At Issue
MESSA keeps focus on serving our members
Across the nation, the cost of medical
services and prescription drugs,
an aging population, and new and more
expensive technologies continue to drive
the cost of health care upward.
In Michigan, the state’s economic ups and downs have left school districts and their employees in a financial crunch for five years.
And a few partisan politicians in the state Senate remain determined to undermine MESSA’s successful business model to make it harder for us to continue to provide the high quality benefit plans and outstanding service that have drawn top-notch employees to education careers for decades.
Members come first
For more than 46 years, MESSA has remained true to our mission as a not-forprofit membership organization to always put the best interests of our members first. That tradition remains strong today.
MESSA’s plans have always been designed with the special needs of school employees in mind. As a product of collective bargaining, we’ve always stressed the importance of quality health benefits that give our members unmatched value, peace of mind and a strong sense of financial security.
Our members know and appreciate the value of MESSA. As MESSA member Janie Sustaita told us, “My family is healthier because of these benefits. When you say to me that MESSA is a not-for-profit, to me it shows that you care more about people than you do about money.”
Having MESSA coverage gives MESSA member Merri Martens important peace of mind and lets her focus on a job she loves—teaching kids. “MESSA takes good care of you...I don’t have the type of job where I can take five minutes to talk to an insurance rep. I have children with me all the time. MESSA takes care of me in every way, shape and form.”
Unprecedented satisfaction
Our members truly love “their MESSA.” Our most recent member poll revealed that 98 percent of our members are satisfied with their MESSA coverage. That’s an unprecedented satisfaction rate. But it’s not surprising. MESSA is extremely important to public school employees throughout Michigan.
The sense of family financial security that MESSA provides has been valued for decades by school employees who’ve long felt it is the one key component of their compensation package that matters most—you can’t put a price tag on the peace of mind that MESSA gives families.
Since MESSA opened for business in 1960, having MESSA coverage has helped school districts build quality staffs.
MESSA also helps school districts save money. Our strategy of spreading risk across large regional pools provides stable, affordable rates for school employee groups and their employers. Pooling is a wise business strategy that can help reduce the cost of health coverage.
More legislative attacks
As I write this, Republican leaders in the state Senate have recently re-introduced a package of bills very similar to legislation that was blocked by a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives for all of 2006. As introduced, the bills would make it impossible for MESSA’s pooling strategy— or any other pools serving public employees—to succeed.
We were able to build a strong bipartisan coalition in the 2005-2006 Legislature because of your efforts and the efforts of all MESSA members to educate your legislators about the importance of quality health plans to school employees and public school success.
Your efforts are a vital factor in our legislative successes. We will need your support again. Republican leaders have pledged to seek quick action on the new package of bills, Senate Bills 418-421. The bills have significant flaws and need to be fixed.
Challenges ahead
As we tackle the challenges facing MESSA and the MEA—maintaining quality benefits while keeping our plans affordable for our members, improving on our longstanding tradition of providing outstanding member service, and defending our members’ right to bargain for the health benefits plan of their choice from legislative attack—please rest assured that our guiding principle is always to provide and protect the quality benefits, outstanding service, peace of mind and sense of financial security our members count on from MESSA.