The State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or SHIP, is a state-based program that offers local one-on-one counseling and assistance to people with Medicare and their families.
Through Administration for Community Living (ACL) funded 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. The SHIPs were originally established to address the confusion caused by the increase in choices of Medicare supplemental insurance, or Medigap.
SHIP services are free and unbiased.