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

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Ohio program

Medicaid based on your child's own income (Ohio Home Care Waiver)

Medicaid and home care for someone who needs nursing-home-level care. Parents' income does not count.

What it is

Medicaid and home care for someone who needs nursing-home-level care. Parents' income does not count.

The Ohio Home Care Waiver may open Medicaid when family-income rules are a barrier, or add approved services for a child who already has Medicaid. It requires the waiver's level-of-care and service-needs tests, financial eligibility and an available slot. Cancer treatment or an existing Medicaid card does not settle that assessment.

Eligibility rules
  • The waiver serves people ages 0 through 59 who meet intermediate or skilled nursing-facility level of care.
  • The income line is 300% of the 2026 federal SSI rate: 3 × $994 = $2,982. A qualified income trust may address income above it.
  • Parents' income is left out; only the child's own income and savings count.
  • Savings in the child's own name must be under $2,000; the family's savings do not count. An ABLE account does not count either. Ask a benefits specialist before moving any money into or out of the child's name.
What you get
  • Full Medicaid plus approved home-care services.
  • Only your child's own income counts, with a $2,982 monthly income line in 2026.
What this covers
  • An approved waiver includes Medicaid and services in the person's care plan. A case manager arranges the plan.
  • The care plan must address qualifying service needs that ordinary Medicaid does not meet. Ohio reviews whether care can be provided safely at home.
If you decide to apply
  1. If a waiver review seems useful, the social worker can help submit the current request to the county.
  2. With the social worker, gather your child's account information, admission dates and any care notes already available. An urgent care discussion does not need to wait for a two-week log.
  3. Ask the care team to describe the skilled tasks your child needs each day for the in-person assessment.

Ohio Benefits Long-Term Services and Supports: 844-644-6582; CareStar: 800-616-3718 · Official page ↗

After you apply
  • The process includes an in-person assessment, financial review and an available slot.
  • A child who has spent 14 days or more in hospital in one stay, or had three admissions in the last year, is moved up the queue for the assessment. A slot still has to be available; ask Ohio Medicaid how long the wait is now.
Good to know

Assessment priority is not a guaranteed enrollment date. An approved care assessment still needs an available slot.

Other details
  • The Ohio Home Care Waiver has its own care, financial and slot requirements. Ohio Medicaid can confirm whether another disability-related coverage route fits your child.
  • Developmental-disability waivers and OhioRISE have separate eligibility rules; a cancer diagnosis alone does not qualify a child for them.

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

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could my child's daily care needs meet this waiver's test, and what would the assessment and wait involve? If it fits, could you help us request it?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know whether my child's care needs could open Medicaid even if our family income is too high.

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

File the waiver request form, report only the child's own income and accounts, and keep a two-week log of daily care and every admission date.

Your social worker

The social worker files the request, calls the Long-Term Services and Supports line about slots, and gets the doctor's level-of-care letter.

The care team

The doctor and nurse describe daily skilled care (central line, count-based dosing, fever rules, feeding, equipment) and list inpatient days and admissions.

Who decides
An assessor for the Ohio Department of Medicaid decides the level of care and whether a slot is open. The county job and family services office (JFS) checks the child's own income.
Ask your social worker
“Ohio has no Katie Beckett. Can you help us file the Ohio Home Care Waiver request now, ask whether a slot is open, and get the doctor's level-of-care write-up?”

How to apply

First step: Call Ohio Benefits Long-Term Services and Supports at 844-644-6582 this week. File the waiver request form (listed below) with the county job and family services office. Tell them if your child has been inpatient 14 days straight, or admitted three times in a year.

  1. Call 844-644-6582 and ask whether an Ohio Home Care Waiver slot is open and how the under-21 hospital priority is applied.
  2. Ask the oncology team to write the level-of-care picture: every daily task, line care, count-dependent dosing, admissions.
  3. File ODM 02399 with the county JFS the same week.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Submit form ODM 02399, Request for Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waiver, to the county JFS, or call Ohio Benefits Long-Term Services and Supports at 844-644-6582. OHCW case management is run by CareStar (800-616-3718 in the July 2026 handbook).

What to gather

  • Form ODM 02399, the waiver request (Request for Medicaid HCBS Waiver)
  • Any account or income in the child's own name
  • Admission and discharge dates for the last 12 months
  • A two-week daily-care log and the doctor's level-of-care letter

How long: No published timeline. The assessment comes first, then a slot. Ask for the under-21 priority if the admissions fit.

What a yes looks like

A level-of-care approval, an enrollment date on the waiver, a case manager's name, and a Medicaid card. Then ask the case manager for the care plan with nurse or aide hours.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask which part failed: level of care, no slot, or the child's own income. A level-of-care denial can go to a state hearing (an appeal). If it is a slot, ask for the date the request was logged and whether a hospital-discharge priority applies.

Watch out

  • A slot must be open. Ask the Ohio Benefits Long-Term Services and Supports line (844-644-6582) where the list stands; no current count is published here.
  • The test is nursing-home-level care after an in-person assessment. Chemotherapy alone rarely reads that way; the write-up of your child's daily care decides it.
  • The developmental-disability waivers and OhioRISE are not for cancer. Do not let a county board assessment replace the waiver request form.
  • Assessment priority for an applicant under 21 also requires at least 14 consecutive inpatient days or three inpatient stays in the preceding 12 months. Age alone is not enough, and priority is not a guaranteed enrollment date.

Dates that change this

2026-07-01: The waiver renewal (OH.0337.R06.00) runs July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2031; the July 2026 handbook is the current edition. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 10, 2026.

What it is worth

Full Medicaid plus home-care services through the waiver. The only income test is the child's own income (up to $2,982 a month). Needs an open slot and nursing-home-level care.

  • $2,982/month (our arithmetic: 3 x the 2026 federal benefit rate of $994; parents' income is not counted) — Child's own income line (special income level, 300% of the SSI rate)
  • $14 — Consecutive inpatient days that give an under-21 assessment priority
  • $3 — Inpatient stays in 12 months that give the same priority

Covers: Full Ohio Medicaid · Case management (every enrollee) · Personal care aide hours on the person-centered services plan · Private-duty nursing through the waiver case manager · A parent paid as a direct-care worker in some circumstances

What it costs the family: No premium found. If the child's own income is over the limit, a special trust (a qualified income trust) is needed.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
0 to 59
Level of care
intermediate or skilled nursing-facility level of care after an in-person comprehensive assessment (OAC 5160-46-02(A)(3)); a Medicaid-only hospital LOC is not the operative test
Slot
an available Ohio Home Care Waiver slot within the CMS-authorized limit (OAC 5160-46-02(A)(4))
Under 21 assessment priority
at least fourteen consecutive inpatient hospital days, or at least three inpatient stays in the preceding twelve months
Financial
LTSS special income level: only the individual's gross income, 300% of the SSI federal benefit rate ($2,982 in 2026); a qualified income trust above it; resource rules for the child not quoted in this package
Parental income
not counted (OAC 5160:1-6-03.1(H)(1))
Tefra
The currently posted optional-group B.13 checkbox is unchecked (TN91-26); this is evidence about the state-plan option, not absence of home-care waivers.
Waiting list
current dated count and practice wait NOT FOUND (2026-09-08)

Decisions this site cannot make: Level of care and assessment (ODM contractor) · Slot availability · Child-only financial eligibility (county JFS)

Expect friction on: Slot availability · In-person assessment · Nursing-facility standard for a home-cared chemotherapy child is a write-up question

The trap: A slot must be open. Enrollment needs an in-person assessment, nursing-home-level care and a free waiver slot under the federal cap. Ohio publishes no current waiting count here; ask the Long-Term Services and Supports line where the list stands the day you call.

Where I read this

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