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Medicare Open Enrollment deadline is Friday

About 300 Douglas County residents will have to find a new Medicare plan next year.

Friday is the deadline for Medicare Open Enrollment. That’s the time when Medicare recipients can change their health and prescription drug plans for the coming year.

Julie Brookhart, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Regional Office, says the Douglas County residents on that Blue Cross Blue Shield plan have until the end of February to find a new plan.

Brookhart says if they don’t make a decision on a plan by then, the beneficiary will get their part A and B coverage in original Medicare. “But if that plan also had a prescription drug benefit with it, and the beneficiary doesn’t have prescription drug coverage another way, such as through an employer insurance plan, they will be without prescription drug coverage starting after February 28th.”

Anyone needing more information on Medicare plans and open enrollment can call 1-800-MEDICARE or log on to www.doi.ne.gov/shiip.