If you’ve been thinking about changing your Medicare coverage, the time to act is now. The dates for Medicare Open Enrollment are early this year to allow for a smoother transition to a new plan. Not only did Open Enrollment start earlier, but it also ends earlier – the last day for you to change your Medicare plan is now December 7.

Just as different people have different health care needs, so does each State. In order to meet different health care demands, today we are announcing our plans to give States across the country additional flexibility and resources to implement the health care law to best meet the needs of their citizens.

CDC will be supporting organizations across the country in their vaccination efforts during National Influenza Vaccination Week. There are podcasts, ecards and other e-health activities to support this effort. You can help in promoting the ongoing flu vaccine efforts by placing these graphics on your web pages.

This month, we’re highlighting the many reasons to be thankful for these new benefits. So we put out the call asking you to give us a few examples about the new health care benefits you’re thankful for, and share stories about how you’ve been helped by the law. Already, on we’ve heard from hundreds of you. Using the hashtag #ThanksHCR, here are just a few examples of what people across America have said on Twitter.

This year, people need to make any changes to Medicare coverage even sooner – by December 7 – because Open Enrollment ends earlier.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we are beginning to see more coordinated care by encouraging providers to work together. In the last few weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a number of initiatives to achieve coordinated care for beneficiaries with Medicare.

Four seasonal flu documents were developed as a result of focus groups and educational sessions conducted with refugees in their native languages. The materials are designed to improve knowledge of seasonal flu in refugee populations; thus they are written in the native languages of refugee populations commonly resettled in the United States. All four documents are tailored for low literacy populations by using minimal text and using visual cues to portray seasonal flu information.