Helping Medicare Beneficiaries Make Informed Decisions
Rich Yelle - Senior Project Director
Through the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Resource Center, Rich is helping Medicare beneficiaries make informed decisions about the various health insurance choices available to them.
At some point, many of the nation’s 44 million Medicare beneficiaries need assistance in understanding the vital services the system provides. AIR serves as a liaison between the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which offers direct counseling and support to Medicare beneficiaries in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
Rich Yelle is leading a team of AIR experts who operate the National SHIP Resource Center, which delivers a broad range of services – from providing training to state directors and staff to answering the specific questions of beneficiaries. The SHIPs help Medicare recipients in each state – assistance that is increasingly important as the complexity of the Medicare program grows with the addition of private plans (Medicare Advantage) and private standalone Prescription Drug Plans.
The National SHIP Resource Center provides technical assistance, training and support to the 54 SHIPs. Our work ranges from training new SHIP directors and staff to researching and providing answers to specific health insurance plan questions. We are involved in program development and support activities, including in-depth assistance in identifying and addressing individual program needs, in particular addressing the dual eligible beneficiaries, especially those with mental disabilities.