MidwestMedicare
New Member
- 17
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.
YMCA leaving Silver Sneakers 1/1/2025
- Thread starter MidwestMedicare
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Dutch
Expert
- 47
Not sure how it works, but our local YMCA has not been part of the Silver Sneakers program for at least 6 years!
- 2,155
Ours has not been either and I don't know if our local had ever been.
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
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
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.
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
Guru
- 341
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.
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
Guru
- 341
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.
I just looked at the rates for the YMCA near Chicago that dropped Renew Active. An adult is $53/month, and a senior is $47/month. That doesn't seem all that high. Plus they're one of the very few places I go to that have towel service.
I do wish Silver Sneakers and Renew Active were more transparent about how they pay the gyms. I always assumed I just got a monthly membership, and SS or RA paid for it, probably at a discounted rate. But how it works is that the gym gets paid every time someone with a SS/RA membership goes to the gym. So the more often I go, the more the gym makes. Since I know that, if I'm just wanting a shower after working out somewhere that doesn't have showers, I'd rather line a YMCA's pockets than a Crunch. And if I knew how much Renew Active pays every time I go somewhere just to take a shower, it's possible I might think, "Eh, I can stand to be dirty until I get home."
But I had to dig for what little I do know, and I had to get lucky sometimes in what got revealed to me. I still don't know what they pay Club Pilates every time I go. Someone on Reddit who works at a Club Pilates claimed it was close to the drop-in rate (usually around $40), and I find that very very very very very hard to believe.
The membership guy at a YMCA once told me that Renew Active pays them every time a member goes, but it's capped at five per month, so if someone goes six or more times, the Y doesn't get paid for those.
