Many people are blessed or cursed depending on how you look at it to have their health insurance coverage through Medicare. For many of this nation's elderly population, the options are not really clear, and the decisions they are trying to make in their best interest are difficult ones.

Since Congress enacted changes to the Medicare program a few years ago, coverage levels and options changed dramatically. For many senior citizens, maneuvering the new plan has been daunting. Considering that the changes are for the entire year, coverage choices made during enrollment are important.

Many people may not be aware of this, but the time to make changes to your Medicare options is now. The window of opportunity to amend your initial choices is upon us, and the dates to make changes to your plan are for this year from November 15th until December 31st. If you need to make changes to your original choices then you have the option to do this, but only until midnight on December 31, 2008. After that you will be locked into your choices again for another year.

This yearly enrollment period is important because it is the time for you to assess your current coverage. If there are better options that you or your friends have discovered, then making changes is important. By now most of you have had time to assess how the Medicare experience is serving your needs.

The intent of the Medicare program is to serve the needs of the senior population. Considering that many people have constantly changing healthcare issues, the program's yearly enrollment period is important to address. The time to make changes is now. Even if you've been happy with your coverage, you will be well served to revisit your program coverage to assure you're getting the best care you need.