(RALEIGH) -- The federal program to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries in North Carolina is undergoing some changes. Pharmacist Mike James said Medicare Part D re-enroll has been moved up to December 7th, as opposed to the old deadline at the end of the year.

"Unfortunately we probably see that a lot of things don't get done in the government between December 15th and the 31st, so what they did is finally decide that they needed to stop that earlier so there would be time to get people in place by the 1st of January, so that's what they are doing this year," said James.

He hopes residents will look closely at their plan for a variety of reasons. "There is a great possibility that the plan that you had last year, the year before that, and the year before that is not here now and you're going to have to make a chang.  We're also seeing a lot of programs that are going to be here this year that are going to send out new cards, the card that you currently have, as of January 1st will not be the correct card anymore," added James.

There are also premiums hikes. Low premium customers will have to meet a $320 deductible before their benefit kicks in, according to James. In North Carolina, premiums will run as low as $15 to as high as $130.