If you win Social Security Disability, you get Medicare twenty-nine months after your onset date or two years after the first date you were eligible for cash benefits, whichever is later. If you get Supplemental Security Income, you receive Medicaid effective the day you applied for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) or those with end-stage renal disease are eligible for Medicare without the normal waiting period.