Does my wife have to sign up for Medicare when she becomes 65 or can she stay on Medicaid?

It was my understanding that Medicaid eligibility is based on income and assets. The disability may exist, but you have to qualify for it income wise.

Medicare medical covers you if you qualify due to your disability. Here's a link about it.

https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityssi/

If a family member has medicaid because of a mental disability are they also eligible for Medicare?

Yes, they are on Medicare and Medicaid and get extra help for meds.

Sunny.........If this person is already on Medicaid/Medicare he is considered Dual Eligible and would not need to do anything. In this case, Medicare is primary payer and Medicaid is payer of last resort. Depending on how low his income is, he may qualify for other programs thru this.

I was just getting ready to post something about this Rocknrobin. I'm glad you did. You seem to know much more about it than I do.

What you also happen to know if someone is on disability at age 64 (also on Medicaid.), do they need to do anything different as they approach age 65? (It's a long story, but she qualified for disability due to arthritis at age 59 and was receiving a monthly check from social security and full Medicare benefits. Does she need to do anything additional with regard to her Medicare, since she is approaching age 65 or will he just continue?

Yes she will need to sign up for Medicare. Medicare will pay first and then Medicaid will be the last payer. She can sign up 3 months prior to her birth month, her birth month and 3 months following her birth month. So she has a window of 7 months.