Sunday, June 1, 2025
6/1/2025
West Virginia State Health Insurance Assistance Program (WV SHIP) - Understanding your health insurance is vital to ensure you receive the coverage you need. Medicare can be complex and difficult to navigate. There is a need for local, objective help to provide explanation of benefits. Currently, there are over 450,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the state of West Virginia. Through this grant, the goal of the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services, with the assistance of its partners, is to empower, educate, and assist Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers through objective outreach, counseling, and training, to make informed health insurance decisions. This funding will support a community-based network of counselors that provide counseling, education, and outreach to help achieve the program mission. The objectives: 1. Consistently and confidentially provide accurate, objective, and comprehensive information and assistance. 2. Promote awareness, knowledge, and visibility of the program. 3. Recruit, train, and retain a diverse, sufficient, and effective workforce at all levels of administration. 4. Promote adaptable and sustainable processes and activities to position the SHIP for changes in the programmatic landscape. 5. Develop and strengthen the program structure and organization, including policies, processes, and procedures, to enable effective and efficient operations. Intended outcomes: 1. Medicare beneficiaries will have a greater knowledge of health insurance benefits and options; 2. Special target population beneficiaries will be assisted; 3. Outreach and referral sources will provide WV SHIP contact information for those who have questions or issues about Medicare. The expected products include a statewide network of counselors, online resources for beneficiaries, outreach materials, annual counselor training, and toolkits for counselors and beneficiaries.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).