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Your State's Assisted-Living HCBS Waiver, Explained

Ohio's Assisted Living Waiver pays for care services inside a licensed Residential Care Facility -- not room and board.

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Short answer

Ohio's Assisted Living Waiver, administered by the Ohio Department of Aging in coordination with Ohio Department of Medicaid, pays for the care-services portion of a stay in a licensed Residential Care Facility. It does not pay for room and board, and not every RCF holds a provider agreement.

What it covers

Personal care, medication assistance and the other care services an RCF provides, up to the waiver's covered scope -- delivered inside a community that holds a provider agreement.

What it does not cover

Room and board. Families still pay the community's rent/room charge out of pocket, Social Security, or other income -- the waiver offsets the care-services portion only.

How to apply

Start with the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, which administers the waiver locally for our four-county coverage area and can tell you current capacity and waitlist status.

How families pay for care. Ohio runs PASSPORT (in-home only) and the Assisted Living Waiver (care services inside a licensed RCF, not room and board). Read the full explanation →

Questions families ask

What happens to a Medicaid recipient's estate after they pass away in Ohio?

Ohio's Medicaid Estate Recovery Program can seek repayment from the estate of a Medicaid recipient who received long-term care services, generally pursued after the recipient's death and, where a spouse survives, typically deferred until after the surviving spouse's death.

What does assisted living cost in Ohio?

The 2024 CareScout Cost of Care Survey put Ohio's assisted living median at roughly $66,000 a year, or about $5,500 a month, statewide. No Cincinnati-metro-specific figure is published by any primary source.

How much does memory care cost in Cincinnati?

There is no published memory-care cost median anywhere -- CareScout does not survey memory care as a separate category, in Ohio or any other state. Any specific price you find online is an estimate, not a surveyed figure.

What does a nursing home cost in Ohio?

The 2024 CareScout Cost of Care Survey put Ohio's nursing home median at roughly $108,405 a year (about $9,034/month) for a semi-private room and $120,450 a year (about $10,038/month) for a private room, statewide.

How much does in-home care cost compared to assisted living in Cincinnati?

Ohio's 2024 CareScout medians put a home health aide at roughly $75,504 a year and homemaker services at roughly $73,216 a year -- both above the $66,000 assisted living median once care approaches full-time hours.

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