Tip: Entitlements are among benefits of updated website

They call them entitlements because, if you're eligible, you're entitled to them. But how do you find them?

A good place to start your search is with the agencies that fund the programs. Benefits.gov, the official benefits website of the federal government, brings together programs run by 17 agencies and provides information on more than 1,000 government offerings.

The site is available in English and Spanish at the same Web address.

While the site has been around since 2002, it has recently undergone a name change and face-lift. It was previously known as

GovBenefits.gov, a name the site's program manager, Curtis Turner, concedes was confusing and hard to say.

"A lot of people had the first impression of GovBenefits.gov that it was a website for federal employees," Turner says.

Navigating the site is easy, but there are a number of questions you must answer. This helps narrow the results to programs that are of interest to you and for which you qualify. There are seven screens to go through: Core, General, Household, Education, Health, Income & Assistance and Work Experience. But you needn't go through every screen to see results. "Users can stop at any time and look and see what they've got or continue with the survey to further refine their results," Turner says.

The results are customized according to the information you input. For example, a low-income person may see programs on food stamps and other subsidy help. A retired person who enters information that they are interested in volunteer work will see offerings such as the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. Similarly, those in need of medical assistance will see programs that offer help near them. Each result provides contact information for the selected program.

You can bypass the individualized search and click on the "By Category" link under "Benefits" near the bottom of the home page. This will show you all programs in 19 categories, including "Social Security," "Medicaid/Medicare" and "Energy Assistance."

If you are uncomfortable using a computer, you should be able to get help using the website at your local library. "What we find is that a large percentage of the population that uses benefits.gov are what we call professional benefits assistants," Turner says. "Librarians, social workers and counselors that are, indeed, using benefits.gov for someone else."