Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

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Indiana program

Medicaid and care at home through an Indiana waiver

An Indiana home-care waiver can leave parents' income out when a child needs substantial care.

What it is

An Indiana home-care waiver can leave parents' income out when a child needs substantial care.

The Health and Wellness waiver can help a child who meets its disability and nursing-facility-level care tests. It can still matter when ordinary Medicaid is already in place. A diagnosis alone does not establish those care needs, and a place must open before waiver services start.

Eligibility rules
  • For an approved child under 18, parents' income and assets are excluded. The child's own monthly income ceiling is $2,982 and resource ceiling is $2,000.
  • Health and Wellness requires a nursing-facility level-of-care finding and Medicaid disability approval.
  • Family Supports and Community Integration and Habilitation also require an intellectual or developmental disability finding. Cancer alone does not supply it.
  • The waivers continue into adulthood, but the under-18 parental-income rule is a separate condition.
  • Health and Wellness serves eligible people under 60. Its under-18 parental-finance exclusion is separate from the disability, safe-community-care and available-slot requirements.
What you get
  • Medicaid based on the child's own finances once the waiver and disability requirements are met.
  • Approved attendant care at home, with a separate process for paying a parent.
What the help includes
  • The service plan decides which home-care services the waiver pays for.
  • A parent-payment arrangement needs its own approval, agency relationship and medical documentation.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the discharge planner about a Health and Wellness level-of-care assessment.
  2. Have the doctor describe daily care needs, and gather the child's own income and savings records.
  3. Ask the Bureau of Disabilities Services about the waiting list and whether hospital-discharge priority applies.

Bureau of Disabilities Services: assessments, 833-597-2777; developmental-disability waivers, 800-545-7763 · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The Health and Wellness waiting list had about 6,900 people in September 2026; ask the waiver office what that means in months for a child leaving hospital.
  • The invitation states the response and enrollment deadlines. The waiver office confirms which deadline applies to that invitation.
  • Roughly 400 places open each month, about 40 of them reserved for children leaving hospital, so a discharge referral moves your child up the list but does not guarantee a place.
Good to know

The waiting list can delay help. A hospital discharge can affect priority, but it does not guarantee a place.

Other details
  • Ordinary child Medicaid has no waiver waiting list. A waiver can still matter for attendant care after ordinary coverage is in place.
  • Indiana has no Katie Beckett route; this waiver is the way to Medicaid without counting parents' income. A child on SSI has a separate route.

Federal background: Medicaid home-care programs (waivers).

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could our child's care needs meet the Health and Wellness waiver test? What help and waiting-list drawbacks should we expect, and could you help request an assessment if it is appropriate?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand whether a waiver could cover care at home when ordinary child coverage is not enough.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Ask for the assessment in writing before discharge, and join the waiting list even if a place is not open.

Your social worker

The discharge planner or oncology social worker requests the level-of-care assessment and records that the child is coming home from hospital.

The care team

The doctor documents what the child cannot do and what care is needed at home.

Who decides
The Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services invites people from the waiting list; the state assessment contractor decides the level of care.
Ask your social worker
“Can you request a level-of-care assessment before we go home, and put us on the waiver waiting list today? Does the hospital-discharge priority apply to us?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the discharge planner to request a level-of-care assessment on 833-597-2777 before the child goes home, and join the waiting list the same week.

  1. Ask the hospital discharge planner to request a level-of-care assessment before discharge, in writing.
  2. Put the child on the waiting list now: the list is the queue, and the date you join matters.
  3. Ask the case manager whether the extraordinary-care allowance could pay a parent for attendant hours once a place opens.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask for a level-of-care assessment on 833-597-2777, or apply through the Bureau of Disabilities Services online gateway. For the developmental-disability waivers call 800-545-7763.

What to gather

  • The oncology team's description of the care needed at home
  • The child's own income and savings, if any
  • The discharge date, if one is planned

How long: The assessment outcome letter is due within 10 working days, but that is not the wait for a waiver place. No measured referral-to-service wait is published.

What a yes looks like

A level-of-care decision, placement on the waiting list and an invitation when capacity allows. The actual invitation states the response and enrollment deadlines.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If the level of care is the reason, ask the doctor what evidence the assessor needed. If income is the reason, check the ordinary child line first.

Watch out

  • The two biggest waivers need a separate developmental-disability finding, which leukaemia does not give. The one for nursing-level care is Health and Wellness.
  • The September 2026 Health and Wellness waiting list held 6,920 people. The office confirms current capacity and the invitation process.
  • Hospital discharge is one priority category. Eligibility, capacity and invitation requirements still apply.

Dates that change this

2026-08-01: The waiting-list counts are the state dashboard for August 2026. They move every month; ask for the current figure.

2026-01-22: The waivers were amended in January 2026 and the assessment tools changed by age. The full approved identifiers were not published in readable text. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Medicaid based on the eligible child's finances, plus approved care at home. The Health and Wellness waiting list held 6,920 people in September 2026.

  • $6,920 — Health and Wellness waiting list, September 2026
  • $11,868 — Family Supports waiting list, August 2026
  • $2,982/month — Monthly income ceiling for the waiver, counting the child alone
  • $2,000 — Resource ceiling for the child's own savings
  • $NaN — Invitation response and enrollment period: the invitation states the applicable deadline

Covers: Medicaid coverage decided without counting parents' income · Attendant care and personal support at home · Case management · Respite

Legal protection: Children discharging from an inpatient hospital stay are in the first-priority group for the monthly waiver invitations

What it costs the family: No premium is published for the child waivers. Patient-liability rules were not verified.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
under 18 for the parental-income disregard; the waivers themselves run into adulthood
Income
the child's own income up to $2,982 a month; parents' income and resources are exempt for a child under 18 approved for Medicaid disability on a waiver
Resources
$2,000 of the child's own; parents' assets are not counted
Level of care
Health and Wellness needs a nursing-facility level-of-care decision; Family Supports and Community Integration and Habilitation need an intellectual or developmental disability finding as well
Waiting list
Health and Wellness: 6,920 in September 2026; Family Supports: 11,868 in August 2026; TBI: 22 in August 2026. Counts do not establish a personal start date.
Statute
Health and Wellness waiver IN.0210.R07.05, approved December 31, 2025

Decisions this site cannot make: Level-of-care assessment by the state assessment contractor · Medicaid disability decision · Waiver slot invitation

Expect friction on: A published waiting list of thousands · Nursing-facility level of care has to be documented

The trap: The two largest waivers, Family Supports and Community Integration and Habilitation, need a separate intellectual or developmental disability finding. Leukaemia alone does not reach them. The waiver for a child who needs nursing-level care is Health and Wellness.

Where I read this

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