Sign-up session scheduled for Medicare Part D

Representatives from CLAIM, a Missouri Medicare and Insurance Counseling Program, will be available from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Southeast Missouri Hospital to help people sign up for a Medicare Part D plan.

CLAIM provides free, confidential and unbiased health insurance counseling to Medicare recipients. Counseling sessions, which will be in Southeast's Harrison Room, are by appointment only and may be made by calling Southeast's Generations Family Resource Center at 651-5825.

Each participant should bring along his medications (name of drug, dose and times per day) and the name of his pharmacy to help the CLAIM counselor select an appropriate plan.

Medicare Part D is the new prescription drug insurance program that went into effect Jan. 2.

This new benefit will be administered through private health insurance companies that must bid against one another to ensure the best prices for eligible beneficiaries.