Paid to exercise

I have been writing blogs in my head for two weeks, but there has not been time to post.  2019 is off to a busy, busy start.

I’ve mentioned that the Medicare Advantage plan I chose came with a free Silver Sneakers membership.  The plan actively promotes wellness in other ways.  There is a part on their website where you earn points toward free gifts.  One of the things you earn points for is exercise.

The exercise I do with Silver Sneakers gets automatically reported to my insurance company.  If I had a Fitbit, I could program it to send my daily steps to the Insurance Company, but I don’t have a Fitbit.  So for other exercise that I do (running, hiking, videos) I have to fill out a monthly form.

I put a free App called Map My Walk on my phone.  It keeps up with my miles and how many calories I burn when I am walking, running and bicycling.  All of that information gets transferred to the insurance form.

I filled out forms for September, October and November before the end of 2018.  I knew that I would lose any points I didn’t use by December 31.  I admit I was a little skeptical about the quality of the gifts.  Would I really be able to get anything that I wanted?  The last week of the year I went online to see what gifts I qualified for.

I had enough points for water bottles and exercise clothes, but I didn’t really need those.  There were some very nice gifts, but I hadn’t earned enough points for them in the three months I had been part of the program.

Then I saw a tab that said gift cards.  Oh my! There were lots of choices from stores in my area.

I got $40 in gift cards from Wal-Mart.  And that’s just for three months!

I can’t believe it.  My insurance company is paying me to exercise – something I was going to do anyway on the BTD lifestyle.