What is a Medicaid Waiver?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Sometimes there's a halfway step, and it's called a Medicaid waiver or Medicaid will pay to bring somebody into mom and dad's home and give them some help for a number of hours per week.

Attorney Robert Hidock: True. They both fall under the umbrella of what they call ICP Medicaid, institutional care. Everybody thinks it's a nursing home, but what the waiver is you actually waive the nursing home in order to get home healthcare. The way they call it a waitlist because the state of Florida only allows for a certain amount of spots or openings. To get this waiver, you have to go through an interview process, you have to receive a rating of a five. Once you do that, you move higher up on the list and get home healthcare quicker. Some clients that don't need 24 hours of daycare it works perfectly for. The only problem is, you can't get it right away if you don't score a five. We work with O'Rourke & Associates and they help people get on the waitlist.

They coach them how to score a five, more importantly, so they can get that help quicker. I always say with all my clients that I see if I see an elderly person and they're starting in decline, I'm telling them right now, "Get on the waitlist. You might not need it now, but you never know what's going to happen in a year." It's better that you're on that list." Then of course that makes them feel comfortable that they're not going into a nursing home, they're at their own home. They can also get the waiver if they're at an assisted living facility.

Attorney Tom Olsen: There's probably people out there listening right now that mom or dad want to stay at home, and great. As long as that works, that's a great idea, but right now they're private pain to bring some people into mom and dad's home to assist them and probably have no idea that this Medicaid waiver is available to them, that the Medicaid would pay somebody to come to mom and dad's home.

Attorney Robert Hidock: Yes, it's ideal.

Attorney Tom Olsen: It's a great service. Folks, we can help you with that process. It's called a Medicaid waiver.

Attorney Robert Hidock: Absolutely.