OSHIIP celebrates 30 years

It’s an honor and privilege for us at the Ohio Department of Insurance, as the state’s insurance regulator, to serve, educate, and protect insurance consumers. This is especially a meaningful May for our Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP) staff and certified volunteers, as Older Americans Month and OSHIIP’s 30th anniversary are being celebrated.

Destined as a difference-maker when it launched in 1992, today OSHIIP, the state’s official Medicare education and coverage evaluation program, is blossoming. In the last few years, OSHIIP has provided services to nearly 700,000 people and saved Ohioans on Medicare $54 million. All of this while seamlessly adjusting to more engagement through technology, offering virtual individualized counseling, and specialthemed webinars and town halls.

OSHIIP arrived at this point through years of hard work and commitment from its smart and passionate employees, certified volunteers, and community organization partners, both past and present. Together, they have grown the OSHIIP footprint into more

Ohio communities. Together, their expertise established OSHIIP as a trusted health insurance resource for those disabled under age 65 and older Ohioans, many with low and fixed incomes. And together, their efforts earned OSHIIP national acclaim for excellence and performance.

OSHIIP staff and certified volunteers have mastered the art of simplifying the complexities of Medicare, leaving those it helps feeling more confident and empowered. They resolve complex casework, enrollment, and coordination of benefits issues, and address questions about Original Medicare;

Medicare Advantage managed care plans, prescription drug coverage options, supplemental insurance; financial assistance programs, long-term care insurance, and more.

To access OSHIIP’s free services, including Welcome to Medicare and Medicare Checkup Days virtual and on-site outreach activities, and educational information, call the OSHIIP hotline at 800686-1578, email OSHIIPmail@insurance. ohio.gov, and visit Insurance.ohio.gov. You can follow OSHIIP on Facebook. OSHIIP staff is available Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.