United Healthcare Discontinuing Renew Active Benefit for AARP Medicare Advantage (PPO) Plan in 2027

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I live in Boise, Idaho, and currently have the “AARP Medicare Advantage from UHC ID-0001 (PPO)” plan from United Healthcare (UHC). I recently received an email from UHC with a link to the Annual Notice of Change 2027 document. As I started looking down and comparing the 2026 and 2027 plans, I noticed under “Fitness program” it shows “Covered” for 2026 and “Not covered” for 2027. Coincidentally, the local YMCA was holding a health fair for seniors this week and United Healthcare had a table there. I asked the woman at the table, who turned out to be the Market Growth Manager for our area, whether it was true that Renew Active would not be offered for my plan in 2027. She confirmed that it was true. She said that Renew Active WOULD be offered under the HMO version of my plan, but WOULD NOT be offered for the PPO version.

This makes no sense to me and just seems wrong! I use Renew Active to pay my YMCA membership and it is an important benefit to me. I assume UHC started this program with the intent of helping individuals stay healthy and fit to reduce healthcare costs. The UHC representative said I could switch to the HMO version of the plan and retain this benefit. But, I don’t want an HMO plan! I’m, for the most part, happy with the PPO plan I’ve had now for several years. I just want to retain my Renew Active benefit.

I found another topic on this forum: “AARP/UHC Renew Active change for 2025”. In that thread, a member provided the link below to file a grievance online with UHC. I just checked and the link is still valid. I intend to post a grievance on this matter and just wanted to give a heads up to others in the community who might not be aware of this change and may want to complain as well.

Submit an Appeal Online

https://memberforms.uhc.com/MR-AppealsandGrievance.html

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evrytan

Contributor ⭐⭐

I had AARP UnitedHealthcare all the past years, but I left them last year, they cut a lot of stuff and increased prices. There is no benefit to us from AARP to have UnitedHealthcare.

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TRL1111

Community Champion ⭐

There is for me.

I have an AARP/UHC Medigap supplement (not Advantage) that includes the Renew Active gym benefit. It’s the ONLY reason I have this particular supplement. Supplements generally don’t include gym benefits, so there’s not a huge number to pick from.

Renew Active is UHC’s proprietary gym benefit, and it has a bigger network than Silver Sneakers or Silver & Fit, and I go to some places that wouldn’t be available with those plans. So I’m sticking with it.

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evrytan

Contributor ⭐⭐

My wife had the AARP/UHC Medigap and she had the renew active, but they increased the price to $240 monthly, and she was able to switch to plan G HealthSpring, former Cigna, for $150 monthly, but this plan has no gym benefit too!

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RonaldC37525

Contributor ⭐

This is a dumb decision by management unless they would rather pay for treatment instead of prevention

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SusanG464031

Contributor ⭐

Oh no!!! Why would they do that??? Disappointed!!

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TRL1111

Community Champion ⭐

A lot of companies are dropping PPO plans, so maybe UHC thinks you should feel lucky to still be able to get one at all? Even then, the gym benefit is one of the hallmarks of Advantage plans, so this is significant. And if it’s like when UHC changed the Renew Active structure last year, to different gym networks for Advantage plans and for Medigap supplements, they’re going to be completely opaque about all of it.

I just looked at UHC Advantage plans in Boise (Ada County) and it says your premium is $44, but there’s a UHC PPO plan that’s $0. (Don’t know what any of it will be next year.) You’d have to do all the pertinent comparisons (network, etc.), but if you switched to that one then you could pay for your YMCA membership out of your own pocket and be about even.

Are you loyal to AARP/UHC? I see 4 other companies currently offering a PPO in Boise. (Could change for 2027, of course.) Renew Active is UHC’s own gym benefit, but the others probably have Silver Sneakers, and the Boise YMCA is in the Silver Sneakers network.

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SharonW187497Author

TRL1111, thank you for your comments. Yes, when I spoke with the UHC rep at the health fair about why this change was done, I got a somewhat vague response about research UHC had done regarding what was important to different customers on different plans.

We have evaluated the $0 UHC PPO plan and found the $44 plan meets our needs a little better. We are not absolutely loyal to AARP/UHC, but, for the most part, have had decent experience with them. Even though, each year, out of pocket expenses inch up. Surprisingly, premiums went down on medical to $33 for next year. We probably would not switch providers for the fitness benefit alone. I’ll probably bite the bullet and pay for the YMCA membership out of pocket. But, it was really disappointing and I feel it is important to let UHC hear from policyholders affected by their decisions. I filed a grievance on their website. I guess we’ll see if anything comes from it.

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TRL1111

Community Champion ⭐

We probably would not switch providers for the fitness benefit alone.

You definitely shouldn’t do that. But there are currently at least four other PPO plans available that might be an acceptable choice, and the fitness benefit could be a bonus. The fact that your premium went down bodes well for having a decent amount of choices in 2027.

I have Renew Active with my Medigap supplement, and I use it a lot because I travel fulltime and belong to a ton of different fitness locations. I am incentivized to go more than the average person because I feel like I’m voting in favor of having it every time I go through the door. And in my case, Renew Active is the ONLY reason I have the AARP/UHC supplement. If they drop that, I’m switching to a cheaper plan.

That said, I’m not sure I believe they researched what members of various types of plans want. I’m sure they prefer people to be in HMOs, and this might be a way to drive them over there.

And I’ll point out that in the Medigap arena, in some states every supplement that UHC offers comes with Renew Active. In fact in Texas, each plan they offered had a version that included wellness benefits and a version that didn’t, and they recently stopped offering the one that didn’t. So they’re expanding Renew Active availability there.

FWIW, I don’t know if the thread you found talked about the petition about the changes a couple of years ago, but as far as I know, UHC never reacted or responded to it. However, that petition didn’t accurately state the facts--it said Renew Active was dropping YMCA from the program, and that was not the case. From your post, I’m assuming your comment to UHC will be of higher quality, and I’ll be interested to hear if UHC responds.

SummerOnTheWay1

[Wednesday 9/23/26 3:30am ET]

Sharon @SharonW187497 , I am NOT looking forward to 2027 in regards to Medicare. Between the "expected" program CHANGES (more money from us) & more doctors "opting" out of it 😱 - I am just HOPING to be able to "survive" the year at age 68. Lost my 1st Medicare Primary Doctor, on my 2nd. HOPE he sticks around. 🤞 I am in Virginia. Thanks for sharing with us, Nicole!

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