Twin Cities seniors picket Blue Cross and Blue Shield over cuts to SilverSneakers gym program
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Twenty-six thousand seniors on Medicare through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will lose access to SilverSneakers fitness classes at Twin Cities YMCAs and Life Time fitness centers next year.
Blue Cross says financial instability with Medicare and a big price hike by its third-party fitness vendor were too expensive to maintain the benefit for those fitness centers in 2026. The SilverSneakers program will still be available at YMCAs elsewhere in Minnesota and at dozens of other fitness centers in the Twin Cities.
But people who exercise and socialize at centers where the program will no longer be offered aren’t happy. The change comes amid Medicare open enrollment, which ends on Sunday.
At 1 p.m. Wednesday, a group of seniors planned to picket outside of Blue Cross’s Eagan office to protest the SilverSneakers cutbacks.
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In a statement to MPR News, a representative for Blue Cross Blue Shield said, “Blue Cross Medicare members will continue to have access to more than 600 fitness locations across the state, with more than 240 in the Twin Cities. Members will also have unlimited access to on-demand workout videos, live online fitness classes and the thousands of additional fitness locations nationwide.”
Picket organizer Terre Thomas, who visited several Twin Cities YMCAs over the last several days to drum up support, told MPR News Blue Cross initially asked to meet before the picket, and that they have plans to talk further after Wednesday afternoon’s picket.
Fellow picked organizer Steve Brandt joined Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition to explain why losing access to SilverSneakers at the fitness center he uses is such a hit to his well-being.
Listen to the conversation by clicking the player button. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
What do you get from attending these exercise classes?
Well, there are physical health benefits, of course. I go three times a week on average, and participate in group classes and lift weights with other people in the weight room. We also get mental health benefits. I think that getting out of our houses as seniors is important and mixing with other people.
And in the case of my wife, for example, during the pandemic, when people had to be isolated, they organized online support groups just to help keep people grounded. And so it's a pretty important set of benefits, probably the most important benefit of my health insurance program.
Can you and other members of the Silver Sneakers classes financially shoulder paying for these classes at a special rate, if offered?
Well, here's my situation: between the basic Medicare cost I pay to the government and the cost of my Medicare supplement — which is what I pay for extra coverage to make sure I'm fully covered — and adding a Y gym membership, it would raise our household’s costs for 2026 by 19.8 percent and that's pretty hefty. Could I afford it? Yes, but a lot of seniors can't.
You're going to picket outside of Blue Cross Blue Shield. Do you have an opportunity to talk and find a middle ground?
Actually, two representatives of our group talked to Blue Cross Blue Shield for about an hour Tuesday at their invitation. I would say there is not much prospect for change for 2026 because of the filing deadlines that insurers have for saying what they'll cover have passed, and they have to file with the feds what they're going to cover. They say they are working on something for 2027. We will keep the pressure on, and we'll see what that is.
