copay.
“I would go to a gym anyway, but this just makes it much more affordable,” said Phaneuf, who lives in Coventry.
Participation in gyms and YMCA programs by people 65 and older has been rising in the first few months of 2014, based in part on the availability of these programs, boosting business, owners and managers say.
Joseph Penrose, owner of 10 Anytime Fitness clubs in New England, including three in Rhode Island, said his gyms have been active in both the BlueCHIP and Silver Sneakers programs for about three years. The Rhode Island facilities are in Richmond, Narragansett and Smithfield.
“It’s offered our business to a different demographic that wouldn’t normally look into using a fitness facility,” said Penrose. “It’s just made that generation a little more aware of the benefits of working out. For people on fixed incomes, it’s made the investment a little more feasible for them. If you can have your insurance company subsidize it, it takes the excuse out of it.” “This year, we definitely have more senior citizens participating than last year,” said Jackie Erb, a manager at Anytime Fitness in Smithfield.
While the gym only had 11 BlueCHIP participants in 2013, there are already 22 this year, Erb said. The Silver Sneakers program has added 17 this year to the 43 participating last year, she said.
“Obviously, as the gym gets older it becomes a point of retaining members and evolving as you stay in business,” Erb said. “You see so many gyms go out because they don’t evolve. That’s why we absolutely love having senior citizens in the middle of the day when everybody is at work. And strength training helps lubricate joints.”
According to Kim Cormier, director of product marketing for Blue Cross, the “Living Fit” program has been in existence since 2004, but the $5 copay was introduced in January. People get access not only to equipment but to classes, she said.
Of the 44,965 enrolled Medicare Advantage members, most of whom are aged 65 or older and eligible to participate, 2,200 joined a gym or YMCA in 2013 compared with 3,700 who were participating in the first three months of 2014.
“Seniors are finding a lot more value in programs that keep them physically and socially active,” she said.
Apart from wellness benefits that help prevent illness, Blue Cross lowered the cost in order to be more competitive in the marketplace, Cormier said. New this year also is the participation of the Rhode Island YMCAs, which include facilities in Seekonk, and Mystic, Conn., she said.
“We wanted to make our overall Medicare portfolio more attractive to seniors,” she added. UnitedHealthcare has worked with Healthways, a health and well-being improvement company, since 2004 to offer the Silver Sneakers program to its Medicare Advantage members, said Maria Gordon Shydlo, director of public relations for UnitedHealthcare Northeast.
There are 22 coed facilities and nine CURVES locations across Rhode Island which participate in Silver Sneakers, Shydlo said. Newport members go to Atlantic Health & Fitness, she added.
About 25,000 UnitedHealthcare members are eligible to participate in the Silver Sneakers program, Shydlo said, but she could not provide the number of participants for 2013 or 2014.
In an emailed statement, Shydlo said the insurer offers the program because “UnitedHealthcare is committed to helping people live healthier lives – and exercise, health awareness and community involvement are all important components of good health.”
Catherine Taylor, director of the Division of Elderly Affairs within the R.I. Department of Human Services, said her agency could not provide statistics pertaining to participation in these programs. Nonetheless, the agency supports the initiatives as ways to keep seniors healthy and fit, and even as a way potentially to help ward off such catastrophic illnesses as Alzheimer’s disease.
“That’s another reason why we really push exercise, why the insurers are doing it,” Taylor said. “All the good things you do for your heart are also protective against the onset of Alzheimer’s. We want the plans to be as inexpensive as they can be for the beneficiary and the system as well. It’s a worthwhile trend. [Though] it’s hard to get people to the gym, it’s great for society: quality of life, the bottom line – it’s great for everything.” •

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