I want to move my Medicaid dependent parents from CA to IL. Where do I start?

Pamigill, I'm going through the same thing for my father right now, but I'm only moving him from Illinois to Indiana, and he has had a wonderful past 7 months of medical stability that's allowed me to not be too concerned about his immediate need for medical care in Indiana.

You have my sympathy that your situation is made more difficult by the distance and level of need.

A couple of things I recently learned about how to move Medicaid coverage: yes, you need to establish your parents' residence in IL asap.  No, to my knowledge, they do not have to have "established residency" for any specific time period before you apply them to IL Medicaid.   I believe you can change official residency by simply changing their USPS info online. That's how I did it. Are you living in Illinois now? Can you change their USPS info to your house and begin receiving their mail?

When changing over the Medicaid, you need to begin by withdrawing them from CA Medicaid. That could be done by contacting whoever administers their Medicaid coverage.  You can simultaneously apply for IL Medicaid online on their behalf, using the address in Illinois. My Elder Law attorney said it was important I, myself, do the Medicaid app so that I could list myself as some kind of "contact representative." If Medicaid in Indiana has any questions, they will contact me. There is something called Presumptive Eligibility for Medicaid. My understanding is that since your parents receive Medicaid in CA, they would qualify for the Presumptive Eligibility. I'm not sure, but I believe that would allow you to set them up with new docs in IL right away, and it also expedites the application process.

If I think of anything else, I'll come back. I'm going through this same process right now, and I met with an Elder Law attorney to get info on how to do it.

Hopefully some others will have advice for you, too. I think there are existing threads already on AgingCare that discuss this topic. I'll search and see if I can find one.

Pam, I checked numerous website to see if I could find an answer as to how long your parents would need to live in Illinois before they can get Medicaid and I couldn't find an answer.   Your best bet is to call the Illinois State Medicaid office on Monday to give you that information.

How do you establish residency? Do they have to live in IL for certain period to establish residency? Both my parents are not in good health and will need medical attention and care right away.

It is not simple. Medicaid is administered through the states. You would need to establish your parents' residency in IL, then apply for Medicaid through the state there.