I applied for Ron when he was diagnosed with NH Lymphoma, I went down to the SS office myself and I also got him medical assistance and food stamps(started off 12 bux now up to 16 a month woo hoo...)He had no insurance and he was told he would be out of work for a long time and that was if he survived...which he did only to be kicked in the azz by OC...but he's had SSD AND Medicare/Medicaid since Dec 07 it was retroactive to the 23rd the day he was diagnosed and has been ever since. He got his SSD check pretty quick maybe 4 months or sooner. And the guy at SS had to talk to him and he was in the hospital when he talked to him and he wasn't doing good at that time but it got taken care of real quick.