By skyforbes Hi – my uncle, who is 84, disabled, and has SSI and Medi-Cal (Medicaid in California), was just diagnosed with late-stage liver disease. He wants to move to the Chicago area to be near us and we are helping him do that. We are wondering whether to reapply for Medicaid in Illinois, or just stick with Medicare and use the funds in a special needs trust to cover the additional health care costs (copays, deductibles, premiums). He is only likely to live maybe a year, and we want him to be able to access care to be as comfortable as possible. But we also have to steward the special needs trust fund in case he lives longer than expected.
I am wondering if people think he'll be able to access good care relatively quickly or (as I suspect) if it will take much longer to access the care he needs if we are limited to providers who take Medicaid. He's – going to need a lot of care, I think.
(I'm aware that things will soon get much worse vis-a-vis Medicaid, as well, but I'm curious to know what things are like now, as a starting point).
Thank you for any help you can give.