YMCA leaving Silver Sneakers 1/1/2025

[MidwestMedicare]

Just got word from my upline that Silver Sneakers will be losing YMCA from their network on 1/1/2025! Press release should be going out shortly.

 

[Dutch]

Just got word from my upline that Silver Sneakers will be losing YMCA from their network on 1/1/2025! Press release should be going out shortly.

Not sure how it works, but our local YMCA has not been part of the Silver Sneakers program for at least 6 years!

 

[bluediamond]

Not sure how it works, but our local YMCA has not been part of the Silver Sneakers program for at least 6 years!

Ours has not been either and I don't know if our local had ever been.

 

[GoPokes]

Wow. I am curious as to why. The most obvious answer is money, guessing silver sneakers doesnt pay the full membership price, and likely isnt adjusting for inflation.

This is a win for UHC Renew Active.

I dont remember what carrier rep I talked to about it, about getting the silver sneakers as a medigap incentive, and she said NO they require a HUGE fee and we dont have enough beneficiaries to do it

 

[Midlevel]

Each YMCA seems to run their own way so imagine it’s still just up to each one to accept SS or not. Ours has many SS classes and advertises them. The director told me they get a small payment when someone scans their card each time. For the ones who don’t go they don’t get anything which they wouldn’t if they didn’t accept SS either bc they aren’t members.

 

[sman]

Just got word from my upline that Silver Sneakers will be losing YMCA from their network on 1/1/2025! Press release should be going out shortly.

My local Y hasn’t ever been part of Silver Sneakers. My wife used to be on the board. We were at a dinner with the director and other board members. I decided to ask the director why. He said he’d have to hire another person just to manage it and it would be a loss.

Ironically, they have been part of UHC’s Renew Active for a few years now.

 

[MedicareWAA]

Just got word from my upline that Silver Sneakers will be losing YMCA from their network on 1/1/2025! Press release should be going out shortly.

This is hard to believe, and there’s no press release. YMCA is the most utilized SS provider in many very large markets. Sounds like you heard a rumor about a market, not the entire country.

 

[dabsmith]

Sounds like you heard a rumor about a market, not the entire country.

I bet that's the case.

I travel fulltime and I've used my UHC Renew Active to join probably a dozen YMCAs across the country. I always find them through the Renew Active website, so I wouldn't necessarily know if there's one that doesn't take Renew Active.

However, it's clear they act independently. The YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, DC, quit participating with Renew Active on 1-1-24. A YMCA west of Chicago quit participating in May 2024. So for Renew Active, anyway, each YMCA chooses whether to participate or not.

Actually, I found this letter by a disgruntled YMCA that talks about their separation from Silver Sneakers, which according to the letter happened during the pandemic,

ymcasuperiorcal.org/silver-sneakers-letter

And here's one where a YMCA dropped Silver Sneakers effective 1-1-24.

bathymca.org/reminder-silver-sneakers-transition/

This supports what others have said--that individual YMCAs choose whether to participate in Silver Sneakers.

 

[MedicareWAA]

However, it's clear they act independently.

Yes! Took me a long time to understand this. A little like a franchise, but where the franchisor gives them a lot of leeway on how they run the locations.

In many cases, they also charge different membership fees, even in the same market. Spoiler alert: The prices are always too high.