I’m just speaking for myself here, so not saying this is true for everyone or even many people, but the cost of the gym isn’t the biggest barrier for me.

I like what you say about expanding availability - there isn’t a gym within (reasonable) walking distance of me. I think facilities being in communities makes a difference.

However, one of the biggest barriers to me is childcare. Somewhere where I could take them to do their own activities while I worked out would make it far more likely that I use it, and I suspect this is the case for others. My partner works long, unpredictable hours, so I can’t sign up for the weekly classes (that I did before having children) as I don’t know that he’ll be around to look after them.

I also have chronic health issues, which don’t prevent me exercising all the time, but there are days where I cannot leave my bed because of migraine, so again, committing to something regular is difficult. (Again, persoal to me, but I’m not alone in having a chronic condition.)

I tend to walk everywhere I can as accessing formal exercise has too many barriers for me, so I do have an acceptable level of fitness, but I miss doing classes as I found these really motivating.

Sorry for the long reply - I don’t disagree that price and access are issues, but there are more besides that I think need to be addressed. Stress and available time being factors in additional to the others I mentioned.

I also think there are issues with the weight loss drugs besides cost, one of those being the need to stay on them longterm. That’s not even getting into using weight as the sole metric of health.