-----Original Message-----
From: Hans J Matanovic [mailto:matanohj@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 2:51 PM
To: Bijwaard Gerard ((Gerry))
Cc: Neuhaus Fritz/Liz
Subject: "Silversneaker" Fitness Club membership free

Gerry, last week Tuesday meeting someone mentioned that those of us who have Medicare Supplement insurance through AARP can have through the Silversneaker Program free membership in some participating  local fitness clubs, with the YMCA being one of them.  (That is indeed a great value/ lot of money saved, since e.g. a senior member would pay 52$ a month.

I followed that up with Silversneaker and it is indeed true that your standard medicare supplement F of a certain (single) company in each state, with which Silversneakers made such a deal, gives you this benefit.  Again apparently they did that in every state though with one medicare supplement  company only, not with all and any insurer. So I found, that Anthem, my supplier is not part of that deal.
I followed further up with Anthem then and found that Anthem offer extra insurance plans to us in addition to e.g. the standard F supplement plan, like a dental, a vision and other benefit plans, like for travel emergencies etc. These are offered in package plans, and there are 3 tiers of those, two of which include also the Silversneaker fitness plan participation/benefit I was describing above.
Bottom line if one subscribes to what is called Anthem Extra Plan Premium or Premium Plus level,  typically the fitness club membership is included for free for a participating club in your area, the local YMCA being one of them.
The Premium tier costs 37/month and the Premium Plus level costs 57/month, and that is total for all benefit plans (dental, vision…, silver sneaker…. ). The 52$ for the Y MCA is paid for  and thus a neat windfall. Or looked at the other way, one pays for the YMCA and has the dental/vision plan benefits for free.

If you think it is worthwhile, you may want to broadcast this.

Hans

P.S.: BTW, I verified that the RAC (Carillon Wellness Center) in Roa is not one of the Silversneaker program participating club members. So no membership waiver there, but, yes, free YMCA membership available. Have not checked any of the others in the area, but I think a Silversneaker website has a list. hjm