Yes, a lot of healthcare plans offer gym memberships and wellness programs. But the way they work, and what you get out of them, varies wildly. Traditional plans give you discounts on gym fees, points for walking, or a gift card for getting a checkup. Fine. But these are isolated perks, not systems that change how people behave or lower costs. A newer kind of benefit, what we call Health-to-Wealth™, goes beyond gym discounts. It ties preventive actions directly to financial rewards and retirement savings.
The Traditional Answer: What Most Plans Offer
Most employer-sponsored health plans include some form of wellness benefit. KFF’s 2025 employer survey found 38% of large employers offer a health plan with incentives for completing or participating in a wellness program. Common offerings include:
- Gym membership discounts – cheaper rates through programs like Active&Fit Direct, or SilverSneakers for adults 65 and older
- Wellness program incentives – gift cards or premium cuts for finishing health risk assessments or biometric screenings
- Points-based rewards – earn points for steps, sleep, or quitting smoking, redeemable for stuff
- Telehealth or coaching – talk to nutritionists, fitness coaches, or stress management pros
The Limits of Traditional Wellness Perks
These offerings are better than nothing, but they often get ignored. Employees sign up for a discounted gym membership and never go. Points programs feel like gimmicks. And these programs rarely connect to bigger financial goals like retirement savings or healthcare costs. Employers end up spending on wellness while seeing little change in claims or retention. A randomized trial at the University of Illinois found a two-year workplace wellness program produced no measurable change in health spending or clinical health, and a 2013 RAND review found wellness incentives had no significant impact on health spending or use of care. WellthCare™ is different: a Health-to-Wealth Benefit System that rewards every verified preventive action with Store dollars and automatic retirement contributions, so employees see tangible financial returns from their healthy habits.
Gym and Fitness Perks Are Being Cut Back
Even the perk-level benefit is shrinking. Original Medicare does not include SilverSneakers; it comes through Medicare Advantage and some Medicare Supplement plans. In 2026, the share of Medicare Advantage plans offering a fitness benefit slipped to 93% from 95% in 2025, according to KFF, as plans looked for places to cut costs. Some plans dropped SilverSneakers entirely, replacing it with a narrower fitness option or nothing at all. For an employer or an employee, that is the weakness of a perk bolted onto a plan: it can disappear at the next renewal. A benefit built into how care is paid for, tied to prevention and paid back in reward dollars and retirement contributions, is harder to cut.
A New Category: Health-to-Wealth Benefits
WellthCare is a different approach: the first Health-to-Wealth Benefit System. Instead of a separate gym discount, it bakes preventive care (gym visits, scans, screenings) into a system where employees earn reward dollars and automatic retirement contributions.
How it works:
- $0 co-pay care used first – employees use preventive care before claims hit their primary plan
- Reward dollars at the WellthCare Store™ – earned instantly for verified preventive actions like gym visits and lab work
- Automatic retirement contributions – deposited into a SEP or pension account, tied to healthy behavior, compounding over time
- Out-of-pocket savings – fewer deductibles and bills because WellthCare is used first
The Flywheel That Changes Everything
It’s a compounding loop: free care → less out-of-pocket spending → earned Store dollars → growing retirement. The rewards are spendable dollars and retirement contributions, not catalog points. Employers see lower claims, less waste, and higher retention, without replacing their existing plan.
What This Means for Employers and Employees
If you’re looking at healthcare benefits with gym memberships or wellness programs, ask these three questions:
- Does the program reward prevention with real money? – Points are okay; automatic contributions to a retirement account are better.
- Is it integrated into our existing plan? – A stand-alone app won’t cut claims the way a system used before the primary plan will.
- Does it create a data-driven path to bigger savings? – The best programs use behavior data to show when it’s time to switch to self-funded or Medicare.
WellthCare slips in easily, proves its value with real behavior, and earns the right to replace broken systems. It goes beyond a gym membership discount. Healthcare that pays you back.