5 Ways to Pay Family Members as Caregivers

Update Sept. 2015 - Our organization has released a Paid Caregiver Program Locator which allows families to search for programs that can be used to pay them as caregivers.  Start here.

Without question, the most common question our organization is asked is: "Can I get paid to provide care for my parents (or spouse)?"  On own website, we maintain a list of programs that offer that option to family caregivers, but as some new options have become available, we thought a blog post overview of all five different ways family members can be paid as caregivers of their elderly loved ones was in order. 

1) Medicaid Waivers

This is the most common and well known option.  Many states have Medicaid Waivers that allow participants to receive care at home instead of in a nursing home.  Some of these waivers allow for self-direction of care services.  This means the participant is free to select their care providers.  They can "hire" their adult children, other relatives or a few states, their spouses to provide them with personal care.  Relatives are paid the Medicaid hourly rate for home care.  Medicaid Waivers have enrollment caps, so only a limited number of individuals can participate through this option.

The exclusion of spouses in many states from being paid has led to an unintended consequence of some divorces.  While there are rules prohibiting spouses from being paid, there are no rules that prohibit former spouses.

See our website for a state by state guide of the Medicaid programs. 

2) Medicaid Personal Care Services (PCS)

Approximately 50 percent of states allow for personal care services in their Medicaid State Plans.  As with Medicaid Waivers, some of these programs allow for consumer direction of personal care providers enabling participants to hire friends and family members to provide them with personal care. 

These PCS programs differ from Medicaid Waivers in two key ways.  First, typically Medicaid Waivers have less restrictive financial eligibility requirements than PCS programs.  It is not uncommon for the monthly income limit for a Waiver to be approximately $2,130, while Medicaid PCS programs might be closer to $800 - $1,000 / month.  Second, because these programs are offered through the Medicaid State Plans, they are entitlements, unlike Medicaid Waivers which are not. 

3) State Based Non-Medicaid Programs

There are also non-Medicaid consumer directed care programs.  Unfortunately, a much fewer number of states offer these programs.  During our most recent survey, we found 12 states offer consumer direction in their non-Medicaid assistance programs for the elderly. 

4) Veterans Directed Home and Community Based Services

The 4th option is for veterans and their spouses only.  Similar to Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waivers, there are Veterans Directed Home and Community Based Services.  Under these programs veterans, especially those living in rural areas, are given the flexibility to select what cares services they require and whom shall provide them.  Family members and friends can be hired to provide personal care.

5) Medicaid Life Settlements

Also referred to as Life Care Funding Plans, this is the newest way family members can receive payment for caregiving.  The approach is for holders of life insurance policies who require ongoing care and are considering Medicaid as a long term solution. 

Medicaid counts life insurance policies as assets and generally persons with these policies cannot qualify.  A Medicaid Life Settlement allows the individual to convert their life insurance policy into a dollar amount of care services.  That money is put into an account and used to pay for care for the policyholder.  It can be used for any type of care such as home care, assisted living or to make home modifications that help seniors maintain their independence (walk-in tubs, wheelchair ramps, stairglides etc.). 

It can also be used to pay family members for the care they provide.  For example, a spouse with Alzheimer's may require 24 hour supervision.  They might go to adult day care for 8 hours on weekdays and be looked after by their spouse for the remaining time.  The spouse could be paid the hourly Medicaid rate for the caregiving. 

The account that holds the money is a Medicaid qualified spend down, so when the funds are exhausted the individual is in a very strong position to qualify for Medicaid.

To learn more about each of this option and discover other sources of funding please explore our website.