Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) Program

Wanted to get more eyes on this. I posted on r/medicare in the past and unfortunately, news wasn’t good for my mother. Brief summary – parents were never legally married in the U.S. (found out recently), but have lived together since they came here as war refugees, file taxes together, joint bank accounts, have children together, etc. No common law marriage in the state they’re in currently. I had a phone appointment with SSA and brought this up so I wouldn’t waste their time and the only acceptable proof of marriage would be a marriage certificate. My parents have to be legally married for at least a year until she can claim spousal benefits (does not have enough work credits on her own to file under hers). I’m already in the process of helping them get legally married. The SSA rep told me she should apply for Medicare and QMB and after a year, call back and she’ll be switched over to be claimed under my father.

The issue on my end is that she turns 65 in a couple months and needs to apply for Medicare within the timeframe before the penalty kicks in. Given that she doesn’t qualify for Medicare under spousal benefits right now, she’ll still have to apply and pay out of pocket. Fortunately, she’s currently on Medicaid and I found out about QMB. If anyone has been through this process, do you apply for Medicare first and then apply for QMB? If there’s more information that’ll help, please provide them. Thank you.