Our Services
Missouri Connections for Health provides many services related to health insurance and housing. Some of our services are provided directly under the Missouri Connections for Health name, and others are provided under the name of the specific program.
Health Insurance Assistance
Do you need help with health insurance? Missouri Connections for Health can provide free, unbiased help with many health insurance questions. We do not sell plans, so you can get the answers you need with no sales pressure!
Individual Insurance Help
The insurance counseling services Missouri Connections for Health offers include:
- Licensed Healthcare.gov Navigator assistance with:
- Healthcare.gov/Marketplace insurance
- Medicaid (MO HealthNet)
- Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Marketplace to Medicare transition
- Medicaid/MO HealthNet to Marketplace transition
- Understanding your options when you change jobs
- Understanding your options when you retire early
- Help understanding what your insurance policy covers
- Help understanding where to go to get healthcare covered by your insurance
- Insurance questions and appeals assistance
- Referrals to other organizations that can help
Services Through Our Programs
Missouri Connections for Health offers several services related to health insurance and housing through other programs. Read on for more information about the other services we provide:
Medicare Assistance
We are proud to have held the grant to operate the Missouri State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) since 1993! We provide these services under the program name "Missouri SHIP." We help Missourians statewide with Medicare enrollment, resolving billing issues, assistance with selecting prescription drug plans, and Medicare Advantage plans and Medigap and Supplemental plans. In addition, we provide assistance with appeals and grievances, suspected waste and fraud, long term care insurance, education on wellness and preventive services and programs to save consumers money.
Click here for more information about Missouri SHIP, or click the blue button below to go directly to our referral form.
Marketplace/ACA
Missouri Connections for Health has partnered with the Missouri Foundation for Health and a national network of organizations to help provide education about insurance options offered through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Missouri Health Insurance Marketplace. We inform Missourians about their options under ACA regulations. Our team of certified counselors removes barriers to health insurance and health care for people.
We focus on helping those under age 65 get, keep, and use health insurance by:
- guiding you through the application process,
- assisting with completing and submitting the application,
- explaining benefits provided through the plans,
- helping you understand your coverage and insurance terminology,
- teaching you how to maintain your healthcare coverage, and
- providing help as you navigate the healthcare maze.
Reach out via the Cover Missouri Call Center at 800-466-3213.
Rural Unhoused Helpline
Since 2021, Missouri Connections for Health has operated a helpline that provides Coordinated Entry assessments on behalf of other direct housing service provider agencies in specific rural counties of the state. These agencies share our toll-free helpline number with their clients who are may be eligible for housing help. Clients who are referred to us call to schedule a confidential assessment interview. Our team provides the services as a tier-3 housing assessment access point to the Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care for specific counties only. Clients then work through their region's direct service providers to secure housing.
This work is part of a Missouri Foundation for Health Opportunity Fund grant project (20-0316-OF-21). The project is an experiment in adding to an existing resource (the Cover Missouri Call Center team and infrastructure) to address an otherwise unmet need: housing assessments for rural counties that lack the capacity to complete the Coordinated Entry process on their own.
As the project progresses, Missouri Connections for Health and the Balance of State participants will gather lessons learned and determine the degree to which the present solution (the helpline, assessment team, and related resources) meet the needs as intended. We will explore the long-term sustainability of the project independent of the Missouri Foundation for Health funding. During this project, MFH continues to operate the Cover Missouri Call Center to connect Missourians to health insurance benefits such as Marketplace, CHIP, MO HealthNet/Medicaid at no additional cost. This project is an example of inter-agency collaboration during a public health emergency (Covid pandemic).
Not only will the project connect otherwise underserved rural Missourians to housing assistance. It helps ensure these Missourians are visible to the federal government systems, even in areas where there are not sufficient housing service providers to cover the needs.
Homeless Management Information System - Privacy & Security Notice
Contact & Call Center
Missouri Connections for Health operates a contact/call center that connects Missourians to health resources across the state. Our call and contact center provides services for the following three programs:
Cover Missouri Coalition/Missouri Marketplace Helpline
1-800-466-3213
We currently operate the Cover Missouri helpline as part of an agreement with the Missouri Foundation for Health and the Cover Missouri Coalition. The Cover Missouri Call Center connects Missourians with local agencies and Assisters who can help them with Healthcare.gov (Marketplace) and Medicaid (MO HealthNet) insurance questions, enrollments, and concerns.
Rural Unhoused Helpline
1-833-329-1812
We operate the Rural Unhoused Helpline described above. This work is conducted as part of the Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care. We address an otherwise unmet need: housing assessments for rural counties that lack the capacity to complete the Coordinated Entry process on their own.
Missouri SHIP Contact Center
1-800-390-3330
We provide contact/call center helpline services through our grant for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). When a Missourian with Medicare contacts us, our staff members gather their contact information and ask a few questions to determine how we can best help them. Then, the contact center passes this information on to a certified counselor who can provide one-on-one counseling to address their concerns. This allows our SHIP clients to get free, unbiased, confidential, personalized, local support! See above or visit www.missouriship.org for more information about the Missouri SHIP program.