Does Medicaid or Medicare Cover In-Home Elder Care?

If your dependent elder has fallen ill, can Medicaid help pay for at-home care? Can you be paid for providing caregiving services? Let’s help you figure it out.

Medicaid

Medicaid provides for at-home care services in many states. It also can pay family members for providing care for elder dependents in most states. To receive payment from Medicaid for care services, follow these steps:

1. Apply for Medicaid.
2. Once approved, sign-up for a specific Medicaid program that pays for home care and allows for “Consumer Direction”. Consumer Direction, also called self-directed care, means you can select your own care providers rather than have Medicaid choose providers for you.
3. Hire your family member as a personal care provider.
4. Submit timesheets to Medicaid. Your provider is paid by Medicaid or by a responsible third party service.

Is it available in your area?

States can determine which services they want to provide. Medicaid coverage factors in the type of Medicaid coverage received, the type of services you need, and the state you live in. 

What kinds of at-home services may be available? 

There is good news: the majority of states now have Medicaid cover family and caregiver support. Medicaid provides support to caregivers via training.

More Resources

What does Medicaid cover in my state? Find out here. 

Medicare

Medicare is the government’s health insurance for individuals over 65 years old. Medicare can pay for a variety of at-home health services.

Services can include:

• Part-time skilled nursing care
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Speech language pathology
• Medical social services
• Part-time home health aide services

Make sure the services must be approved by a doctor, who would also need to confirm that the individual is homebound and in need of one or more services. 

To note, Medicare doesn’t cover all-day home care, homemaker services, and personal care services. 

More Resources

More information and caregiving and Medicare, including possible costs, look here. 

Another way to save on elder care expenses is by utilizing your DCFSA funds. The Helpr app includes an in-app tool that allows you to use your DCFSA debit card directly.