Veterans Memorial Hospital is an official sponsor for the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), a service of the State of Iowa Insurance Division. SHIIP provides free-of-charge counseling and information to people with questions about Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance, long term care insurance, and claims filings. SHIIP can help solve problems like these:
• An Iowa woman held three long-term care policies, two Medicare supplement policies and five other health insurance policies of limited coverage. SHIIP reviewed the policies, pointing out duplication. As a result, she canceled several policies and saved $4,431 in insurance premiums annually.
• A northeast Iowa senior had 160 envelopes containing medical bills, Medicare statements and insurance statements. A SHIIP volunteer spent 26.5 hours sorting through the papers, organizing, and explaining to the client the status of each claim.