Wellness

[smoky22]

I saw the post about Medicare Advantage Plans and I was hoping someone would mention the Silver Sneakers benefit. My current plan (United Health Care) has a Silver Sneakers rider that costs me $15/month. There is no premium (except the regular medicare charge) so I only pay for the Silver Sneakers rider. They are not offering the Silver Sneakers benefit next year so I'm going to change plans. Does anyone know if there is a way to just get Silver Sneakers without it being tied to a Medicare Advantage Plan?

[chrystaltree]

Oh...please.... now you gotta tell us what ""silver sneakers"" refers to.

[smoky22]

On 10/3/2014 chrystaltree said:

Oh...please.... now you gotta tell us what "silver sneakers" refers to.

Oh, sorry, I thought anyone who was familiar with Medicare Advantage Plans would know about Silver Sneakers. It's a fitness program for seniors and I have only seen it offered in conjunction with a Medicare Advantage Plan. Since my Insurance Plan is dropping this fitness benefit for next year, I wondered if there was a way to sign up directly with Silver Sneakers. When I looked on their website, it didn't appear to be so.

[terrier3]

Silver Sneakers is either a free or a reduced cost health club membership subsidized by the Advantage plan carrier.

At the beginning, when Advantage plans were given extra money by the gvt. - it was an experiment to prove that in the free marketplace, the insurance companies would compete for business and lower premiums. The powers that be in DC thought that private companies could provide health services more affordably than Medicare.

Silver Sneakers, dental, eyecare, message, acupuncture, etc. were added, using that extra money, to make the plans popular.

Unfortunately, after many years - I think over 15 years - Advantage plans STILL cost more than the gvt. administered Medicare.

Silver Sneakers plans are going away...plus a lot of gyms don't want to participate anymore either.

[DoneTryin]

I was going to suggest that you check with your local YMCA, but then I just checked the membership rates in my neighborhood & it's $43/month, triple what you're paying now for Silver Sneakers. If you live in a large metropolitan area, you might trying checking around for senior centers that may offer fitness programs at reasonable rates. Good luck!

[dubll2011]

All Highmark BC-BS plans offer it in Southwestern PA as well as a few others. Both advantage and gap supplements. I have SS with my retired teacher's insurance. It is a supplement plan not an advantage. I'd look around to all plans in your area.

[Kachina624]

I have an Advantage plan that includes Silver Sneaker but I've never used it. In lieu of this coverage, why can't you just join a health club? I see Planet Fitness advertising use of their facilities for $10/mo.

[smoky22]

Thanks to all for the replies. I like Silver Sneakers because there are classes associated with it for older people. I know the YMCA has those classes because I used to belong. Yes, they are expensive. In fact, probably one of the most expensive gym memberships but they do have a lot to offer. Unfortunately where I live now, there is not one convenient to me.

The other thing I like about Silver Sneakers is that, in my area, there are 3 different fitness centers that allow me to use my silver sneakers membership. One of them has a pool and another one has great classes. I need the classes that are geared to people with less flexibility.

I have the Medicare And You booklet and will check to see if there's still an affordable plan that offers Silver Sneakers.

[jlkz]

I have Silver Sneakers and use both: the pool at one sports club and the gym at a 24- hour place as well as at Curves. Since Curves moved, I no longer go there. SS sends you a quarterly chart showing how often you used SS and then compares your data to other SS users.

[151949]

Last year we had silver sneakers with our United health care advantage plan PPO - they dropped it for this year and when we asked how to get silver sneakers they said if we changed to the HMO it was still included. Sadly, for us, because we snowbird home to Pa half the year , we NEED to have a PPO so we were not able to get the silver sneakers. We now have to pay $47 each per month for our YMCA membership.