Men’s Health Month: Trust By: Harold Phillips
Posted: June 22, 2026
Every Men’s Health Month, we hear a familiar message: men need to go to the doctor.
The advice is well-intentioned. Men are less likely to seek preventive care, more likely to delay treatment, and often wait until a health issue becomes a crisis before asking for help.
But if we are serious about improving men’s health, we need to ask a different question:
Why do so many men avoid healthcare in the first place?
For me, the answer is personal.
Neither of my grandfathers liked doctors. Neither liked hospitals. Both avoided healthcare until they could no longer avoid it. Both died from illnesses that might have been prevented, treated earlier, or managed more effectively had they engaged with the healthcare system sooner.
My father is not very different.
Like many men of his generation, he sees healthcare as something you turn to only when necessary. Preventive care feels optional. Doctors are for emergencies. If something hurts, you push through it.
Their stories are not unique. In fact, they are part of a larger tapestry that helps explain why so many men remain out of care.
Too often, we frame men’s health as a matter of personal responsibility. We tell men to make appointments, get screened, and take better care of themselves. Those things matter. But that conversation overlooks an important reality: many men do not trust healthcare systems because healthcare systems have not always earned their trust.
Many men have felt dismissed, judged, or unheard. Men of color, gay, bisexual, transmen, rural men, and men with lower incomes often face even greater barriers. When people do not feel respected, they stop showing up.
When we talk about men being “out of care,” we need to look beyond individual behavior and examine the systems that have failed to engage them.
Trust matters.
Men are more likely to seek care when they believe they will be treated with dignity. They are more likely to return when providers listen without judgment. They are more likely to follow medical advice when they feel like partners rather than problems to be fixed.
If we want better health outcomes, healthcare must become more accessible, more responsive, and more relationship centered. That means flexible hours, easier access to appointments, less bureaucracy, and providers who understand the realities men bring with them when they walk through the door.
Families and friends also have a role to play.
Many men seek care because someone they love encouraged them to do so. A spouse schedules the appointment. A friend shares a health scare. A child says, “I want you around.”
Those conversations save lives.
We should normalize talking about physical and mental health among men. We should check on one another, encourage preventive care, and create spaces where asking for help is seen as a sign of strength rather than weakness.
As a public health advocate, I believe Men’s Health Week should be about more than urging men to become better patients. It should challenge us to build healthcare systems that men can trust.
I think about my grandfathers, the opportunities they missed, and how deeply I miss them. I think about my father and the habits that persist across generations. And I think about the many families carrying similar stories.
Building Systems Worthy of Trust
That is why NMAC’s strategic priority #4, Strengthen Structural and Systemic Excellence through Workforce Training and Enhancing Organizational Capacity, matters. It calls us to help build more responsive systems of prevention and care.
That work requires more than telling men to go to the doctor. It requires systems that listen, respect, and serve—systems that make trust possible.
When men feel valued, they are more likely to seek care, stay in care, and live healthier lives.
That is not only good for men. It is good for families, communities, and the health of our nation.