The SHIP Program provides free help to New Jersey Medicare beneficiaries who have problems with, or questions about their health insurance. SHIP is a statewide program sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services with major funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Care Financing Administration. Frequently there are questions about Medicare benefits and claims, Medicare supplement policies, and long-term care insurance. Volunteer counselors, trained in areas of health insurance coverage and benefits which affect Medicare beneficiaries, provide information and assistance for dealing with claims and in evaluating health insurance needs. They provide information and assistance so that you can make your own decisions.
Counseling is free of charge.
To find out the number of a volunteer in your county, call your county Office on Aging. The goal of the Wellness and Family Support Program is to foster the well-being of older adults and their caregivers through coordinated strategies aimed at health promotion, provider and consumer education, respite care, and the prevention, early detection and prompt management of disease. The NJ Statewide Respite Care Program has been operational since April of 1988. This program provides respite care services for elderly and functionally impaired persons to relieve their unpaid caregivers of stress arising from the responsibility of providing daily care. A secondary goal of the program is to provide the support necessary to help families avoid making nursing home placement of their relatives.