About SHIPs

What Are SHIPs?
State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) provide personalized counseling and assistance to 45 million Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers who need help navigating the increasingly complex health care system, including the Medicare program. SHIPs provide accurate, understandable, and objective information, counseling, and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries on a wide range of health insurance issues, including Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care, and prescription drugs.

SHIPs were established in 1990 and are funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Some SHIPs also receive funding from their state government and other sources. SHIPs may be known by different names in each state, such as HICAP, SHINE, and SHEBA. Please refer to the SHIP enabling statute which explains their function and the services they provide to Medicare beneficiaries. 

Where Are SHIPs?
SHIPs are located in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In some states, SHIPs are located in their Department of Insurance but primarily, many SHIP offices are located in Area Agencies on Aging. SHIP staff and counselors are also located in other community-based organizations that serve older adults and people living with disabilities such as senior centers and hospitals.

Find a SHIP 

How Do SHIPs Work?
Over 12,000 staff members and volunteers work in 1,300 local SHIP offices across the country. Dedicated volunteers, many of whom are retired professionals, provide much of the one-on-one, objective counseling for which SHIPs are known. Essentially, SHIPs operate through “neighbors helping neighbors” and “each one teach one” to help Medicare beneficiaries understand an increasingly complex health care system.

Become a trained SHIP Volunteer

Why Are SHIPs Important
The needs of the 45 million Americans who depend on Medicare for their health care are multifaceted and diverse. More than one-quarter of beneficiaries have cognitive impairments; almost one-third have limitations in activities of daily living such as eating and dressing; almost one-third have not graduated from high school; and more than 1 in 10 are over 85 years of age. Yet these beneficiaries are trying to navigate a health care system that is growing more complex each year. Recent changes within the megastructure of American health care-- including changes to Medicare, employer-subsidized retiree health care, and state Medicaid programs-- and the inter-relationship of these programs are particularly bewildering for seniors and people with disabilities. These changes contribute to what one commentator has called, “the profusion of confusion.”

Why SHIPs are Critical

Funding SHIPs