The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)

The State Health Insurance Assistance Program, is a national program providing one-on-one counseling and assistance to people with Medicare and their families. Called SHIP or SHIIP in many states, these state-level programs also go by various other names (for example, in Florida it is "SHINE" and in Connecticut it is called "Choices").

Through federal grants directed to states, SHIPs provide free counseling and assistance in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Trained SHIP counselors offer information, counseling and assistance to people with Medicare on a wide range of Medicare and Medicaid, and Medigap matters, including, Medicare+Choice health plan options, long-term care insurance, claims and billing problem resolution, information and referral on public benefit programs for those with limited income and assets, and other health insurance benefit information. In addition, SHIPs also support efforts to inform Medicare beneficiaries about fraud and abuse. This support is provided many different ways through the SHIPs, including telephone and face-to-face interactive sessions, public education presentations and programs, and media activities.

SHIPs are principally made up of a network of volunteers supported by local sponsoring organizations. Paid staff manage these local programs and also serve as SHIP counselors. Under the direction and support of state program directors and trainers, SHIP counselors receive extensive training and continuous ongoing information updates about Medicare and other health insurance topics.

The SHIP network nationwide includes close to 1,000 sponsoring organizations supporting over 12,000 counselors (mostly volunteers) and staff. Last year alone, the SHIPs served in excess of 2 million Medicare beneficiaries, with about 1.2 million of those served through one-on-one, in-person and over the telephone counseling sessions and approximately 800,000 served through SHIP presentations and public education programs. In addition, SHIPs help beneficiaries through approximately 20,000 outreach events and media activities conducted annually.

Source: CMS website