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What Is a Long-Term Home Health Care Waiver Program?
Date Updated: January 10, 2025
Written by:
Leigh Morgan has more than 15 years of experience writing about senior care. She’s the author of “Financial Safety for Seniors: 77 Tips for Preventing Elder Financial Abuse” and has written hundreds of articles about Medicare, Medicaid, assisted living communities, nursing homes and memory care. Morgan developed an interest in senior care while recruiting home health nurses, certified nursing assistants and patient care technicians for a large health care system.
Reviewed by:
Kristi Bickmann, a licensed Long-Term Care Specialist, represents top-rated "Traditional" & "Hybrid" LTC companies. Serving associations such as the American Nurses Association, she's a licensed insurance agent in 27 states. Specializing in insurance products for seniors, Kristi helps hundreds of families every year protect assets, retirement, and loved ones. She understands aging concerns firsthand, having assisted her own parents. Kristi ensures accuracy on topics about senior long-term care and its consequences.
A long-term home health care waiver program allows seniors to receive long-term care services at home instead of in an institutional setting. Receiving services at home makes it easier for older adults to maintain connections with loved ones, and home-based services tend to cost less than residential care.
What Does a Long-Term Home Health Waiver Cover?
Medicaid uses long-term home health waivers to cover services provided by nurses, physical therapists and other licensed professionals. Waiver programs also cover personal care services designed to help seniors perform basic activities of daily living. Each program covers medically necessary home health services used to diagnose, treat, cure or relieve the symptoms of a health condition. For example, seniors with diabetes sometimes need home health nurses to clean their wounds and check for complications. Long-term home health waivers also cover the cost of having personal care aides assist seniors with eating, drinking, bathing, grooming and other activities.
The services provided vary based on each senior's needs and the terms of the waiver program. Some waivers cover transportation to medical appointments or personal alarm systems to help beneficiaries summon help in an emergency. A few waiver programs even cover the cost of respite care.
How Do Long-Term Home Health Waiver Programs Benefit Seniors?
Long-term home health waiver programs allow older adults to stay in their homes rather than entering residential care facilities. One of the most significant advantages of remaining at home is that home health care costs less than residential care. In 2024, the median cost of home health care services in the United States reached $6,292 per month. The median cost of nursing home care exceeded $8,600 per month for a semi-private room — nearly 38% more than home health care.
Home health waivers also make it possible for older adults to stay in a familiar environment. Instead of packing up decades' worth of household items and personal mementos to move to a residential facility, seniors can remain in their homes, surrounded by the people and things they love the most. Long-term home health waiver programs also give family caregivers a break from their duties, improving the overall quality of a senior's care.