State Health Insurance Assistance Program. (SHIP) means a national program supported by the federal Administration for Community Living (ACL) that offers one-on-one counseling and assistance to people with Medicare and 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. In California, SHIP is the same program as the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP. This term may be used interchangeably with HICAP.
State Health Insurance Assistance Program. (SHIP) SHIP is a state program that gets money from the Federal government to give free local health insurance counseling to people with Medicare. Contact information for your state’s SHIP is in Addendum A at the back of your Evidence of Coverage booklet.
