Hawaii SHIP Medicare Help: Phone Numbers, Travel and Costs (2026)

For free Medicare counseling in Hawaii, call Hawaii SHIP at 586-7299 on Oahu or toll-free at 1-888-875-9229.1 Hawaii SHIP, the State Health Insurance Assistance Program run by the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging, gives one-to-one help to people with Medicare, their families and caregivers throughout Hawaii, through trained, certified volunteer counselors.1

In This Guide

• Who Runs Hawaii SHIP?
• Which Hawaii Office Handles Your Problem
• How to Reach a Hawaii SHIP Counselor
• What a Hawaii SHIP Counselor Can Answer
• Flying to the Mainland or Abroad: What Your Medicare Covers
• Help Paying Your Medicare Costs in Hawaii
• Medigap Questions, and When to Call the Insurance Division Instead
• A Charge You Don't Recognize Goes to SMP Hawaii
• Is a Hawaii SHIP Counselor Trying to Sell You a Plan?
• When to Call, and What to Have Ready
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Who Runs Hawaii SHIP?

Hawaii SHIP is a program of the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging, which sits within the Hawaii State Department of Health.1 Hawaii's Department of Health describes a program whose trained, certified volunteer counselors give one-to-one help to people with Medicare throughout Hawaii and also give presentations, both at no charge to the public.1

Nationally, SHIP is managed by the Administration for Community Living's Office of Healthcare Information and Counseling, and SHIP services are delivered by state units on aging or state departments of insurance working with local partners.1 Medicare's "Medicare Appeals" guide defines a SHIP as a state program that gets money from the federal government to give free local health insurance counseling to people with Medicare.2

"Volunteer" doesn't mean untrained. MedPAC (the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission) reports that all SHIP staff, volunteer and paid, must complete training before assisting beneficiaries, and that 48 percent of the 10,043 SHIP staff and volunteers in place from July to December 2025 were unpaid volunteers.3

Our Hawaii Medicare plans and coverage guide covers premiums and plan types across the islands, and our guide to free Medicare counseling through your SHIP explains how these programs work nationally. This page is about getting help from Hawaii's program.

Which Hawaii Office Handles Your Problem

Hawaii SHIP is one of several doors, and calling the right one first saves a transfer. The phone numbers below come from each office's own pages.

The rows rest on the Executive Office on Aging's pages for Hawaii SHIP and SMP Hawaii, the Hawaii Insurance Division's complaint page, Med-QUEST's role in the Medicare Savings Programs, and Medicare.gov's contact page.1,4,5,6,7

How to Reach a Hawaii SHIP Counselor

What a Hawaii SHIP Counselor Can Answer

Hawaii's Department of Health lists the questions Hawaii SHIP volunteer counselors answer:1

• What Medicare will pay for, and how much it pays for those services
• What your Medigap and Medicare Advantage options are
• What prescription drug coverage and other options are available to you
• What Medicare covers when you travel
• What resources can help you pay Medicare costs, including the Medicare Savings Program

Federal guidance describes SHIP help more broadly. Medicare.gov lists billing problems, complaints about medical care or treatment, how Medicare works with other insurance, and plan choices among the questions SHIP counseling covers.1 Medicare's appeals guide (April 2026) tells people with Medicare to call their SHIP for free, personalized counseling, including help with appeals.2 Our guide to Medicare appeals covers each level and its deadline.

Whether a counselor will actually put you into a plan is a different question. MedPAC's June 2026 report says some SHIP grantees help enroll beneficiaries in Medicare plans, which means the answer isn't the same in every state, so ask Hawaii SHIP directly whether its counselors will complete an enrollment with you or help you compare and decide.3

Flying to the Mainland or Abroad: What Your Medicare Covers

Coverage while traveling is on Hawaii SHIP's own list of topics, and for people who fly to see family on the mainland or travel in Asia, it's often the question that matters most.1 Here's how the rules sort out.

A trip to the mainland is not foreign travel. Under Medicare's rules, the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa all count as part of the United States.8

A Medicare Advantage network may not travel with you. In a Medicare Advantage HMO, you generally must get care from the plan's network, except for emergency care, out-of-area urgent care and temporary out-of-area dialysis, and non-emergency care outside the network without authorization can leave you paying the full cost. A Medicare Advantage PPO generally lets you use out-of-network providers for covered services, usually at a higher cost.9 If you're in an HMO and plan a long stay with family on the mainland, ask a Hawaii SHIP counselor how your plan handles routine care away from home before you book. Our guide to Medicare Advantage HMO vs. PPO plans explains the difference.

Outside the U.S., Original Medicare usually pays nothing. Medicare.gov says Original Medicare usually doesn't cover care you get while traveling outside the United States, and you pay all of the costs in most cases. Medicare drug plans don't cover prescriptions you buy outside the U.S.8

Some Medigap plans add foreign travel emergency coverage. On Medicare.gov's standardized-benefit chart, Medigap Plans C, D, F, G, M and N cover 80% of foreign travel emergency care up to plan limits, while Plans A, B, K and L do not cover it.8 Medicare.gov also notes you may choose to buy a travel insurance policy for more coverage. Our guide to Medicare coverage outside the U.S. covers the rare cases where Medicare pays abroad.

Help Paying Your Medicare Costs in Hawaii

Hawaii sets its own, higher income limits for the Medicare Savings Programs, which Med-QUEST, Hawaii's Medicaid agency, runs. In 2026, Social Security's program manual puts Hawaii's Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) income limit at $1,550 a month for one person and $2,095 for a couple, against $1,350 and $1,824 in the other 48 contiguous states.6 The 2026 asset limit in Hawaii for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB), Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) and Qualifying Individual (QI-1) programs is $9,950 for one person and $14,910 for two.6

Federal guidance says SHIP helps people with limited income apply for the Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid and Extra Help.1 Our guide to Hawaii Medicare Savings Programs has every program's limits, what each pays and how to apply.

Medigap Questions, and When to Call the Insurance Division Instead

Hawaii's Medigap rules open a window at any age, which matters most to people under 65 who have Medicare because of a disability. Under Hawaii Administrative Rules §16-12-6.2, every Medigap policy an insurer currently sells must be offered without regard to age to applicants who apply before or during the six months that begin with their first month of Medicare Part B, and the insurer can't refuse or price the policy based on health.5 Our Hawaii Medicare Supplement guide covers that window and the guaranteed-issue rules that follow it.

Medicare's guide "Choosing a Medigap Policy" advises calling your SHIP to make sure you qualify for a guaranteed issue right, and calling your State Insurance Department if you're denied Medigap coverage in one of those situations.5 In Hawaii, that department is the Hawaii Insurance Division, part of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which encourages consumers to speak with an investigator before filing a complaint because a resolution is sometimes possible without one.5

A Charge You Don't Recognize Goes to SMP Hawaii

If your Medicare statement shows something you never received, the Executive Office on Aging has a separate program for it: Senior Medicare Patrol Hawaii (SMP Hawaii), a volunteer-based program that provides information to detect, prevent and report Medicare fraud, abuse and waste.4 SMP Hawaii asks people to review their Medicare Summary Notice and Part D Explanation of Benefits for three things:4

• Charges for something you didn't get
• Billing for the same thing twice
• Services your doctor didn't order

SMP Hawaii says to call your doctor or health plan first with a question about one of those statements, and to call SMP Hawaii if you aren't comfortable doing that or aren't satisfied with the answer.4 You can also report suspected fraud to Medicare yourself by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or through Medicare.gov's page on reporting Medicare fraud.10 Our guide to Medicare fraud protection shows what to look for on your statements.

Is a Hawaii SHIP Counselor Trying to Sell You a Plan?

No. Medicare.gov says SHIPs are not connected to any insurance company or health plan.1 Federal law backs that up: 42 U.S.C. 1395b-4 requires each state's SHIP grant plan to provide assurances that SHIP staff members, including volunteers, have no conflict of interest in providing counseling.11 The Administration for Community Living's conflict-of-interest resource for SHIP programs names anyone who receives compensation for enrolling beneficiaries in a specific insurance plan as an example of a person with an inherent conflict of interest.11 Our comparison of SHIP counselors and Medicare brokers explains how a broker is paid and when one may still be a reasonable choice.

When to Call, and What to Have Ready

Medicare Open Enrollment runs October 15 through December 7 each year, and changes you make then take effect January 1 of the following year.12 Hawaii SHIP's counselors are volunteers, so plan for demand. MedPAC reports that SHIP funding has not kept pace with growth in Medicare enrollment, that SHIP grantees depend on the availability of volunteer staff, and that counselors face capacity constraints as call volumes have risen.3 So call Hawaii SHIP in early October, and if you don't get through on the first try, try again rather than deciding on your own. Our Medicare Open Enrollment guide explains what you can change.

A counselor can do more with your paperwork in hand than with a description of it. Gather:

• Your Medicare card and any plan cards
• A list of your prescriptions and doses
• The names of the doctors and hospitals you want to keep, on your island and anywhere you travel often
• Your monthly income, if you want help applying for a Medicare Savings Program

Learn More

Find personalized help getting free Hawaii SHIP support with a plan choice, a trip off-island or a Medicare cost at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.