The Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) is looking for intelligent, communicative and motivated volunteers willing to train to become Registered Medicare Counselors. We are looking for volunteers who are bilingual in English/Spanish, English/Arabic, or English/Vietnamese
During confidential one-on-one counseling sessions, HICAP Counselors empower clients to make informed decisions about their health care by educating Medicare beneficiaries and their families about Medicare benefits, choices, rights, and protections. We also advocate on behalf of beneficiaries, helping to resolve entitlement errors, service denials, billing issues, and screening beneficiaries for eligibility into various assistance programs.
To become a Counselor, we ask that you make a one year minimum commitment to HICAP. Upon completion of a rigorous 4-week training program, totalling 25 hours of training time, volunteers are certified by the State of California to be Medicare Counselors; to maintain certification requires 40 counseling hours and 12 continuing education hours annually. We ask Counselors to see clients by appointment on regular days each month, in addition to attending a Continuing Education meeting on the second Friday of each month. All volunteer activities will take place during regular business hours.
Spring trainings classes are conducted annually.