Types

• Medicare insurance is financed through employment taxes and direct contributions from recipients' Social Security benefits. Part A pays for hospital insurance and inpatient care. Part B pays for doctors' visits and supplies. Part C is an optional insurance plan that allows recipients to choose a provider organization. Part D, also optional, pays for prescription drugs.
  
  

Identification

• Medicaid is available to most people who qualify for Social Security disability payments, regardless of age, based upon financial hardship. Medicare, however, is only available to senior citizens and eligible, disabled individuals suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, permanent kidney disease or renal failure.
  
  

Benefits

• Overwhelmingly, Medicare recipients are older than 65. In order to qualify for Medicare without meeting the age requirements, the disabled individual must have worked in a job paying into the Medicare program for several years or become eligible as a dependent of someone already receiving Medicare. Typically, only children or spouses who received government Social Security benefits are eligible to receive Medicare.