It does sound like in your area the number of people on Medicare who want therapy is greater than the number on Medicaid who do. Did you explore the Medicaid agencies and see what they actually have available and if you could get it to work out better overall?

I would see if I could make an appointment with a private social worker somewhere to see if they could figure out a combination that might work for me and my budget or maybe I would start saving a tiny bit each month for the rest of this year so I'd have a running start on therapy for next year, kind of like saving a rental deposit usually necessary before you can rent an apartment.

While I waited to start therapy, I'd explore the library for books and other "free" means of getting help (often hospitals have free/very low cost peer support groups).