Delaware Medicaid Home Care is the set of Medicaid programs that pay for care in a parent’s own home — or in assisted living — for someone who would otherwise qualify for a nursing home. This Delaware medicaid home care guide names the program, gives the 2026 financial limits, explains the level-of-care test and the waitlist reality, and shows where the application starts.
The financial figures come from the state Medicaid agency and CMS and reset on their own calendars; where Delaware has not published a figure we say so.
In This Delaware Medicaid Home Care Guide:
Delaware Medicaid Home Care at a Glance (2026)
| Program | Delaware no longer operates a stand-alone Elderly and Disabled home-and-community-based waiver; those waivers were folded into a single managed long-term care program. |
| 2026 income limit (single applicant) | $2,485 |
| 2026 asset limit (single applicant) | $2,000 |
| Assisted living covered? | Confirm with The Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance takes the long-term care Medicaid application through its Medicaid Central Intake Unit, reachable at 1-866-940-8963. whether assisted living is covered. |
| Waitlist | This is the part that surprises most families in a good way. |
| PACE available? | YES, but only in part of the state. |
| Hire your own caregiver? | YES. |
The Delaware Program Behind Delaware Medicaid Home Care
Nursing home Medicaid is an entitlement: anyone who qualifies gets it. Home-based care is different. Delaware delivers it through a waiver or a managed long-term care program with its own name, its own enrollment rules and, in many states, a cap on how many people it serves. The program Delaware runs for people 65 and over is Delaware no longer operates a stand-alone Elderly and Disabled home-and-community-based waiver; those waivers were folded into a single managed long-term care program..
LTSS under DSHP-Plus pays for hands-on personal care and attendant care with bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring and eating, plus homemaker help with cleaning, laundry and shopping. It also covers adult day services, respite care so a family caregiver can rest, home-delivered meals, and a personal emergency response system worn around the neck or wrist.
Minor home modifications such as grab bars, ramps and widened doorways are covered when they let someone stay safely at home. Nursing, therapies, care management, adult foster care and non-medical transportation to appointments are also included.
Who Qualifies for Delaware Medicaid Home Care
Three tests, the same as a nursing home: a medical test, an income test and an asset test. Delaware uses the nursing-facility level of care as the medical bar, which means the applicant needs hands-on help with daily activities or supervision because of dementia — not merely help with errands.
A Delaware senior must be found to need a nursing-facility level of care, described in state rules as needing a skilled or intermediate level of care, before LTSS begins. That medical eligibility decision is made by the Pre-Admission Screening team inside the Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance’s Medicaid Long Term Care Unit, working from medical records and a functional review of what the person can and cannot do alone.
After approval, the enrollee’s managed care organization sends a care manager to the home to complete a functional needs assessment and build the individual service plan.
Financially, the applicant’s own income is measured against the Delaware medicaid home care limit of $2,485, and countable assets against $2,000. The spouse who stays home is protected by the same spousal impoverishment rules that apply in a nursing home: up to $162,660 in assets in 2026 and a guaranteed income floor.
Waitlists and Enrollment Caps
This is the part that surprises most families in a good way. When Delaware absorbed its old aged and disabled waivers into DSHP-Plus, it removed the enrollment caps and waiting lists that those waivers had carried, so LTCCS home and community services now operate as an entitlement for everyone who meets the medical and financial rules.
The state does not maintain a queue for elderly home-based long-term care, and there is no published cap on how many seniors may enroll. Delaware does not publish a typical start-to-services processing time, so any specific wait figure is UNVERIFIED.
Two facts hold everywhere: applying for the waiver does not stop you from applying for nursing home Medicaid later, and the level-of-care assessment for one is usually accepted for the other.
What Delaware Medicaid Home Care Pays For
Personal care (bathing, dressing, transfers), homemaker help, adult day programs, respite so the family caregiver can rest, home modifications such as ramps and grab bars, delivered meals, a personal emergency response button, and in many states assisted living services. It does not pay rent, a mortgage or groceries.
Assisted living: Confirm with The Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance takes the long-term care Medicaid application through its Medicaid Central Intake Unit, reachable at 1-866-940-8963. whether assisted living is covered.
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PACE: YES, but only in part of the state. Delaware’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly operates as PACE Your LIFE, serving people who live in Kent and Sussex counties in southern Delaware, with its day center in the Milford and Milton area.
Can a Family Member Be the Paid Caregiver?
YES. Delaware calls this option Self-Directed Attendant Care, usually shortened to SDAC, and it lets the member, or a representative acting for them, recruit, hire, train, schedule and dismiss their own attendant instead of taking whoever the managed care organization’s agency sends.
Friends and relatives, including a spouse or an adult child, may be hired and paid as the attendant, and a signed employment agreement between member and attendant is required. A financial management services agency handles payroll, taxes and paperwork. SDAC is not available to people living in assisted living or nursing facilities.
The full picture — who may be paid, how the pay is set and how to enroll — is in our companion guide to Delaware family caregiver pay.
How to Apply for Delaware Medicaid Home Care
Where: The Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance takes the long-term care Medicaid application through its Medicaid Central Intake Unit, reachable at 1-866-940-8963. — start here.
Ask for two things on the first call: the functional assessment and a Medicaid financial application. Doing both at once shortens the timeline by weeks. Bring the same five years of financial records a nursing home application needs; the look-back rule applies to waivers too.
What Happens on Assessment Day
The assessment is a visit, usually at the parent’s home, by a nurse or social worker who walks through the day: getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, eating, moving from room to room, taking medication, and whether the person can be left alone safely. Answer for the worst day, not the best one. Families who describe a good morning talk their parent out of Delaware medicaid home care without meaning to.
Bring the medication list, the diagnoses, recent hospital paperwork and any dementia evaluation. If a doctor has written that the person needs supervision or hands-on help, bring that letter; it is often the single document that tips the level-of-care decision.
The Care Plan That Follows
Approval produces a written care plan: which services, how many hours, and who delivers them. The plan is the budget. Hours outside it are not paid, and hours inside it that go unused are not banked. A plan can be revised when the parent’s condition changes — after a fall, a hospital stay or a new diagnosis — so keep the case manager’s number and call when something changes rather than waiting for the annual review.
Mistakes That Cost Families Months
- Waiting for the crisis. Waiver slots and assessments take weeks; the application should start when the family first notices the parent needs daily help.
- Giving money away first. The five-year look-back applies to the waiver as well as the nursing home, so a gift meant to “get under the limit” creates a penalty period instead.
- Spending the spouse’s protected share. Ask for the resource assessment before paying anything down.
- Assuming Medicare covers it. Medicare pays for short-term skilled care after a hospital stay, never for ongoing daily help. Delaware Medicaid Home Care is the program that does.
Where to Get Help Free
Two free doors exist in every state: the Delaware SHIP counselor for the Medicare side and the state’s Aging and Disability Resource Center for the Medicaid side. Neither sells anything. For a Delaware medicaid home care question involving a house, a spouse at home or a recent gift, a local elder law attorney or legal aid office is the next call.
Key Takeaways: Delaware Medicaid Home Care
- Same tests as a nursing home: Delaware medicaid home care requires nursing-facility level of care plus the income and asset tests.
- Not an entitlement: Delaware medicaid home care runs through a waiver that can have a waitlist, so apply before the crisis.
- The assessment travels: the level-of-care finding for Delaware medicaid home care is usually accepted for nursing home coverage later.
Official Sources
- Delaware no longer operates a stand-alone Elderly and Disabled home-and-community-based waiver; those waivers were folded into a single managed long-term care program.: https://dhss.delaware.gov/dmma/home/medicaid/dshp-plus/
- The Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance takes the long-term care Medicaid application through its Medicaid Central Intake Unit, reachable at 1-866-940-8963.: https://assist.dhss.delaware.gov
- Medicaid.gov spousal impoverishment standards: medicaid.gov
- Medicare.gov Medicare Savings Programs: medicare.gov
This Delaware medicaid home care guide was checked against the state Medicaid agency, CMS and the statute cited above in September 2026. Figures reset on their own calendars (most on January 1); if a number here disagrees with a notice you received, the notice wins — and please tell us. This page is general information, not legal, financial or medical advice.