I am turning twenty-six on Tuesday October Eighth. I have a grace period from the insurance company that I can stay on for a while after my birthday. When should I start signing up for this brand-new health care program? Even after you apply, is there a long processing wait time before your government benefits actually kick in?

I recommend you start looking into various programs immediately. Since this is so new, I doubt if anyone can tell you how long the processing wait time is.