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Clock Is Ticking For Medicare Open Enrollment

By Lynne Adkins

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The clock is ticking on the open enrollment period for Medicare.

You have until midnight tonight to sign up for a new Medicare plan that will take effect on January first. Karen Chenoweth, supervisor at the Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, says you can sign up with a new company online or call the local APRISE office, which is a health insurance assistance program run by the state.

"They've been trained, they have Internet access, you can call them up, tell them your list of current prescriptions, they'll use the Medicare plan finder on the website and that will come up with a list of possible plan choices for you."

Chenoweth suggests picking a plan based on the three C's: "Cost, coverage and convenience. Clearly is it a cost you can afford the premiums, deductible, cost sharing, coordination of benefits, coverage? Is it covering everything you need the formularies, the benefits -- are there any exclusions?"

If you do nothing, you'll stay covered under your current plan.

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