State Health Insurance Program (SHIP)
Health Insurance Counseling
The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) offers free, unbiased help to Medicare beneficiaries, Caregivers, and their families. Whether you are new to Medicare, reviewing Medicare plan options or are stuck in the Medicare maze, we can help. When you contact SHIP, a certified counselor will give you one-on-one guidance based on each person’s unique situation and needs.
Trained counselors are here to help with:
- New to Medicare education, information and assistance
- How to enroll in Medicare
- Medigap Plan education on coverages and costs
- Open enrollment assistance (October 15th thru December 7th)
- Enrollment assistance into a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan
- Assistance in resolving billing and claims issues
- Assistance with Medicare Appeals on denied claims
The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program works hand-in-hand with SHIP to provide information to Medicare beneficiaries, with SHIP offering counseling on health care plans, and SMP focusing on educating beneficiaries about Medicare and Medicaid fraud, errors and abuse.
Eligibility:
- SHIP services are available to anyone with Medicare, regardless of age
Maryland Senior Medicare Patrol
Senior Medicare Patrol programs help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries prevent, detect and report health care fraud, errors and abuse through outreach education and counseling.
The primary goal of the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program is to empower and teach Medicare beneficiaries on how to protect their personal identity and identify and report errors on health care bills. Other goals include educating beneficiaries on how to check a Medicare Summary Notices (MSN) and how to identify deceptive health care practices, including providing unnecessary or inappropriate services, and charging for services that were never provided.
SMPs are trained to make appropriate referrals to state and federal partners for suspected cases of Medicare fraud, errors and abuse for further investigation.
Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) Program · Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) Program
Program Contact
Teri Davidson
tdavidson@macinc.org
410-742-0505 x109
