Silver Sneakers being droped by AARP recommended insurer

[ls63763447]

I just found out that the new program offering of paying 50% of the monthly gym fee at participating facilities only affects those who are paying a hefty premium. Those with AARP UHC Advantage or Complete include UHC’s new fitness program called Renew Active (replacing Optum and Silver Sneakers) for FREE!  Why the discrimination?

[DeborahP259503]

I sent an email to AARP member relations expressing my disappointment. I received a canned response stating not enough people were using Silver Sneakers. Why is that a problem for them? Wouldn't that save them money? Do they think more people will use the option that costs them extra money every month? I'm sure it all comes down to $, but I fail to understand how too few people using the free Silver Sneakers benefit leads to a decision to offer another program that is not free.

[John85259]

Gail, thanks for the info.  My case may be somewhat special because I knew where I wanted to go for my healthcare needs and selected a policy with that constraint in mind.  The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale is 2 miles from my house and AARP/United Healthcare Plan F will cover all costs associated with the clinic and the Mayo Clinic Hospital in north Phoenix, which is a little bit further away.  I know several people who have had very good service from the Mayo Clinic and all of their costs were covered by AARP-United Healthcare Plan F.  I've used them in the past for annual checkups and that sort of thing and was satisfied with them.  I don't see changing from Plan F any time soon, but I suppose anything can happen.

As mentioned by others, at the time I was looking for insurance a factor (not the only factor, but one of them) in my selection was whether they participated in SilverSneakers.  My friends good experience with AARP-United Healthcare and their good prices and participation in SilverSneakers made it a no-brainer to choose AARP-United Healthcare.  Just to be sure, I called AARP-United Healthcare and talked with them about their plans and confirmed that Plan F will cover everything at the Mayo Clinic that Medicare doesn't.

Unfortunately, I failed to ask them if they were planning to ditch SilverSneakers in the near future.  They had offered SilverSneakers for quite a while and there was no indication that things would change, but the world is a dynamic place.

Funny thing is that chances are good that I'll spend many more hours each year using SilverSneakers at a local fitness center than I'll spend being poked and prodded at the Mayo Clinc.  So, the benefit from AARP-United Healthcare that I would use the most won't be available next year.

I wonder if their next step will be to reduce their coverage of medical care at Mayo Clinic?  It seems unlikely, but that's what I thought about SilverSneakers.

A customer's trust is easy to lose and very difficult to regain, something the bureaucratic mind may not fully appreciate.

[sr81611793]

I also am in AZ. In addition to losing Silver Sneakers, my premium went up $20 a month. My agent believes she will be able to find another policy (plan F) cheaper with the gym membership included.

Money talks and I will definitely go with the cheaper plan even though I have had UHC for the last 10 years.

[WilliamB727582]

We obviously know that Silver Sneakers is provided as an extra benefit. 

You are missing the point.

AARP is supposed to be looking out for MEMBERS.  If UHC would rather replace Silver Sneakers with it's own inferior program, that's their business,  BUT AARP should be actively looking to endorse a plan that does not drop Silver Sneakers, or DEMAND that UHC keep the program.  

AARP gets a whopping financial benefit from UHC and is ignoring the needs of it's members as a result.  

There is a happy middle.  Grandfather in participating members in Silver Sneakers and promote UHC's new program to others.  UHC's program will never measure up to Silver Sneakers and given a choice to remain with them or seek our a plan that includes Silver Sneakers is a no brainer for those who are enjoying Silver Sneakers.

AARP should not put it's members in that position.  Do your job and represent your members AARP.  It's the right thing to do.

[dadbro]

Gail,you sound like you are an employee of uhc or aarp"...........or at least you are defending the decision to drop silver sneakers.   Not sure which

[ls63763447]

Very well said.  I suspect the Healthyourways.com website was initiated by millennials and I doubt they gave any consideration to the needs of the Seniors they supposedly serve. All they care about is increasing their bottom line. 

[GailL1]

@John85259

There is never any assurance that ANY EXTRA BENEFIT remains connected to 

ANY Medigap policy.  EXTRA Benefits in a Medigap policy are written with disclaimers.

Many of the (state specific) prospectuses for
AARP Medicare Supplement Plans insured by UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company

Contain(ed) the following language when any of these (and other) EXTRA bendefits are covered -
SILVERSNEAKERS®
AARP ® VISION DISCOUNTS
NURSE HEALTHLINE

This Disclaimer is also included:
These are additional insured member services apart from the AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan benefits, are not insurance programs, are subject to geographical availability, and may be discontinued at any time.

So make sure you read the small print especially for Medicare Supplemental (Medigap) plans offered by any insurer.

Medigap (Medicare Supplemental) policies are ONLY GAP insurance - nothing more.  If they offer any EXTRA benefits, they are doing it to entice you to pick their plan.  But those EXTRA benefits are not covered in the actual Medigap policy and thus are illusive and can be cancelled at any time.

if you want an assurance (For at least a year) of specific types of benefits being included, then you have to pick a Medicare Advantage plan.  A Medicare Advantage plan are actual Medicare benefits just covered in a different way.   A Medicare Advantage plan takes the place of traditional Medicare - Medigap policies ONLY work with traditional Medicare because it is not full coverage - only gap insurance.  Medicare Advantage plans are full Medicare coverage just in a different way than traditional Medicare.

A beneficiary can change their Medicare Advantage plan EVERY year during open enrollment for any reason -'health reasons, extra benefits offered, SilverSneakers program offered one year and something else the next year.

A beneficiary can change to any Medicare Advantage plan they want that is offered in their area EVERY YEAR during open enrollment for any reason.

So if you or anybody else want access to certain extra benefits, you might want to sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan - that way, on a yearly basis you can chase the benefits that you want from plan to plan but don't forget about evaluating the important medical coverage stuff too.

[John85259]

I'm in Arizona and have AARP-United Healthcare Plan F.  I turned 65 in September and SilverSneakers was a big factor in choosing AARP-United Healthcare.  Less than a month later I received a letter in the mail (dated Sept 21, 2018) saying that they are offering "More services and a dedicated team to work with you!" and later it states that SilverSneakers will not be offered in 2019.  There's additional babble that presents the possibility of a 50% discount at participating fitness centers.  I fail to the the benefit in a relationship like this.

The SilverSneakers website lists the insurance companies that will participate in SilverSneakers in 2019 and here's what's on their list:

AARP-United Healthcare

Aetna

CareMore Health

Bankers Life

Humana

United Healthcare

I emailed them and mentioned that I had received a letter from AARP-United Healthcare saying they won't be offereing SilverSneakers in 2019.  I then asked them to confirm that AARP-United Healthcare will be offered in 2019 and to give me a complete list of the companies that will participate in SilverSneakers in 2019.  I hope to hear from them soon.

Aetna has a document with their prices on their website.  In my case they are more expensive than AARP-United Healthcare next year.  Humana has a worksheet that you can go through and get prices for their policies.  They are are also more expensive than AARP-United Healthcare in 2019.

I haven't worked through the other companies yet to see what they will charge.

All of this is very disappointing.  I spent quite a bit of time working through the insurance options and was pleased with my final choice of AARP-United Healthcare.  Now I'm starting the search all over again.

It's likely that not enough people will complain and eventually leave AARP-United Healthcare to motivate them to go back to SilverSneakers, but it's worth poking at them and see if they'll see the error in their ways.

Worse is that many people chose AARP-United Healthcare partially as a result in their participation in SilverSneakers.  We trusted AARP-United Healthcare to be consistent in what they offer, and if any changes were made it would be transparent to us (no change in cost or facilities we could use).  This was not the case.  They have removed a key feature of the insurance policy they offer and replaced it with something that is more expensive and has less features.  For example, I could go to any fitness center in the country that particates in SilverSneakers and this might be handy for someone to avoids the hot summers in Arizona by going somewhere else in the country.  Now it's not so easy because the number of facilities availabe to me is likely to be much less than it used to be.

It makes you wonder what is going through the minds of the people at AARP-United Healthcare.  Did they just come up with a half-baked plan that costs more and offers less and think people wouldn't notice?  Do they just not care whether we noticed or not?  Did they not think of the impact this would have on people who thought their trust in AARP-United Healthcare was well placed?

This smells of bureaucratic indifference coupled with the desire to save money.  Maybe it won't be a big deal to AARP-United Healthcare whether a small percentage of their customers take their business elsewhere.  But it's a big deal to a lot of people.  It appears that our trust has been misplaced.

[Zaq12ws]

Connecticut Plan N