Medicare’s Open Enrollment Underway Now

Attention Seniors!  Today marks the first day of Medicare's Open Enrollment period.  If you're confused, you are not alone.  Ocean County is ready to help you make sense of it all.

The Ocean County Office of Senior Services wants all recipients to be prepared to review and make needed changes to their coverage.  From now until December 7th, several workshops for seniors and their caregivers will be offered in order to provide helpful information on the various plans, changes and options people have open to them.

According to Senior Services Director Jane Maloney, "during the open enrollment, people with Medicare can sign up for a new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan or switch their current plan. This is the time to review and make changes to coverage since the final selection for 2013 must be made by Dec. 7. This will ensure that Medicare has enough time to process plan choices so coverage can begin without interruption on Jan. 1, 2013."

Maloney notes that there are five educational seminars scheduled throughout the county that address the 2013 changes.

Workshop dates, times and locations are: Oct. 16, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Original Leisure Village, Buckingham Hall, 19 Buckingham Drive, Lakewood; Oct. 18, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Manchester Township Civic Center, 1 Colonial Drive, Manchester; Oct. 18, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Brick Senior Center, 373 Adamston Road, Brick Township; Oct. 22, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Ocean County Southern Service Center, 179 South Main St., Routes 9 and 72, Stafford Township, and Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to noon, the Berkeley Township Municipal Building, 627 Pinewald-Keswick Road, Berkeley Township.

The workshops are designed to provide information regarding important changes to the Part D plans in 2013. Seven (7) plans will be terminating in 2013 and five new plans will be available. The workshops are free and open to the public; registration is required by calling the Ocean County Office of Senior Services, 1-800-668-4899, 732-929-2091.