Does Health Insurance Cover Gym Memberships

Are you a gym person who has a health insurance plan? This makes you search the internet for “Does health insurance cover gym memberships?” Well, you are welcome to the right article. Generally speaking, if you have health plans, free gym memberships may be part of your benefits. Or if you cannot get the membership reimbursements, you can sometimes get discounts through your health plan.

Recently, health insurance plans have offered benefits like cash incentives or Fitbit for staying healthy and active. Read to the very end to learn more about getting a gym membership through your insurance plan.

Does Health Insurance Cover Gym Memberships?

Many health plans provide discounts on gym memberships. Or reimbursements for wellness activities but often come with conditions. This includes requiring a minimum number of gym visits per month. Or achieving specific fitness milestones to qualify for these benefits.

To know if you are qualified for a free gym membership, check your health insurance plan’s benefits. In addition, you can usually do this by just signing into your account on your insurer’s official website.

Here are some examples of gym membership perks from some popular health insurance companies:

Aetna: Some of these insurance plans offer savings on gym memberships, health coaching services, and nutrition products.

Policyholders of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey can earn a $20 monthly reward ($240 yearly). This is through the insurer’s fitness program by frequenting participating gyms at least 12 times a month. Members can report visits via the HorizonbFit app.

Kaiser Permanente: They provide free or discounted gym memberships through partnerships with popular organizations such as Active&Fit.

Which Medicare Advantage Plans Offer Free Gym Membership?

Most of the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) plans for elders do offer free gym memberships through the following programs:

Silver&Fit 

offers free or very affordable gym memberships to over 5 million Medicare enrollees at nearly 18,000 fitness centers across the country.

SilverSneakers:

This plan offers free memberships with access to drop-in classes at over 15,000 community centers and gyms across the United States, as well as online fitness classes.

Renew Active:

This includes a free gym membership at a closer location and is part of the AARP MA plans provided by UnitedHealthcare.

Does Medicare Cover Gym Membership?

Unfortunately, Original Medicare does not offer coverage for gym memberships. However, just as I have mentioned above, many MA and Medigap plans offer full or partial coverage for gym memberships via programs such as Silver&Fit, SilverSneakers, and Renew Active.

Are Gym Memberships Tax-Deductible?

Always remember that gym memberships are not always tax deductible because they aren’t considered qualified healthcare expenses. However, if you make use of the gym to recover from a certain injury, your membership fees might be deductible.

Qualified healthcare expenses are referred to as medically necessary for diagnosing or treating specific health problems, such as medical equipment like wheelchairs and walkers. In literal terms, although the IRS doesn’t explicitly include gym memberships as qualified healthcare expenses, they can be tax deductible if they are considered medically necessary for your health condition.

Can a Gym Membership be covered by HSA or FSA?

Whether a gym membership is covered by your health savings account (HSA). Or flexible spending account (FSA), totally depends on your plan administrator.

HSA:

This is a personal savings account in which you can make use of tax-free funds for eligible healthcare expenses if you have a high-deductible health plan. Contributions could come from your pocket (and sometimes your employer) with pretax dollars.

FSA:

This is a fully funded employer-sponsored account that lets you use tax-free funds for certain healthcare expenses that are not covered by insurance. It can be funded by paycheck deductions and, most often, by your employer’s contributions.

Bottom Line

Finally, gym memberships aren’t eligible for tax-free payments with HSA or FSA funds. However, just as mentioned above, if it is considered medically necessary, they might qualify.

To make use of HSA or FSA funds for a gym membership, you will have to send a letter of medical necessity from your doctor or healthcare provider. However, this letter, which you submit to your HSA or FSA administrator, should contain why the gym membership is required for your health.