[US Only] Subsidized gym memberships?

[bluefirecorp_]

Or government ran gyms?

Would probably be offset in a couple years due to not having to pay for medical care.

Diabesity is a word due to the epidemic...

[SaltySpitoon]

I've had a similar idea where I had wondered if it would save health insurance companies money if they offered free gym memberships to their members. I'm not sure one way or the other, but I have a feeling that gym membership costs are not that major factor in why people dont go to the gym. Theres probably some merit to the idea as $20/month for 30 years is still pennies compared to the cost of... any medical procedure.

[bluefirecorp_]

I've had a similar idea where I had wondered if it would save health insurance companies money if they offered free gym memberships to their members. I'm not sure one way or the other, but I have a feeling that gym membership costs are not that major factor in why people dont go to the gym. Theres probably some merit to the idea as $20/month for 30 years is still pennies compared to the cost of... any medical procedure.

How about paying people to go to the gym? That'd help offset some healthcare costs. Make it a job for certain people?

[DaveF]

A lot (most?) health insurance companies have gym membership reimbursement. You have to join a pay AND ACTUALLY SHOW UP AND SWIPE YOUR CARD x times a week / month / quarter and you get your membership covered. Usually up to a certain amount. Planet Fitness at $10 a month fine. Blink fitness at $15 a month fine. Super posh gym with the 4 hot tubs, Olympic size pool, 4 basketball courts and personal trainers following you around all day for $149 a month membership...nope here is your $25 enjoy.

-Dave

[bluefirecorp_]

A lot (most?) health insurance companies have gym membership reimbursement...nope here is your $25 enjoy.

-Dave

Do you think these programs pay off long term?

[DaveF]

A lot (most?) health insurance companies have gym membership reimbursement...nope here is your $25 enjoy.

-Dave

Do you think these programs pay off long term?

Tough to say. I think it will motivate people who go to the gym a little to go more. Since you do have to go 'x' times to get the credit.
And there are a lot of people who can use the motivation. So for them yes. And being more active as a rule will make you more healthy which saves them $ so it is a win win situation there.

For the rest, possibly. But remember, insurance companies have a lot of people crunching numbers. If they did not think they were going to save money they would not do it...

-Dave

[bluefirecorp_]

For the rest, possibly. But remember, insurance companies have a lot of people crunching numbers. If they did not think they were going to save money they would not do it...

They're a business to make money. It's possible this incentives the employment because the insurance comes with free membership. That's one less perk a business has to provide directly (gym access).

I'm curious how much is from health savings vs how much is a "premium" feature.

[squatz1]

A lot (most?) health insurance companies have gym membership reimbursement...nope here is your $25 enjoy.

-Dave

Do you think these programs pay off long term?

Tough to say. I think it will motivate people who go to the gym a little to go more. Since you do have to go 'x' times to get the credit.
And there are a lot of people who can use the motivation. So for them yes. And being more active as a rule will make you more healthy which saves them $ so it is a win win situation there.

For the rest, possibly. But remember, insurance companies have a lot of people crunching numbers. If they did not think they were going to save money they would not do it...

-Dave

I think this sort of thing is ripe for abuse though. As 'just going' to the gym doesn't really mean anything. I could just swipe into the gym and then just leave, within all of 15-20 minutes.

I see where you're coming from here, though I do think it'd be better to support education for people into healthy eating and the importance of working out rather then subsidizing businesses into making more and more money. Education has a much better payoff for us rather then shareholders just wanting their company to lobby for government subsidizes.

[Indamuck]

It does make sense because the overall healthcare costs for the country would be lower.  This is what people don't understand with programs like UBI.  Overall we would save money because crime rates would drop and health would increase across the board.

[Jet Cash]

Just turn McDonalds into gyms, and make statins and opiate based pharmaceuticals illegal. It would also help if doctors were trained to diagnose and treat illness, and not just read the propaganda to decide on which symptom suppressant to prescribe.

[bluefirecorp_]

Just turn McDonalds into gyms, and make statins and opiate based pharmaceuticals illegal. It would also help if doctors were trained to diagnose and treat illness, and not just read the propaganda to decide on which symptom suppressant to prescribe.

As if the government would ever pay for full solutions to the problem; in regards to treatment.

[SaltySpitoon]

As if the government would ever pay for full solutions to the problem; in regards to treatment.

Ah, you mean killing the sickly? (joke)

I think in order for anyone in a position to consider adding gym membership as a cost reducing means towards reducing medical costs, there would have to be multiple substantial (expensive) studies done. There are a lot of factors to consider, including injuries that occur at the gym, how much going to the gym X amount of times for Y amount of time doing Z type of exercise would decrease the risk of T number of common and expensive to treat diseases. You'd need to select groups of thousands of people from all each age group in the US for each variable change, and you'd need a sizable control group. You'd also need to observe them for... maybe 50 years?

I think this sort of thing is ripe for abuse though. As 'just going' to the gym doesn't really mean anything. I could just swipe into the gym and then just leave, within all of 15-20 minutes.

I see where you're coming from here, though I do think it'd be better to support education for people into healthy eating and the importance of working out rather then subsidizing businesses into making more and more money. Education has a much better payoff for us rather then shareholders just wanting their company to lobby for government subsidizes.

I don't know what incentive you'd get out of abusing the system? If someone is handing out free gym memberships to all of their members and you grab one just to skew their data I suppose? There wouldn't be any direct financial benefit. I suppose you'd make your insurance company pay an extra $10 per month, maybe less as I'm sure the insurance companies could A. open their own gym facilities or B. negotiate some crazy low rates for signing up a million members.

[squatz1]

As if the government would ever pay for full solutions to the problem; in regards to treatment.

Ah, you mean killing the sickly? (joke)

I think in order for anyone in a position to consider adding gym membership as a cost reducing means towards reducing medical costs, there would have to be multiple substantial (expensive) studies done. There are a lot of factors to consider, including injuries that occur at the gym, how much going to the gym X amount of times for Y amount of time doing Z type of exercise would decrease the risk of T number of common and expensive to treat diseases. You'd need to select groups of thousands of people from all each age group in the US for each variable change, and you'd need a sizable control group. You'd also need to observe them for... maybe 50 years?

I think this sort of thing is ripe for abuse though. As 'just going' to the gym doesn't really mean anything. I could just swipe into the gym and then just leave, within all of 15-20 minutes.

I see where you're coming from here, though I do think it'd be better to support education for people into healthy eating and the importance of working out rather then subsidizing businesses into making more and more money. Education has a much better payoff for us rather then shareholders just wanting their company to lobby for government subsidizes.

I don't know what incentive you'd get out of abusing the system? If someone is handing out free gym memberships to all of their members and you grab one just to skew their data I suppose? There wouldn't be any direct financial benefit. I suppose you'd make your insurance company pay an extra $10 per month, maybe less as I'm sure the insurance companies could A. open their own gym facilities or B. negotiate some crazy low rates for signing up a million members.

I don't mean an incentive from people, I mean more of a benefit towards gyms just offering people food in order to just show up to the gym once a month (or something like this) So people aren't actually working out, the gym is just reciving money for people to get more food or something along these lines.

You can't get people into a gym by making it cheaper -- places like Planet Fitness (in the US) show that even if a gym is cheap people will just sign up and not go.