Choosing an Assisted Living Facility

Six Things You Should Be Aware Of When It Comes To Medicaid Eligible Assisted Living

2 September 2021 by Joe Dixon

One gray area of Medicaid coverage is what types of benefits Medicaid entails when it comes to assisted living costs. The following are six things you should be aware of when it comes to Medicaid-eligible assisted living. 

Medicaid does not always cover the costs of assisted living.

Whether Medicaid covers assisted living costs for a particular individual depends mostly on what state that individual lives in.

Individual states control the extent to which Medicaid programs cover assisted living costs. Medicaid-eligible individuals need to research Medicaid offerings in their own state if they hope to pay some of the costs of assisted living through Medicaid benefits. 

Most states offer at least some Medicaid coverage for assisted living facilities.

The good news is that most states do offer at least some Medicaid coverage for assisted living. There are only a few states with no assisted living Medicaid benefits whatsoever. 

In some cases, Medicaid will cover specific health care services offered at assisted living facilities.

Many states have Medicaid programs that will specify certain health care services that are often part of assisted living that they cover.

For example, some states have Medicaid programs that cover the personal emergency response, personal care assistance, homemaker, and transportation services offered by assisted living facilities. 

Assisted living is sometimes referred to by different names in different states.

Those looking into Medicaid coverage for assisted living should be aware of the fact that some states might refer to assisted living by other names. For example, assisted living facilities are sometimes referred to as adult family homes, adult foster care, domiciliary care, and eldercare facilities. 

Medicaid will generally not cover all of the costs of assisted living.

All patients should realize that they can't expect Medicaid to cover all of their assisted living expenses. Fortunately, there are a lot of other programs out there that patients can use to pay for assisted living expenses that are not covered by Medicaid. 

Some individuals might be eligible for Social Security benefits that will cover assisted living costs. Still others could look to federal or nonprofit assistance programs to cover costs. Another possible source of funding for assisted living costs is certain religious or veterans organizations. 

Medicaid generally won't cover room and board costs at assisted living facilities.

Across the board, Medicaid doesn't cover room and board expenses as part of assisted living facility coverage. Patients need to find other sources of funding for these specific assisted living costs. 

Share