When you sign up for any healthcare plan, you generally pick the plan that offers you the benefits that you want. If you have pre-existing conditions and you can afford a plan that would cover those conditions, then you choose that plan for that reason.

As a senior, you may have other specific reasons for choosing a certain healthcare plan. If you are a diabetic, you choose a plan that covers your testing equipment. If you have a physical disability and need braces, walkers, etc., you choose a plan that covers those devices along with treatment.

A number of seniors have chosen healthcare plans that offer a program called SilverSneakers. According to their website:

“SilverSneakers is a FREE fitness program for seniors that’s helping millions of people on Medicare defy the odds, shatter stereotypes and answer every challenge with, ‘I can do this!’ SilverSneakers includes access to every participating gym and fitness center in the network. That’s a membership at more than 15,000 locations. We also offer fitness classes for all abilities led by our SilverSneakers trained instructors at gyms and other locations. So what are you waiting for?”

Any seniors are told that they need to be more active and fit. Women are told that regular resistance type exercises build up bone density and help offsets the possibility of developing osteoporosis. Some seniors even go to a gym not only to exercise and get healthier, but go with a group, making it a social gathering – a time to sweat and gossip.

If you are one of those seniors who chose a healthcare plan that offers SilverSneakers gym membership, how would you feel if you showed up at the gym one day only to be told that all SilverSneaker memberships had been cancelled?

John Garland Graves, 69, paid premiums for a healthcare plan through UnitedHealthCare that provided SilverSneaker gym memberships. When he showed up at the gym recently, he was told that as of January 1, his membership was being cancelled.

Graves, along with many seniors have been told the same thing – the benefit you have been paying for is being cancelled.

As reported:

“A controversial business decision by UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurance carrier, is causing the disruption. As of Jan. 1, the company is dropping SilverSneakers — an optional benefit — for 1.2 million customers with Medicare Advantage plans in 11 states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina and Utah) as well as 1.3 million customers with Medicare supplemental (Medigap) insurance in nine states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin)…”

“Starting next year, UnitedHealthcare will offer members a package of fitness and wellness benefits instead of paying to use SilverSneakers — a move that will give the company more control over its benefits and may save it money.”

“Seniors with UnitedHealthcare Medicare supplemental policies will get 50 percent off memberships at thousands of gyms across the country, telephone access to wellness coaches and access to various online communities and health-related resources. Those with Medicare Advantage policies can join Renew Active, UnitedHealthcare’s fitness program, with a network of more than 7,000 sites, at no cost, and qualify for an evaluation from a personal trainer and an online brain-training program, among other services.”

However, if you don’t have a UnitedHealthCare Medicare Advantage policy, you will lose your free SilverSneakers membership and then be offered a discount on another form of gym membership, all for the same premium you were paying before.

The decision is not sitting well with many seniors.