Saturday afternoon at the Southdale YMCA in Edina, Minnesota, you could hear feet pounding on treadmills and weighted plates striking each other as people of all ages exercised. 

Away from the machines, you could hear the sound of whispers, as senior members try to work out what they're going to do in 2026 after finding out their insurance will no longer cover their gym membership.

This week, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota began telling customers that both the YMCA of the North and Life Time gyms would no longer be covered as of Jan. 1, 2026. 

For several years, those chains have been included under the SilverSneakers program, which covers the cost of gym membership for Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare recipients.

According to YMCA leadership, this impacts around 7,800 seniors who use the locations in the Twin Cities metro. Blue Cross Blue Shield said that YMCA locations in Greater Minnesota will not be impacted.

"I'm just so angry at the way they did this," Diane Hurley said.

Hurley, 84, said that she was shocked to hear the news. After retirement, she said the Southdale YMCA became a lifeline for her; a place to follow a healthy routine and form social bonds with other senior members of the community who might otherwise be sitting at home.

"We don't want to lose our health insurance. We don't want to lose our ability to work out and to stay healthy," Hurley said. "I don't want to lose that. It's far too important."

In a statement to WCCO, a spokesperson for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota confirmed this was about the money involved.

"As a market, Minnesota is experiencing high cost pressures related to Medicare coverage. In order to ensure Blue Cross could continue offering SilverSneakers to our Medicare members in Minnesota, we needed to adjust the network structure of locations included in the program," the statement read in part.

The insurance company notes that when the coverage at the YMCA of the North and Life Time ends on Jan. 1, its Medicare members will still have access to more than 600 SilverSneakers locations. Hurley said that most cannot provide the same services as the YMCA when it comes to classes and support systems designed for seniors.

"Did somebody just bump up their salary, find a new car they needed? This is unfair, totally unfair," Hurley said.

Hurley and thousands of others, like Greg Socha, are now looking at the possibility of having to change insurance providers or pay the YMCA $77 per month to maintain gym membership. Socha has a dedicated routine at the Edina gym that he loves, but he's not sure what he'll do now with just two weeks left in the open enrollment period. In fact, he said he only just signed with Blue Cross Blue Shield in large part because of the access to the YMCA.

"Theoretically, I'm not coming here anymore," Socha said, looking around the gym floor at the Southdale YMCA on Saturday.

The open enrollment period began in mid-October and ends on Dec. 7. Hurley is one of several people frustrated that they only received this news in late November.

"The makeup of the network itself is subject to change at any time. Specific participating locations are not guaranteed and can differ by plan," a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokesperson said.

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said that she had just agreed to a plan that would see her premium go up by 16% next year only to lose YMCA access.

"There are going to be a lot of seniors, unfortunately, who are on fixed incomes and aren't going to be able to afford the extra $1,000 a year and they may just give up, and that will be really sad," the woman said. "It's a very short-sighted decision on Blue Cross Blue Shield's part. The way to keep health costs down is to keep us healthy and the way to keep us healthy is to encourage and motivate people to exercise."

Glen Gunderson, CEO for YMCA of the North, told WCCO that his team only found out about the change this week as well. He said that he considers Blue Cross Blue Shield to be a strong partner,  but he's encouraging concerned seniors to consider other insurers that may work with the SilverSneakers program. 

The YMCA is pointing to companies like Allina Health, Aetna, HealthPartners, Humana, Medica and UnitedHealthcare.

"We have huge respect for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, their leaders are amazing, they are up against, I'm sure, very challenging economic times like we all are," Gunderson said. "We've just been surprised. We came to find this out as I said on Wednesday late in the game and it's unfortunate. We're disappointed that seniors are being caught up in it."