Need Help With Your Medicare Choices? Try Your Local SHIP Office

If you could use some free help with your Medicare or other open enrollment choices this year, we’ve got a great resource to help you that is completely free.

The State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or SHIP, is a national program that offers one-on-one counseling and assistance to people with Medicareand their families. Through federal grants directed to states, SHIPs provide free counseling and assistance via telephone and face-to-face interactive sessions, public education presentations and programs, and media activities. If you have questions about your Medicare or Medicare-related options (for example, Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, or Medigap health insurance), your local SHIP can provide the answers you need to get the best health insurance plans for your needs.

Because different states refer to their local SHIP differently, finding the SHIP office in your area can be tricky. Illinois’ SHIP may just be called “SHIP”, but California’s SHIP is called HICAP and Pennsylvania’s is called APPRISE. However, the SHIPtalk website provides a handy Find A State SHIPfeature which can direct to your local SHIP’s name, website, telephone number and other contact information.

With all the changes to so many Medicare-related programs this year, why not take advantage of a great, FREE resource like SHIP?

Have you used your local SHIP? Tell us about it in our discussion forum!

Related posts:

1. Need Help With Your Medicare Options? The State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) Can Help
2. HICAP: Free Medicare Health Insurance Counseling
3. Only One Month Left in Medicare Open Enrollment… Have You Made Your Choices Yet?
4. Only Two Weeks Left of Medicare Open Enrollment; Have You Made Your Choices Yet?
5. Medicare Open Enrollment: I Signed Up For a Medicare Advantage Plan and Now I Want To Drop It!