The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) funds 54 State Health Insuance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The programs often go under different names in various states such as HICAP, SHIBA, SHICK, SHINE, and so forth. Unfortunately the are also often controlled by whatever political party controls the respective state government and that is too bad.
In FY2011, the last year for which I could find data, Congress appropriated $50 million in funding for the SHIP program. This includes direct grants to states and support contracts including the SHIP National Resource Center contract and the SHIP National Performance Measurement and Reporting contract. The SHIP network is comprised of paid staff, approximately 1,300 local sponsoring organizations, and 15,000 counselors (approximately 55% are volunteers).
CMS expects SHIPs to provide access to beneficiaries statewide; provide access at the local level; provide access to hard-to-reach populations; have a well-trained workforce (paid and volunteer); provide accurate and timely information to beneficiaries; participate in CMS education and communication activities; and report its activities to CMS through an established CMS data system. All the volunteers pass a national recertification test annually
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