I renewed my family health club membership yesterday.  It’s a charter membership, which means we pay about half the rate of normal monthly memberships, but we take a greater risk by paying up front for the next two years.  From a business perspective, it’s a clever idea:  the periodic surge in income allows the owners to buy new equipment, do large maintenance projects or make improvements, while rewarding long-time members for their willingness to take a financial risk.

And yet, every time I pay, I think what if they go under?  Many years ago, the owners of a previous health club at the same location skipped town right after the charter memberships were paid.  The lead aerobics instructor at the time later told me none of the employees knew anything until they came in one morning to find the building empty.  Someone recalled driving by the previous day and seeing a truck backed up to the building.  The owners hauled away even equipment that was bolted down to the floor.  

Fortunately, Blake and I were on a monthly membership at the time.  Even so, we’d signed an annual contract.  Being a conscientious person who believes in paying her obligations,  I contacted the local bank through whom the annual loan was funded and offered to pay off my balance as a lump sum payment.  The woman at the bank seemed surprised.  “You don’t have to pay us,” she said, “You don’t have a health club to go to.”

Fortunately, the next owner was much more reputable, which is why I put in my name for a charter membership on a friend’s recommendation.  The club has since changed hands.  The twin brothers who own the club now are likable, certainly not the sort to skip town.  Still, the local economy hasn’t been strong for the past few years.  A health club membership is seeming like an extravagance to a lot of people.  I’ve spoken to several members who were considering quitting to join Gold’s Gym, a national health club chain that charges lower membership fees.  But Gold’s Gym is also much further away from where I live and looks like a warehouse from the outside.  I just know I wouldn’t make it there frequently enough to compensate for the lower costs.

What’s keeping my locally-owned health club afloat, in part, is that Loveland is a retirement community.  One of the little-known benefits of Medicare is that it subsidizes a health club membership if a doctor recommends it.  The government has considered eliminating this benefit as a cost-saving measure, but it’s so popular among seniors there’s a fear it might raise an uproar among the “Keep your hands off my Medicare” crowd.

Most young and middle-aged Americans could only dream of a health insurance policy that would subsidize their health club memberships, though from a prevention perspective it might save costs in the long run.  My health club membership costs less per year than a prescription to a popular statin drug, and not only helps lower cholesterol, but offers the added benefits of weight loss, heart healthiness and stabilized blood sugar levels, along with the de-stressing element of social connection, all without the potential side-effects of muscle damage and depression.

It’s hard for me not to think of these older members as pampered, especially when I overhear the ladies in the locker room regaling one another about how much they love Glenn Beck, their plans to take part in the health care town halls and how these young people just don’t understand how dangerous Obama is.  

And yet, I appreciate that these ladies are keeping our health club afloat.  It goes to show how healthcare benefits not only its recipients, but also the rest of us, as well as small businesses like my health club.