Silver Sneakers, the health and fitness program designed for adults 65+ that’s included with many Medicare Plans, will not be available at Tennessee YMCA’s beginning in 2020.
Silver Sneakers’ parent company Tivity Health and the YMCA have been in negotiations for months. The YMCA wanted to increase what Tivity pays for the memberships and Tivity says the Y is simply asking too much, in some cases an increase of 140%, reports News Channel 5.
missing or outdated ad configThe Tennessee Alliance with the YMCA released a statement about the split.
“Like a number of YMCAs across the nation, Tennessee’s YMCAs have been struggling to find ways to make the SilverSneakers® Fitness Program for seniors work with their individual membership pricing models. We have been negotiating for the past several months with the program’s for-profit provider, Franklin-based Tivity, for a more equitable reimbursement policy. While we had hoped we would be able to come to a satisfactory resolution, after Dec. 31, YMCAs in Tennessee will no longer participate in the SilverSneakers® program. While we’ve had a longstanding relationship with the program, what Tivity proposed in our negotiations is not sustainable for us as a non-profit organization. Seniors remain a vital part of our membership, and we are certainly not walking away from them.
Tennessee Ys are committed to continuing to serve seniors in our community, and we intend to provide a variety of options to allow participants to continue to come to the Y once our agreement with SilverSneakers ends at the end of 2019.
We do believe some of the information released by Tivity is very misleading, and in some cases inaccurate. For instance, we know of at least four YMCAs across the country who have left the program. Unfortunately due to the strict communications restrictions in our current contract, we cannot refute all the inaccuracies at this time. We can, however, assure seniors that 2020 prices and options for continuing to belong to the YMCA will be in place before Open Enrollment begins Oct. 15, and we remain committed to the same level of service, classes and activity offerings all seniors currently enjoy.”
Although the Tenn YMCA’s will no longer have a Silver Sneakers program, members can still utilize dozens of facilities that offer Silver Sneakers benefits.
In Williamson County, residents can take part in Silver Sneakers classes at their local rec center and at Franklin Athletic Club. Franklin Athletic Club is located at 112 Rand Pl in Franklin (in the Watson Glen Shopping Center) and offers Silver Sneakers classes, such as yoga and Silver Sneakers Classic, which is a variety of exercises designed to increase muscle strength, range of movement and activities for daily living using hand-held weights, elastic tubing with handles and a Silver Sneakers ball. Learn more here franklinathleticclub.com/group-fitness/silver-sneakers.
The Williamson County Parks and Rec department has rec centers throughout the county, offering yoga, water classes and Silver Sneakers Classic classes. Visit wcparksandrec.com to find a rec center near you.
