“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
Put your MESSA preventive health benefits to work for you
This article is one of a three-part series focused on Women’s Health Month, Men’s Health Month and MESSA’s preventive care benefits.
Sometimes, you just have to eat the frog. Yes, it’s unpleasant, but at least you get it out of the way.
Throughout the pandemic, many people have delayed going to the doctor — putting off the proverbial frog for one reason or another. It’s time to stop procrastinating and make an appointment with your health care provider.
In 2020, fewer than half of MESSA members and covered dependents got an annual checkup. We can grant some grace for 2020, when many providers canceled physicals and other non-urgent appointments.
However, a look at recent years shows this isn’t a pandemic-specific issue.
In pre-pandemic 2019, only about 56% of members and dependents had an annual preventive exam. That’s on trend with 2021, when just 55% had their annual physical.
When you consider that MESSA covers more than 190,000 individuals, that amounts to a lot of people skipping their annual visit to the doctor.
Men have worse rates of going to the doctor than women — particularly men between the ages 18-39, with 73% not yet having gotten an annual physical in the past 12 months.
Do you see yourself in these numbers?
“I can’t stress enough how important an annual physical is for everyone, every year,” says Cathy Scott-Lynch, MESSA’s cardiovascular nurse educator. “Little things that typically get caught at a physical can turn into a serious health issue — for example, high blood pressure can turn into a stroke. Going to the doctor can prevent something that’s treatable from turning into something that’s debilitating or life-threatening.”
With MESSA, you have the best health benefits available — put them to work for you. Here is a quick rundown of the preventive benefits that MESSA covers at no charge if you go to an in-network provider:
- One physical every calendar year for all members and their covered dependents.
- Up to two gynecological exams.
- Cancer screenings, such as colonoscopies and mammograms, with some age restrictions.
- A long list of immunizations, including COVID-19; flu and pneumonia; tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap); tetanus and diphtheria (Td); measles, mumps and rubella (MMR); and zoster (shingles). Some age restrictions apply.
If you have any questions about preventive care that’s available at no charge to you, call MESSA’s Member Service Center at 800-336-0013 (TTY: 888-445-5614).
