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A federally funded health insurance program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), previously known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), for people age 65 and older; for individuals with disabilities younger than age 65 who have received Social Security Disability benefits for at least 24 consecutive months; and for insured workers and their dependents who have end stage renal disease and need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Premiums, deductibles, and co-payments or out-of-pocket costs are required for Medicare coverage. Special programs that assist with paying some or all of these costs are available for low income persons who qualify. Medicare has four parts: Hospital Insurance (Part A), which helps pay for care in a hospital or skilled nursing facility, home health care and hospice care; Supplemental Medical Insurance (Part B), which helps pay for doctors, outpatient hospital care and other medical services including the Medicare Preventive benefits (effective January 1, 2005); Medicare Advantage (Part C, formerly known as Medicare+Choice), which offers a variety of Medicare managed care options, including coordinated care plans and private, unrestricted fee-for-service plans, that are required to provide, at minimum, the same benefits as Part A and B, excluding hospice services; and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Part D, effective January 1, 2006), a program managed by private plans that assists in covering the cost of prescription drugs for beneficiaries. People who have Medicare Part A and/or Part B need to join a Medicare prescription drug program to obtain insurance coverage for prescription drugs.