Pruhealth Members Set To Lose ££s As Well As lbs

Very interesting points you raise Emma. I think what you fail to realise is that PruHealth are simply putting a different slant on the way their gym membership works. I have worked out it's not hard to get through Vitality and I've got up to Platinum status (and I've done this in just over 6 months!). I currently go to the gym once a week, so my fees would be £25 per month on my current structure. From November, as I am Platinum, my gym will be free. So it's still free gym, I'm actually better off than I was, and I totally see the changes as a good thing.

You said you went to the gym regularly (twice a week or more) for 3 months, hence paying nothing for the next 3 months. This would mean you got at least 260 Vitality points. You must have logged onto their Member Zone as this takes 2 seconds, and your instantly over 300. To say you have "something like 800 points to go up a level" is quite simply untrue. A quick fitness assessment, if you're a non-smoker let PruHealth know, and a few more activities you can be up at Silver level (1,000 points) in no time at all.

The key I think you (and other readers who agree) are missing is that it's not all about the gym. Clearly what PruHealth are trying to do is engage their members in ALL areas of Vitality to engourage holistic health and wellbeing. After all that's the best way to look after your health - not spend 7 days a week in the gym. 2 gym visits a week does not even fall in line with Government recommendations of 30 minutes activity 5 times a week. So I support Pru's new plan. The underlying message is still the same - the more you go to the gym, and engage in ALL areas of Vitality, you can still have your gym for free!

I noticed this scheme or one like it about two years ago, but was not able to take advantage of it because my work involved a great deal of travel, sometimes spending 6-9 month a year out of the country, and recently in the last year because I had back problems (having had sciatica 4 years earlier) and was not able to go to a gym until I had determined the cause and had suitable treatment.
Over the last 8-9 months while waiting to see the various NHS people in this convoluted process - where I had to wait up to 11 weeks for an initial Physio evaluation and an average of 3-4 weeks between each appointment (Doctor - 11vweeks Physio - 4 weeks Physio - 3 weeks Doctor - 5 weeks Consultant - 4 weeks MRI - 4 weeks Consultant - 3 weeks Physiotherapy - Treatment ongoing) good job the injury was not life threatning!

Anyway I naturally having Trained on and of at Gyms for around 18 years work travel permitting and was looking to find an inexpensive gym membership - since most of these gyms are a huge - I mean HUGE rip-off, considering the number of members and the charges.

I would have gone for this scheme but for the fact that I prefer a gym which is inexpensive and relatively close to my home since I don't have a car and do not want to expend all of my energy getting to the gym. All the gyms PruHealth chose are some of the most expensive gyms (Not all) in the country, and also they don't have branches in many of the rural areas and towns, so I'd have to travel furthur afield and probably expend as much or more money to reach them.

I would have hoped PruHealth would have offered a more extensive choice, perhaps even including Council owned sports centres and some of the other centres.

I would have though that it would been beneficial to offer discounts based not just on attendance and periodic assessments but on results - after all many people go to sport centres and spend a fair of their time socialising and undoing all that effort drinking and eating calorie laden snack.

I think PruHealth should consolidate their premium and gym membership when it comes to discounts, such that the healthier you are, the more discount you get, but the discount should not be limited to the membership, it should include the premium as well. The more healthy are far less likely to make claims and should not be penalised for it, or to finance the costs of those who choose to live unhealthy lifestyles. I would even go furthur and suggest that as an extra incentive the discounts should be limited to for example, the first 2 or 3 years, and that ongoing discounts have to be earned, such that once a member reaches a certain state of health, they should be motivated to stick with the policy and attendance to gyms by accumulating sufficient discount to carry over to the next year.

I think that PruHealth should offer a modest discount say 20% of all costs for all new policy holders, the member should be subjected to a comprehensive evaluation which measures the state of the body in detail, Height, Weight, Blood Preasure, Vital Stats, BMI, Fat Content, Lung Capacity, Normal Diet, Negative Health Habits tests (Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs) etc. The result of this evaluation should be a picture of the health of the individual, and a tailored exercise and diet plan. A similar Quarterly review should be performed to monitor progress.

Members can earn progressive discounts each Quarter by demonstrating scaled improvements, perhaps earning a furthur 5-30% discount depending on progress, people who are in poor physical health may make more substantial and evident improvements than more healthy individuals, so the nature of tests should be adjusted to not prejudice the health in terms of discounts.

Discounts should not just be based on progress, but be based on attendance, a modest attendance say a minimum (or an average) of 3 times a week for at least 1 hour of exercise, with records of exercises undertaken. Some may choose to perform some training outside gym which is fine too, but there must be some evidence of attendance, exercise and improvements both in the exercises and the health of the individual.

Persistent failure to exercise should be perhaps penalised after for example 9 months by loosing say half the accumulated discount, or where there is little or no accumulate discount available, the cost should perhaps rise, say by 10% per quarter.

By closely monitoring the health, no one should be able cheat, the need to provide proof of attendance and exercise (perhaps by using the latest technology to record digital cardio/exercise machine exercises) and semi regular checkups, with excellent financial and health incentives.

I think that such a scheme should receive some form of incentive as well for example a positive and negative adjustment to the Tax Code depending on the efforts of the individual, or similar adjustments to National Insurance or Pensions.

Hi Simmo14,
Thanks for your comments - I just wanted to reply to one or two of the points you raised. Firstly my membership was up for renewal in June and I let it carry on. Hence when I realised the gym membership was to change I had acquired just over 200 points - leaving me needing almost 800 to make silver status. It's now up to about 400 due to me spending an hour or so filling in pointless questionnaires about my health, confirming (again) that I'm a non-smoker and downloading eating plans that I'm never going to follow - I already eat healthily after being educated by Weight Watchers some years ago. I've also booked a fitness assessment but this will still leave me a couple of hundred points short of silver status.

As for the gym fees, how can Pru justify charging its members more than the standard price for the gym? If I do nothing my gym fees will be £50/month in November - £10/month more than the usual price for my gym. Even if I make silver status they'll still be £38 - just £2 cheaper than the standard price. And even if I make platinum status it will be £8/month - free is no longer a possibility at my gym.

Another thing - Pru have embarked on a bizarre new partnership with Cineworld. As a cinema chain, Cineworld has nothing to do with health and fitness and quite a lot to do with sitting down for two hours and eating unhealthy snacks. Could it be that this new deal is more profitable for Pru that the one with the gyms?

I am returning to the UK, after 12 years abroad, and have been in SA for the past 4 years. "Vitality" is a product devised by "Discovery Health" who in the UK are Pru health. I can assure you that several years down the line the UK shall have embraced this "Vitality culture" like SA. We have our check-ups, we go to the best gyms, we get Magazine discounts - mostly health mags, we get 30% reduction per family member for the cinema, we get our land line and mobile phone "top-ups" direct from the website with a 15% discount and we get days at the "SA Institute of sport" to assess our metabolic rate, prevention of injury analysis etc. It is a culture thing. Here people treat their "medical aid" as a reference to their well being and leisure time, they expect to be rewarded for not draining the state and supporting private operators who look to provide quality products. We return in Dec 08 and I have already sourced the policy most relevant for my family and I. Granted the "benefits are not as extensive as currently available here in SA, but as an Air-miles member I shall receive 800 air-miles just for joining Pru Health in the UK. Finally, and most importantly, thanks to their "check-ups" I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They immediately started a 2 year intensive program consisting of all the drugs / chemo etc and never once questioned the bills as I was put onto the "Chronic illness plan" This was within 8 weeks of joining! It cost them a fortune and they never queried my treatment - unlike loads of other "Cancer community members" who's providers would try to wriggle out of their obligations as they are not in this league as a company.

I think simmo 14 seems unusually biased towards pruhealth for a non employee. His comments sound suspiciously like those offered by the helpline operatives I rang when I first found out about the change! The fact is for Pruhealth to suggest that their members will pay more attention to the vitality plan now that they won't be receiving free gym membership is rather laughable. I think anyone who's not already on platinum will be mindlessly clicking on what ever meal plans, nutrition article etc they can find to try and hit 2000 points before November. Big difference between clicking on an article and actually reading it. The boots health test like the road to health assessment is actually £25, Nutfields is more unless you are already platinum in which case why bother? Champneys for £40 is great but won't help my at the moment as I'M NOT PLATINUM YET. Disappointing. Plus maybe its just me but I seem to be having all kinds of trouble opening the website for the last couple of days. Anyone know why its a "bad gateway"?

I changed my company manbership scheme fro Bupa whom I had been with 15 years to PruHealth for the gym deal - it is obvious that they can afford to contine to provide this deal - i call their help deak and they came out with loads of waffle -i am disguseded with them -I was their biggest advocate - is this legal