In a recent article, I mentioned the benefits that seniors can gain from exercise, despite their age. In today’s article, I want to continue in the same vein by discussing how a new HMO fitness program designed specifically for seniors can get you moving toward a healthier, fitter lifestyle. An added benefit? It can also save you money as well.
The new community-based exercise program is specifically being targeted at both seniors and diabetics as a way to get them moving and more active. It’s a subsidized program, which means it can help seniors save on this one aspect of their health care costs — if they attend the classes on a regular basis. Plus, the added benefits of exercising regularly are myriad in nature. The intention of the program is to help promote a healthy lifestyle in seniors, so as to offset the side effects of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
According to a new study, which is published in the medical journal Diabetes Care, going to these classes will help lower the costs related to health issues on a long-term basis for seniors. Held at the University of Washington, the study looked at the benefit of exercise in seniors (and especially diabetics) to see how it can help lower health problems, which therefore also helps lower medical costs in turn. It’s basically a win-win scenario: healthy, fit seniors have less health issues, which means they have less costs to deal with as well.
The study reviewed observational data that concluded seniors and diabetics who took part in community-based, HMO-subsidized exercise programs tended to have lower health care costs as a result. This was in comparison to those individuals who did not participate in such a program. The researchers looked at 163 seniors, who were an average age of 75, who were previously sedentary but now took up moderate physical activity via an exercise program at least three times a week.
What they found was that after a 12-month follow-up, the seniors who were exercising didn’t see a difference in their health care costs, as compared to the non-exercise group. However, those who went more than three times a week did indeed see a marked improvement.
As Dr. Huong Q. Nguyen, one of the researchers in the study explains, “These findings warrant additional investigations to determine whether policies to offer and promote a community-based physical activity benefit in older adults with diabetes can reduce health care costs.”
He also added “We can not be sure if the exercise actually reduced health care costs or if people who were healthier were able to participate in more exercise classes and therefore had lower health care costs. In general, any amount of physical activity is beneficial for everyone and it is even more so for people with diabetes and other chronic conditions, regardless of effects on health care costs.”
If you are a senior who is looking for a means to get started on the path to a good workout routine, check with your HMO plan to see where these types of exercise programs are available to you in your community. Not only will your body and your overall health benefit, but your wallet will benefit, too.
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Tags: exercise, obesity
