Highmark offers older customers way to stay fit
At 72, Bethelboro resident Sara Halt has never had a health problem requiring continued medication. “I think this is helping me stay that way,’ Halt said of a program offered by health insurer Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield at Uniontown Area YMCA.
Called “SilverSneakers Fitness Program,’ Highmark provides it as a benefit for its customers.
Highmark’s goal is to help its older customers stay fit and, in the process, reduce their need for medical treatment, thereby cutting health care spending.
“It’s important to understand the business strategy here. We focus on the strategies that reduce the prevalence and cost of preventable conditions. We want our customers to know that,’ Dave Ritter, account manager, for HealthCare Dimensions Inc., which operates SilverSneakers, said.
He explained that Silver Sneakers is a physical activity, lifestyle and socially oriented program designed to encourage Medicare-eligible members to increase their levels of physical activity and to stay active.
Healthcare Dimensions is a national company that promotes health through physical activity programs and venues. The company manages and sells its programs to health insurance companies such as Highmark and other large consumer groups. Many of its programs are targeted to specific populations, such as the SilverSneakers Fitness Program to older adults.
Highmark decided to offer it as a benefit to members of its Security Blue, Medigap Blue and Freedom Blue, its health insurance plans for those 65 and older. “SilverSneakers started as kind of an inspirational program,’ Anna Silverman, vice president, division of preventative health services for Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, said.
“It began as a model for senior fitness,’ she said, adding that Mary Swanson, a CEO in the health care field, created the program after her father suffered a heart attack. Part of his treatment was to exercise.
What she learned in the process was that many elderly people do not have the resources to pay for fitness center services, Silverman said.
“Seniors also want to be part of a group, and we found that 60 percent of our members have never had a membership in a fitness center in their life,’ Silverman said.
“What Swanson wanted to do was partner with health plans to eliminate those barriers and have the health plans offer that benefit so they could come for free and be part of a group and be comfortable,’ Silverman added.
Highmark got involved, Silverman said, because “they felt it was the right thing to do for its members.’ They signed on in January 2004.
“It’s been a wonderful success. In our first year we signed up about 27,000 in all of Pennsylvania. There are about 309,000 members who are eligible.
“We are very proud of our members. We sent them information by mail and they got excited about it and tried it out.
“It has improved people’s health and social well-being also,’ Silverman said.
Barbara Herring, SilverSneakers fitness instructor at the Uniontown YMCA, said there are more than 460 people eligible to participate in the program in this region. “About half of them come in each month.’
The YMCA offers SilverSneakers classes during the week, and participants can use the other services at the facility.
“After you have started and gotten going you just feel a lot better,’ Stan Burns, 66, a retired band instructor from Lake Lynn, said.
“I’m trying to get here at least three times a week. I feel better, have more stamina. It’s a wonderful facility.’
Herring said those who opt to use the exercise equipment at the YMCA are instructed in its use.
John Renne, 78, a retired newspaper production manager who lives in Uniontown, said that if he can “do this at my age, I’m doing pretty good. I still have my aches and pains but I enjoy the classes. I walk on a treadmill at home every day and I come here at least five days a week.’
Silverman said Highmark offers its older members “a basic membership at any fitness center in our network at no additional cost to their premium. Anything that is over and above they would have to pay for, for instance personal training or tanning.
“In the SilverSneaker classes, members do not have to take them to participate. They can choose to do other things at the fitness center,’ Silverman said.
Uniontown YMCA is the only center in Highmark’s network in Fayette County.
“For a fitness center to participate it must have a group exercise base that can help our class. It must also have handicap access and a place where seniors would feel comfortable. We like to partner with one fitness center in each community. Uniontown YMCA is the only one in Fayette County. We would like to add more fitness centers but don’t feel there are others in Fayette that meet the criteria,’ Silverman said.
Herring said response at the local ‘Y’ has been “fantastic.
“All of the comments we have received have been positive,’ Herring added.
“We are measuring the outcomes now so it will take us a little time to learn how much impact the program has had,’ Silverman said. “We have done a customer satisfaction survey and the results were astounding.’
“The scope of silver sneakers, 60 percent of our members have never had a fitness membership,’ Ritter said.
“The average age is a little bit over 73 years old. A lot of people have a misconception you have to be young and healthy to go to a fitness center. But we have at least two members in Pennsylvania who are over 100 and who actively participate. Forty-one percent of the membership is male. So when we are talking about group exercise class, males participate just as often as females,’ Ritter added.
Participants, he said, include individuals with multiple chronic conditions. “At least 68 percent of our members have one chronic condition. You don’t have to be healthy as a horse, so to speak, in order to participate in SilverSneakers. And these are the individuals who would benefit most from this,’ he said.
Silverman explained Highmark offers a number of programs.
“In Uniontown we offer a Well for Life program, nutrition and stress management at the YMCA. We also provide personal nutrition coaching. Any of our members who have a nutrition issue at all, it could be related to diabetes, cholesterol, losing weight, they are entitled to a session with our registered dietitian. It’s rare and brand new for us. One of the most important pieces of that is that it’s available to children as well. So, children or teens who have a weight issue can register for the services for a program that is based on national standards,’ Silverman said.
The Eat Well for Life and Discover Relaxation programs, she added, “are in line with being the right thing to provide to our members.
“These programs really fall into a fundamental philosophy that education is important in health care. Many things are preventable. We are applying the science of prevention to the everyday life of our members wherever they live,’ Silverman said.
Seniors interested in learning more may call the YMCA at 724-438-2584 or check with their Highmark group insurance company.
A recent study by a group of researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia showed health care costs for seniors have risen well beyond the rate of inflation over a 17-year period.
The researchers found that from 1980 to 1997, the total household health care expenditures for seniors increased 81 percent, with prescription drug spending increasing 169 percent.
The study emphasizes that one of the factors contributing to this increase is an outdated Medicare system, which provides basic medical coverage for virtually all of the nation’s seniors but does not provide coverage for prescription drugs.
The lack of prescription drug coverage, as well as other coverage gaps, has forced many seniors to purchase additional health insurance to supplement their Medicare coverage, resulting in increased health care spending.
Purchasing additional coverage, however, requires consumer financial means and a breadth of market choices. As insurers increasingly cut back on coverage and pass additional costs to consumers, health insurance has become less affordable, researchers say.
The study was conducted by Deanna L. Sharpe of MU, Jessie Fan of the University of Utah and Goog-Soog Hong of Utah State University. It was the first to utilize several years of consumer expenditure survey data to examine trends in out-of-pocket spending for both general health care and prescription drugs by consumers ages 65 and older.