Tag: Health & Wellness

Categories
News

Locals hire attorney, challenge Optima premiums

Ian Dixon and Sara Stovall, at a Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance meeting in December at Random Row Brewery, have raised more than $17,000 and hired a powerhouse lawyer to question Optima’s tripled health insurance premiums. Stephen Barling

After Charlottesville earned the dubious distinction of having the most expensive health insurance premiums in the country, some of the area residents who couldn’t afford to pay $3,000 a month formed Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance and retained a lawyer who’s made a career out of keeping insurance companies honest.

Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Angoff was hired to implement the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and before that he was the commissioner of insurance in Missouri. He has worked for Ralph Nader, and he published a landmark study in 2005 that showed how insurance companies artificially inflated malpractice insurance rates for doctors, which in turn increased prices throughout the system.

“He developed a reputation for using the legal system to fight for the little guy against Goliath insurance companies,” says the Washington Post.

And that’s why Sara Stovall and Ian Dixon are happy to have Angoff on their side.

“We’re hoping the name recognition of our attorney and the details our letter has” will get the Bureau of Insurance to take another look at Charlottesville’s rates, says Dixon.

Dixon created a GoFundMe account to raise money to pay for legal fees, and it’s reached $17,636 of its $20,000 goal.

On January 4, Angoff sent a nine-page letter to the Bureau of Insurance detailing ways Optima Health calculated its premiums here that he says are “excessive” and even a violation of federal law.

For example, Charlottesville has a rating factor of 1.579 that far exceeds any other geographic area in the state and that of other carriers, which use 1.07 or lower for this area. Optima executives told Stovall and Dixon that rate was in part because of “the relative health of the population that’s buying.”

And consideration of morbidity in determining that rating factor “violates federal law,” Angoff writes to Virginia’s commissioner of Insurance Jacqueline Cunningham.

Optima spokesperson Kelsea Smith says, “We did not violate the guidelines” and comments the company did “are simply false.”

Angoff also points out that Optima’s own rating factor to insure small groups in Charlottesville is .937, a difference that “would seem to have no rational basis.”

Angoff calls Optima’s 8 percent profit factor in its individual premium rates “unjustifiable” for a nonprofit. And because Optima uses a 5.7 profit for its small group rates, individual policyholders may be subsidizing small group policyholders, says Angoff. He suggests the bureau “may wish to consider whether such a strategy could reasonably be considered unfair discrimination.”

The profit margin “was merely an estimate,” and Optima has lost $32 million over three years on the exchange, says Smith.

Angoff notes that Optima’s ownership of Martha Jefferson Sentara should enable it to negotiate favorable terms for those it insures and to provide leverage with UVA Health System, which Optima has claimed charges higher rates and is more expensive to cover.

That allegation drew a letter to the Post from Richard Shannon, UVA executive vice president for health affairs, who disputes Optima’s assertion that UVA is the reason premiums skyrocketed. He says Optima clients account for fewer than 1 percent of commercially insured patients cared for at UVA, and “Sentara has the opportunity to benefit from these higher premiums while paying itself as a care provider.”

Shannon also takes issue with Optima’s claim that Charlottesville is a high-cost region for health care, and cites a 2015 New York Times article that puts this area 85th lowest among 306 hospitals nationwide for commercially insured beneficiaries.

The challenge could be a first. Dixon says he’s “not aware of a consumer who’s challenged an insurance company on its rates.” And some of the details brought out in Angoff’s letter “are a hard thing for the Bureau of Insurance to dismiss,” he says.

At press time, the Bureau of Insurance had not responded to the letter. “We’re super impatient,” says Stovall. At the same time, she realizes, “We need to give the bureau the space and time to do their investigation.”

In her dream scenario, she hopes “it will motivate the bureau to take immediate action and modify the rates,” she says.

And there’s some urgency for those who lost coverage when their provider pulled out of the area. “Everybody using the Affordable Care Act before qualifies for a special enrollment period until March 2,” says Stovall. “We’re still mad as hell about it and because there’s this special enrollment period, we feel like this is something we can fight for,” says Dixon.

Stovall sees longer-term damage from the tripled health insurance premiums, which could deter someone considering starting a small business and could set a precedent for another insurance company to use the rates as a basis for setting its own.

Says Dixon, “Anyone coming to this area could say this is a very expensive area.”

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Beer and bourbon fest, square dancing and more

Enjoy unlimited 2- to 4-ounce samples of dozens of craft beers, bourbon and other spirits at the Know Good Beer & Bourbon Festival Saturday at IX Art Park.

FAMILY

Family Night Out
Friday, January 26

Enjoy some family time with swimming, a movie, pizza and snacks. $6 per person; $25 families of five or more, 6-8pm. Crozet YMCA, 1075 Claudius Crozet Park, Crozet. 205-4380.

NONPROFIT

Drop spindle class
Saturday, January 27

Crafter Russell Hubert teaches a class on how to spin wool using the traditional drop spindle method. Participants will learn how wool is processed from fleece to yarn using early 19th-century techniques. $10, 11am-noon. James Monroe’s Highland, 2050 James Monroe Pkwy. RSVP to 293-8000.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Square dance open house
Wednesday, January 24

No experience necessary to learn how to square dance with the Virginia Reelers. Bring a partner or come alone; no special clothing needed. Free, 7pm. Greer Elementary School cafeteria, 190 Lambs Ln. 295-2474.

FOOD & DRINK

Know Good Beer & Bourbon Fest
Saturday, January 27

Enjoy unlimited 2- to 4-ounce samples of dozens of craft beers, bourbon and other spirits. Live local music, food vendors and local artists will be on-site as well. $38-72, 1-6pm. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. knowgoodbeer.com

Categories
News

Radical care: Doctors ditch health insurance

Dr. Maura McLaughlin believes that by not taking health insurance, she’s found a better way to practice medicine. EZE AMOS

Maura McLaughlin still remembers the day in January 2015 she heard about a revolutionary way to practice medicine—like doctors used to do decades ago. Now she spends as much time as she needs with patients, who can come see her as often as they like at a reasonable cost.

A key component: She doesn’t take health insurance at her two-year-old medical practice in Crozet. The model is called direct primary care, and it’s spreading across the country, with four such practices now in Charlottesville and Albemarle, where, incidentally, people who don’t qualify for Affordable Care Act subsidies are facing the highest premiums in the country.

McLaughlin compares it to a gym membership. Patients sign up and pay between $15 and $60 a month, and use it as often as they like.

What it’s not, she stresses, is health insurance. “We don’t consider ourselves substitutes for insurance,” she says. But for those who have high-deductible health insurance that makes them balk at doctors’ visits they’ll have to pay for out-of-pocket, direct primary care can be a more affordable alternative, she says.

And by not having to spend 40 cents of every dollar she takes in to cover overhead for dealing with health insurance companies, “I’m able to keep costs low,” she says. “From a physician standpoint, it allows doctors to be doctors and focus on patients.”

Her Blue Ridge Family Medical Practice offers lower rates for lab tests, and “I can help people navigate the [prescription drug] system” to find generics or the best local pharmacy prices, she says.

One of her patients has diabetes and comes in every three months for a follow-up visit. Young families like the convenience of being able to come in without a long wait, she says, and some employers and school systems add direct primary care as part of employee benefits.

“Even if you don’t have insurance, it’s a way to get health care,” says Delegate Steve Landes, who carried a bill the past two years in the General Assembly that specifies direct primary care is not insurance—after insurers complained the doctor-patient agreements should be regulated like insurance.

Carolyn Engelhard is a health policy expert at UVA, and she has a few concerns about the direct primary care model. “I worry that people think it’s insurance and it isn’t,” she says. “If they end up in the hospital with a major illness, they wouldn’t be covered.”

She also worries about accountability for solo practices not connected to a larger health care system. Doctors within a system must show they’re meeting quality-care metrics and best practices, and insurers attach payment to guidelines being followed, she says.

“Dr. McLaughlin is a wonderful doctor,” says Engelhard. “She’s connected to other doctors in the community.” But for other standalone direct primary care practices, there’s “no oversight,” she says.

And when it’s necessary to refer a patient to a specialist, a doctor who is affiliated with Sentara or UVA talks to the specialist, she says. Direct primary care “fragments an already fragmented health care system.”

McLaughlin, who worked for UVA for nine years before venturing on to her own practice, says making referrals works much the same as it did when she worked in a traditional practice, only now she has more time to research specialists and costs, and to discuss patients with the specialists.

For the solo practitioner, there’s been no looking back. “This model of care,” she says, “allows me to be the kind of family doctor I always wanted to be.”

Categories
News

Sticker shock: Charlottesville health insurance premiums spike to highest in nation

Sara Stovall and her husband, Stephen Barling, are looking at health insurance premiums pushing $3,000 a month for their family of four. Bethany Snyder

For many families, an income of $100,000 pretty much means they’re living the American dream. And for many families, that dream came crashing down when they saw what their health care premiums are going to be for 2018.

For Sara Stovall, premiums for her family of four will go from $940 a month to nearly $3,000 a month—$36,000 for the year.

Eden Henderson’s premiums for her family of three jumped 225 percent to $2,600 a month.

And John Harris, former Carlyle Group CFO, says the $1,629 a month silver plan he’s currently paying for his family of four with Anthem will cost $5,395 a month—nearly $65,000 for the year—for the same plan next year with Optima. For laughs he calculated a gold plan. That totals nearly $97,000 a year.

It’s difficult to pin down why Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna and Greene counties have seen the largest jumps in the country—234 percent for a 40-year-old ineligible for subsidies, compared to a 17 percent to 35 percent increase nationally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

JABA insurance counselor Heather Rowland puts the blame squarely on the Trump administration for destabilizing the market by stopping federal cost-sharing reduction payments, which subsidize lower deductibles, copays and out-of-pocket maximums, and for threatening to end the individual mandate that requires everyone to have insurance, which caused insurers to fear they’d be stuck with older and sicker buyers.

As a result, companies like Anthem and Aetna, which used to be in Albemarle, pulled out, while the sole remaining insurer, Optima, sharply raised its premiums to cover the riskier pool.

Rowland also believes the constant refrain of “repeal and replace” further destabilized the market. Fifth District Congressman Tom Garrett ran on a platform last year of repealing the Affordable Care Act because insurance premiums were too expensive, and he says President Barrack Obama acknowledged “real problems” with the ACA.

The second American Health Care Act would have reduced premiums—if it had passed in the Senate, says Garrett. Premiums of $36,000 a year are “ridiculous,” he says. “We need to keep doing our job.”

House Minority Leader David Toscano says he’s heard from many constituents faced with unaffordable health care. “Some people are under the misguided viewpoint that the Affordable Care Act is responsible,” he says. “In fact, it’s the Trump administration undermining the market.”

Optima decided to stay so that Charlottesville residents would not be left without an option, and “to provide plans knowing they might be out of reach for some residents but give an option to an estimated 70 percent who would qualify for subsidies,” says Optima spokesperson Kelsea Smith in an email. “We chose to cover as many people as we could.”

As for why Charlottesville and Albemarle premiums skyrocketed to the highest in the country, says Smith, “First and foremost, we understand residents’ frustration. We knew these rates would be difficult for some. We wish the circumstances were different, but to leave everyone without an option was not acceptable and goes against our not-for-profit mission.”

Among the factors she lists: The health insurance exchange has not worked as originally envisioned. Younger, healthier patients have not gotten insurance to offset the costs of older, sicker citizens. And without other insurance companies here, “all the risk of covering this more expensive patient base was left on the shoulders of Optima,” she says.

Sentara owns both Optima and the former Martha Jefferson Hospital. Despite having two hospitals, Smith says an academic medical center like UVA is more expensive than other hospitals.

When Stovall logged onto healthcare.gov November 1 and saw the lowest rate she could get was nearly $3K a month, “It was so absurd my husband and I laughed,” she says. “This is a $36,000 a year plan with a $12,000 deductible. How can anyone see that as remotely reasonable?”

She and her husband talked about moving, or she may look for a job that pays less. “In past years we’ve always tried to make as much money as we can,” she says. The one option she’s not considering with two young children is going without insurance.

“People say if you make more, you should pay more,” she says. “I agree. But you assume it’s reasonable. It doesn’t mean we can pay one-third of our income. That’s double our mortgage.”

The good news is for people who are single and make under $48,000 or a family of four earning less than $98,400. Those earners still qualify for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, at least for 2018, according to Rowland.

Stovall found that if her family made under $98,000, she could get an insurance plan for $10 a month.

But she warns of a caveat with the non-sliding scale. If you earn $1 over those subsidy-eligible limits of $98K, you owe the full $36,000 cost.

“A lot of people could get stuck by not knowing that,” she says. “That could be devastating.”

What you should know

  • Sign-up in the health marketplace lasts 45 days—half of previous years—and ends December 15.
  • Advertising has been eliminated, and healthcare.gov is seeing 12-hour maintenance shutdowns every Sunday during the open enrollment period, says insurance counselor Heather Rowland.
  • In Charlottesville, where the median household income was around $64,000 and the median per capita income is $34,000, according to a U.S. Census 2016 survey, many people will be eligible for affordable health care insurance, at least for 2018.
  • The self-employed have been hardest hit. Some are looking at hiring employees to qualify for group insurance. Other options include short-term insurance, which does not cover pre-existing conditions, and the Christian cost-sharing ministry Medi-Share, which is not insurance but is exempt under the ACA’s individual mandate.
Categories
News

‘Life-changing’: Medical marijuana inches toward desperate families

Beth Collins and her daughter, Jennifer, moved to Colorado to be able to legally obtain the cannabis oil that helped control Jennifer’s seizures.  Contributed photo

Within the next few years, three Charlottesville families will be able to legally obtain the cannabis oil extract that eases the seizures of their children with debilitating intractable epilepsy, thanks to unanimous approval in the General Assembly in February, passing even the usually marijuana-averse House of Delegates 99-0.

Good news, right? Yet none of those families will speak on the record with C-VILLE Weekly. The reason? Marijuana is still illegal, and they fear that could bring repercussions for those who have a federal security clearance or ties to law enforcement or professional licensing, according to one of the parents.

“Nothing we do changes federal law,” says Delegate Rob Bell, who chairs the criminal law subcommittee.

Some, like Fairfax resident Beth Collins, moved to Colorado in 2013 to be able to legally obtain cannabidiol oil, aka CBD, when doctor-prescribed pharmaceuticals couldn’t control the seizures her daughter, Jennifer, was experiencing, and their side effects were making her suicidal, in a rage and violent, says Collins.

THC-A, another non-psychoactive cannabis extract, lessened Jennifer’s seizures and “stopped her grand mal seizures entirely,” says Collins. But they missed the family they left behind, and after a year returned to Virginia.

Jennifer wrote a letter to members of the General Assembly. “Within 10 minutes we heard from Senator [Dave] Marsden,” says Collins. “He said, ‘This is ridiculous.’”

In 2015, the General Assembly passed an affirmative defense law, which offered a small protection for those who had a certificate issued by a practitioner stating that the oil was to treat intractable epilepsy.

So while parents were less likely to be busted by the state, they still had no legal way to obtain the oil. “The parents said that doesn’t help us get it,” says Bell.

The latest bill allows the Board of Pharmacy to issue permits to processors to manufacture and provide the oil in approved facilities, but that doesn’t mean families will be able to get it from their nearest CVS anytime soon.

It’s still illegal for a doctor to write a prescription, and the narrow law only applies to intractable epilepsy, not Crohn’s disease or cancer or any of the other health conditions advocates claim medical marijuana aids.

A bill that included those conditions moved from Bell’s criminal law subcommittee to the Joint Commission on Health Care because members felt it required medical expertise, he says. “We felt this wasn’t our strong point.”

“That’s phenomenal,” says Jes Vegas, chapter leader of Jefferson Area NORML. “I am very overjoyed. It was a watershed this year.”

That the General Assembly made a baby step toward medical marijuana, Collins believes, was the result of parent-led lobbying to educate legislators one at a time. “They were so against it at first,” she says. “The fact we had a unanimous vote speaks to how far we’ve come.”

Bell agrees. “For complicated issues, it helps to have more than 15 minutes before the bill is heard. We wanted medical evidence and stories.”

Legislators like Bell learned how profoundly the kids with intractable epilepsy were affected—and how the cannabis oil helped. Jennifer Collins, now 17, testified before the committee. “She was visibly different,” says Bell. “She testified how debilitating it was when she was 15, 16.”

Some of intractable patients’ parents are also lobbying Congress, and met with Representative Tom Garrett last week. Garrett introduced a bill February 27 to federally decriminalize marijuana and remove it from the list of controlled substances, where it’s been categorized a Schedule I drug along with heroin and LSD—drugs deemed to have no medicinal value.

nicole&sophiaMiller
Nicole Miller says the effect cannabis oil has had on Sophia has been “life changing.” Contributed photo

Richmond resident Nicole Miller’s daughter’s rare epilepsy is called Dravet syndrome. “[Sophia] has been having uncontrollable seizures since she was 8 months old,” says Miller. Despite being on four medications, Sophia had life-threatening seizures every 10 to 14 days, says Miller.

When Sophia, now 6, began taking CBD oil in July 2015, she went three months without a seizure, says her mother. “It was life-changing,” says Miller.

Severe seizures can affect a child’s cognitive abilities. Sophia “can say the alphabet, she can add,” says Miller. “The quality of life she has is phenomenal.”

The parents C-VILLE spoke with were circumspect about how they obtain CBD oil, and are concerned about its quality. And there’s the cost. “It’s just so expensive,” says Miller—$275 a month for that one medication.

One of the Charlottesville parents spoke to C-VILLE only on the condition no identifying information was used. Collins finds that fear of publicity understandable. “I think it’s the fact we’re all committing crimes to give our children medicine,” she says.

Before using cannabidiol oil, the local mother described her child as “doped up on a lot of medications that weren’t controlling the seizures,” and that have side effects.

“It’s definitely been better,” she says. And while her child has not been seizure-free, she has seen a significant improvement in them. “Every seizure has different aspects and carries risk of injury and death,” she says.

Collins hopes she and other parents have educated legislators enough to be open to how marijuana can help other conditions. “This is not a legislative decision,” she says. “It should be one made by doctors.”

Asks Vegas, “How long should children suffer?”

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of September 21-27

Food & Drink
Edible native fruits and nuts
Saturday, September 24

While exploring the Saunders-Monticello Trail, learn which berries, nuts and fruits are edible, as well as the history of these native foods and ways to prepare them. $18, 9:30-11:30am. Kemper Park, Thomas Jefferson Parkway. monticello.org

Nonprofit
In the Pink tennis tournament
Saturday, September 24

The Women’s Committee for the Martha Jefferson Hospital Foundation hosts a doubles tennis tournament for men, women and teens to raise money for Marianne’s Room and the Cancer Resource Center. $25-50 individual entry fee; $50-100 doubles team entry fee, 9am-noon. Various locations. 654-8258.

Health & Wellness
Plank-off for Women’s Four Miler
Wednesday, September 21

Local fitness studios are joining together to host a planking competition and raffles to benefit the Women’s Four Miler and UVA Cancer Center. Donations accepted, 6:30pm. Kardinal Hall, 722 Preston Ave. 295-4255.

Family
Fall Into Fun Festival
September 24-25

This fifth annual fall festival at Chiles Peach Orchard celebrates all things autumn with apple- and pumpkin-picking, donut-decorating, hayrides, scavenger hunts and more. Admission is free; some activities are fee-based, 9am-6pm Saturday and 10am-5pm Sunday. Chiles Peach Orchard, 1351 Greenwood Rd., Crozet. chilesfamilyorchards.com

Categories
Living

Living Picks: To-do this week

Celebrate diverse culture at the African American Cultural Arts Festival, help find homes for dogs at the BarkAID 5k and enjoy beer and bites at Ivy Provisions' Barn & Brew this week. Photo: File photo

Family    

Chihamba’s 27th Annual African American Cultural Arts Festival

This year’s event features West African cuisine, a hair show, vendors, entertainment and more.

Saturday 7/30. Free, 10:30am-7:30pm. Booker T. Washington Park, Preston Avenue and 10th Street NW. chihambacharlot tesville@gmail.com.

Nonprofit

BarkAID 5K and 50 States Tour

Paws for Pits partners with internationally known hair stylist Patrick Lomantini for a 5K race and event that includes vendors, food trucks and kids activities. Proceeds benefit the local nonprofit that specializes in the rescue of “bully breeds.”

Friday 7/29. $20, 10am-6pm. Radiance Salon, 2556 Jefferson Hwy. #108, Waynesboro. (540) 943-8266.

Health & Wellness

Community Health Fair

This ninth annual event held in conjunction with the African American Cultural Arts Festival seeks to educate and inform the public and features health screenings.

Saturday 7/30. Free, 10:30am-7:30pm. Booker T. Washington Park, Preston Avenue and 10th Street NW. chihambacharlot tesville@gmail.com.

Food & Drink

Barn & Brew

Ivy Provisions hosts Richmond’s Hardywood and The Rock Barn for a celebration of brews and pork. Tastings of beer and grilled cuts with full pours and dinner specials available for purchase.

Friday 7/29. Free, 5pm. Ivy Provisions, 2206 Ivy Rd. 202-1308.

Categories
News

UVA researchers discover immune cells call the shots

Anthony Filiano led the study that suggests immune cells control social behavior, which could impact schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. Anita Impagliazzo/UVA Health

Groundbreaking research has emerged from UVA researchers showing that immune cells control social behavior. Last year, the same lab debunked a long-held scientific belief that the brain lacked a connection with the immune system, which will require medical textbooks to be rewritten.

The researchers, led by Jonathan Kipnis, chairman of the department of neuroscience in UVA’s Medical School, are a part of the Kipnis lab, a group that believes risky and even crazy experiments are what move science forward, according to the lab’s website.

Initial experimentation found that immune-deficient mice have social deficits, which led the researchers to examine the brain and map out which neural circuits may be affected.

Using a procedure known as resting-state functional MRI, the researchers evaluated interactions that occurred within the brain when it is not performing an explicit task. Through this method, they discovered regions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that were interacting irregularly with one another.

This discovery steered the researchers to concentrate on the PFC.  Located in the front part of the brain, the PFC is believed to have an integral influence in personality expression, social behavior and decision-making.

The UVA researchers discovered that the immune system not only directly affects a creature’s social behavior, but also controls it. The prefrontal cortex is critical in determining social behavior and, in mice, overactivating the PFC results in social discord.

The study shows how an immune cell-derived molecule, interferon-gamma, acts as a rheostat, an instrument used to control electrical current that limits hyper-connectivity in the PFC. The release of these interferon-gamma cytokines (IFN-g) envelopes the lab’s future work.

“Our hypothesis is that through the release of IFN-g, the immune system can influence behaviors, such as sociability, by directly modulating neural circuits,” says Anthony Filiano, the lead author of the study.

Because neurons and synapses have been difficult to target therapeutically, the immune system may offer a new avenue for intervention.

“Our finding demonstrates, at least in mice, that we can manipulate the immune system from the periphery and influence the inner workings of the brain,” Filiano says.

Currently, the preclinical study is using mice; however, this discovery could have significant implications regarding neurological diseases such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.

“Given the mounting evidence that immune dysfunction is present in most neurological disorders, and targeting the immune system is historically easier than neurons, neuro-immune interactions are a very attractive new therapeutic target,” Filiano says.—Melissa Angell

Categories
Arts Living

Living Picks: To-do this week

Take the family out for the Sweet Dreams Festival, eat for a cause with Restaurant Week, join the community for a fun run and more this week. Photo: Staff photo

Family    

Sweet Dreams Festival

This family-friendly event features activities including a craft tent, rock climbing wall, laser tag, inflatables and more.

Saturday 7/23. Free, 9am-4pm. Stuarts Draft Park, 96 Edgewood Ln., Stuarts Draft. sweetdreamsday.com.

Nonprofit

Restaurant Week

Enjoy specially designed menus in local restaurants, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Through Saturday, 7/23. Prices vary, various times and locations. charlottesvillerestaurantweek.com.

Health & Wellness

Hoo-ville Community Fun Run

Join students, staff, faculty and community members for some social exercise with a variety of paces and distances.

Thursday, 7/21. Free, 5:30pm. Ragged Mountain Running Shop, 3 Elliewood Ave. 293-3367.

Food & Drink

Chateau Ste. Michelle wine dinner

Winemaker Raymon McKee and Boar’s Head executive chef J. Russell Bradshaw serve a five-course seasonal dinner and carefully selected wine pairings.

Wednesday, 7/20. $85, 6pm. Old Mill Room, Boar’s Head Inn, 200 Ednam Dr. 972-2230.

Categories
Living

Zoom Indoor Cycling joins the local boutique fitness scene

Zoom Indoor Cycling owners Justin (pictured) and Cara Goodman brought in a light wall, created by a designer in the United Kingdom. The lights sync up to the music, to give you an added push during your workout. Photo: Martyn Kyle

When the owner of MADabolic grins at you from her bike and says, “Sometimes this class kicks my ass,” you know you’re in for a good workout.

On Saturday, June 26, about a dozen people clipped onto bicycles in the rows of stationary bikes at Zoom Indoor Cycling, located in the Barracks Road shopping center, for a rainbow-and-love-themed workout. Affectionately named the Pride Ride, this particular session cost $15 per person, and all the proceeds went to the OneOrlando Fund, which provides support to the families of the Orlando shooting victims. A bubbly and theatrical instructor with a long ponytail and a bright tie-dyed T-shirt bounced into the room and onto the elevated bike at the front, where she led the group through an intense 45-minute class. Spinning your legs that hard for that long is great exercise no matter what the cause. But when the floor-to-ceiling mirror erupts in dancing rainbow lights and every person in the room is pedaling in perfect sweaty unison as Beyoncé blasts through the speakers, it’s easy to get swept up and feel like you’re a part of something.

And that’s exactly what owners Justin and Cara Goodman want.

“One of the reasons we put the bikes as close as they can be without infringing on personal space is that the feeling of riding as a pack is tremendously powerful,” says Justin Goodman. “When everybody’s doing a gritty climb to the beat, left, right, left right, it looks cool and feels cool, and it’s really drawing on that group experience.”

With a plan in mind to open a cycling studio, the Goodmans moved to Charlottesville in the summer of 2015 after living in Washington, D.C., for several years. They traveled as far as Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai to visit and research cycle studios all over the world, and Zoom’s official opening day was April 1.

“Charlottesville is definitely growing into a much more cosmopolitan city than when I was growing up here, and we wanted to bring in studio elements that you typically only see in larger cities,” Goodman says. “We really wanted to do something that Charlottesville hadn’t seen before.”

One of those big city elements? The light wall, created by a designer in the United Kingdom. The giant mirror behind the instructor has an elaborate lighting system that syncs up with the music so just when you’re starting to wonder whether you’ll make it through a tough climb, a vibrant light show, hand in hand with the thumping beat, gives you a push.

“It gives this emotional lift and it’s a cool surprise from behind the mirror,” he says.

Right now Zoom offers two types of classes: ZRide and ZPower. ZRide is a rhythm-based class in which the pedaling always matches the beats of whatever playlist the instructor designs. It incorporates climbs and sprints, plus strength training elements like handlebar push-ups and hand weight exercises. Goodman describes the ZRide as more “whole body focused.” ZPower is a more classic, cardio-heavy ride without the upper body movements. Instructors encourage riders to use the computers mounted on the bikes—it’s more metrics based, and Goodman recommends this class for anyone whose goal is to track progress.

You’ll never hear the same playlist twice, according to Goodman, and he often reminds beginners that the resistance knob on the bike gives them complete control. Oh, and the first class is free, so really you’ve got nothing to lose—except a bucketful of sweat. And if you missed the Pride Ride but want to exercise for the greater good, keep an eye out for future Zoom events.

“We definitely want to make charitable giving an emphasis of what we’re doing,” Goodman says. “People our age like to have an impact with the business they start, and they expect the businesses they patronize to have that type of focus. We want to have an impact when we can, and keep it light and fun.”

Sweat all over town

“Really nobody should tell you that any one form of exercise is all you ever need to do for your body,” says Justin Goodman. “You need a combination of strength, cardio, stretching and rest.”

Which is where I Sweat Cville comes in. The Goodmans have teamed up with the owners of three other local boutique fitness studios—MADabolic, b:core methods and treadHAPPY—to offer class packages that incorporate all four of those elements through high-intensity interval training, barre, running and spinning. Class passes expire 60 days after activation.

Intro $49 for four classes (one at each studio)

Plus $175 for 12 classes (three at all four studios or four classes at three studios)

Ultimate $340 for 24 classes (six classes at all four studios or eight classes at three studios)