How to Get Paid to Care for a Family Member in Ohio: 2026 Medicaid, MyCare, DODD, and VA Pathways

If you are caring for an aging parent, a disabled adult child, or a spouse in Ohio, you can be paid for that care under at least one of six 2026 pathways. Which pathway depends on the care recipient's age, dual-eligible status, county of residence, military service, and whether you are a spouse. Ohio in 2026 is also the most operationally disrupted state in the country for paid family caregiving, because Next Generation MyCare launched on January 1, 2026 in 29 counties and rolls out statewide through August 1, 2026. The waiver your family member is enrolled in this year is changing for many dual-eligibles, and the paid-caregiver mechanics travel with the waiver.

This guide walks through every legitimate 2026 pathway by which an Ohio family member can be paid: the three Ohio Department of Medicaid home and community-based waivers, the three Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities waivers, the federal VA programs that pay caregivers regardless of state Medicaid status, and the personal-services-contract route for families who do not qualify for any of the above. It also covers Ohio's unusually broad estate recovery rules under ORC 5162.21, the conditional spousal exception at OAC 5160-44-32, and the tax treatment that determines how much of the check you actually keep.

By Brevy Care Team

The Short Version

Pick the first pathway that fits. If the care recipient is a veteran, start with VA programs because the federal benefits are non-Medicaid, pay spouses, and the PCAFC stipend is federally tax-free. If the care recipient is a dual-eligible age 21+ in a Phase 1 Next Gen MyCare county, the MyCare Ohio Waiver is the path. If the care recipient is age 60+ in a non-MyCare county, PASSPORT is the path. If under 60 with a physical disability, the Ohio Home Care Waiver is the path. If the care recipient has an intellectual or developmental disability, a DODD waiver is the path. If none of the above apply, the family is private-pay, and the right structure is a personal services contract executed before care begins to protect against Ohio's expanded estate recovery on the Medicaid back end.

Spouses get their own short version. Federal law (§1915(c)) and the federal Medicaid default exclude spouses from paid HCBS personal care. Ohio's OAC 5160-44-32 is the narrow exception: a spouse can be paid as a direct care worker if no other willing-and-able provider is available, ODM/ODA/DODD confirms health and safety, and the spouse works through an agency or fiscal management service. Ohio does not have a Tennessee-style or New York CDPAP-style law that opens the door at member preference. The Ohio rule is meaningful but conditional.

The 2026 Transition: Next Generation MyCare

Ohio's Next Generation MyCare program replaced the prior Medicare-Medicaid Plan (MMP) demonstration on January 1, 2026. Dual-eligibles age 21+ in 29 Phase 1 counties were auto-enrolled into one of four FIDE-SNP carriers (Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Ohio, Buckeye Health Plan, CareSource MyCare Ohio, Molina Healthcare of Ohio MyCare) with a new bundled MyCare Ohio Waiver under OAC 5160-58. Aetna and UnitedHealthcare exited the program. Buckeye is closed to new PY2026 enrollees but continues for existing members.

For paid family caregivers, the practical effect is which agency adjudicates your hours and which fee schedule applies. The same participant-direction services (C-HCAS, CD-PCS, Structured Family Caregiving) are available under the MyCare Ohio Waiver as under PASSPORT and OHCW, and the conditional spousal pathway at OAC 5160-44-32 carries over to MyCare. The phase rollout schedule matters because it determines whether your family member's waiver is PASSPORT/OHCW (legacy) or MyCare Ohio Waiver (new) for any given month of 2026. Subsequent phases bring the rest of Ohio in on April 1, May 1, June 1, July 1, and August 1, 2026.

The Six Pathways

Pathway 1: The PASSPORT Waiver

PASSPORT is Ohio's largest §1915(c) home and community-based services waiver for adults age 60+ (or age 60–64 with physical disability) at nursing-facility level of care, administered by the Ohio Department of Aging through Ohio's 12 Area Agencies on Aging. Authority sits at OAC 5160-31. In 2026, PASSPORT continues to serve adults outside the Next Gen MyCare population (non-dual-eligibles, and dual-eligibles in counties that have not yet rolled into MyCare).

PASSPORT offers two participant-directed services that pay family caregivers. Choices Home Care Attendant Service (C-HCAS) makes the participant the employer of record, with the rate set by the participant within a state-defined range published by the local Area Agency on Aging. Consumer-Directed Personal Care Service (CD-PCS) is the lower-touch option with a state-set hourly rate; contact your local AAA for the current figure. Both services are coordinated through a fiscal employer agent (Public Partnerships LLC operates statewide), which handles timesheets, payroll, and federal/state/local/unemployment tax withholding.

Who can be paid under C-HCAS or CD-PCS: adult children, adult grandchildren, nieces, nephews, in-laws, friends, and neighbors. Excluded by default: spouses, parents acting as power of attorney, legal guardians, and authorized representatives. Spouses are not categorically locked out (the OAC 5160-44-32 conditional pathway applies), but the standard PASSPORT participant-direction route is for non-spouse relatives and non-relatives.

Financial eligibility for 2026: income up to $2,982 per month single (300% SSI) and resources of $2,000 single or $3,000 couple. Above the income limit, a Qualified Income Trust (Miller Trust) is required. The community spouse resource allowance protects up to $162,660. Statewide warm-transfer to your local AAA: 1-866-243-5678.

Pathway 2: The Ohio Home Care Waiver

The Ohio Home Care Waiver is the parallel §1915(c) waiver for individuals from birth through age 59 with a physical disability at nursing-facility level of care, administered directly by the Ohio Department of Medicaid rather than ODA. Authority sits at OAC 5160-46. Self-direction expanded under OHCW on October 1, 2024, so the same C-HCAS and CD-PCS structure available under PASSPORT is available here.

Reimbursement rates for OHCW are set in rule under OAC 5160-46-06.1. Verify current 2026 figures with your assigned fiscal management service before relying on any specific rate.

Public Partnerships LLC is the fiscal management agency for OHCW, handling Time4Care and MyAccount timesheet entry, payroll, and tax withholding. Financial eligibility mirrors PASSPORT: $2,982 per month income, $2,000 resource limit, CSRA protections for the community spouse. The OAC 5160-44-32 spousal exception applies under OHCW on the same terms as PASSPORT.

Pathway 3: The MyCare Ohio Waiver

The MyCare Ohio Waiver is the new §1915(c) bundle that capitates HCBS, nursing-facility, and acute care for dual-eligibles age 21+ enrolled in Next Generation MyCare. Authority sits at OAC 5160-58. Effective dates track the rollout schedule above. By August 1, 2026, every dual-eligible Ohioan age 21+ in HCBS will be in the MyCare Ohio Waiver under one of the four FIDE-SNP carriers.

Mechanically, the MyCare Ohio Waiver inherits the participant-direction services from PASSPORT and OHCW: C-HCAS, CD-PCS, and Structured Family Caregiving (SFC). Self-direction under the MyCare Ohio Waiver became operationally effective November 15, 2024, ahead of the January 1, 2026 program launch. The conditional spousal pathway at OAC 5160-44-32 carries over.

What changes under MyCare is the chain of authorization. Hours are approved by the carrier's care manager (Anthem, Buckeye, CareSource, or Molina) rather than the AAA case manager. Provider enrollment runs through the carrier. The fiscal management agency for MyCare is Public Partnerships LLC, same as for OHCW and most PASSPORT participants. Rates for C-HCAS and CD-PCS mirror the PASSPORT schedule. Structured Family Caregiving pays a tiered daily rate (commonly cited at roughly $50–$120 per day depending on care level) for a live-in family caregiver under a host-home model. SFC is the right structure for a single family caregiver providing 24-hour care; C-HCAS or CD-PCS is the right structure for hourly billing.

Pathway 4: The DODD Waivers (Individual Options, SELF, Level One)

For Ohioans with intellectual or developmental disabilities meeting DODD's ICF/IID level-of-care criteria, paid family caregiving runs through one of three Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities waivers, not the ODM/ODA waivers above. Authority sits in the OAC 5123 series.

The Individual Options (IO) Waiver is DODD's most comprehensive and flexible waiver, with no hard cost cap. It covers homemaker/personal care, vocational habilitation, transportation, specialized medical equipment, respite, and community-based supports. The Ohio SELF Waiver (Self-Empowered Life Funding) is the self-direction-focused waiver with an annual budget cap; verify the current cap with your County Board of Developmental Disabilities. The Ohio Level One Waiver is the budget-tier alternative to IO, capped in the low five figures (verify the current cost cap with your County Board of Developmental Disabilities).

Family caregivers are paid through Participant-Directed Homemaker/Personal Care (PD-HPC), available under all three waivers. The OAC 5160-44-32 conditional spousal rule applies to DODD PD-HPC. DODD waivers are excluded from MyCare Ohio: an Ohioan with I/DD on a DODD waiver remains on a DODD waiver even when their county rolls into MyCare for acute care purposes.

Pathway 5: VA Programs

The federal VA pays family caregivers of eligible veterans through three programs that are not Medicaid and not subject to Ohio's spousal exclusion or look-back rules.

The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) pays a monthly stipend to a designated Primary Family Caregiver, calculated as the OPM GS-4 Step 1 annual salary for the locality where the veteran lives, divided by 12, multiplied by 0.625 (Level 1) or 1.00 (Level 2). The PCAFC stipend is federally tax-free under 38 U.S.C. § 1720G; it is not reported on a W-2. Eligibility requires a service-connected disability rating of at least 70% (single or combined), in-person personal care need for at least six continuous months, and enrollment in VA health care.

Veteran-Directed Care (VDC) is the VA's self-direction program, jointly administered with the Administration for Community Living and operated through partnerships with Area Agencies on Aging. VDC is the most permissive pathway in this guide for spouses: the veteran sets a monthly budget with the VA care team and hires any caregiver, including a spouse, an adult child, a friend, or a professional aide, at a worker rate set within the budget. In Ohio, VDC is offered through the Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC (partnering with Western Reserve AAA), the Cincinnati VAMC (partnering with Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio), the Dayton VAMC (partnering with Area Agency on Aging PSA 2), and through other AAA-VAMC partnerships across the state. Veterans in counties not yet confirmed for VDC should ask their VAMC Caregiver Support Coordinator about the closest VDC referral. Payment flows through a Financial Management Services agency, typically the partner AAA's contractor.

VA Aid and Attendance pension is the third VA route to paying a family caregiver. For 2026 (effective December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026), basic pension MAPRs are $1,453 per month for a single wartime veteran and $1,903 per month for a veteran with one dependent. With the Aid and Attendance enhancement, those rise to $2,424 and $2,874 per month respectively. Two married veterans both receiving A&A can collect up to $3,845 per month combined. The net worth limit is $163,699 for 2026 (combined assets plus annual income, excluding the primary residence, one vehicle, and basic household items). The veteran receives the pension and pays a family caregiver from it under a private arrangement or a personal services contract; for the caregiver, this is ordinary taxable income.

Ohio's two state veterans homes operated by the Ohio Department of Veterans Services, the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky and the Ohio Veterans Home in Georgetown, are residential options rather than paid-family-caregiver pathways, but they are part of the same federal-state veteran benefit landscape and worth knowing about when home care is no longer feasible.

Pathway 6: NFCSP and Personal Services Contracts

The National Family Caregiver Support Program runs in Ohio through the Ohio Department of Aging and the 12 Area Agencies on Aging. NFCSP is not a paycheck. It is a wraparound benefit: information and assistance, caregiver counseling, training, respite vouchers, support groups, and small supplemental grants for incidentals like GPS devices or care supplies. Eligibility is a family caregiver of an adult age 60+, or a caregiver of any age for a person with Alzheimer's or other dementia, or a kinship caregiver raising a child. NFCSP is not means-tested for the standard track. Statewide referral: 1-866-243-5678 or the ODA hotline 1-800-266-4346. Families who exhaust their Medicaid waiver hours under PASSPORT, OHCW, or MyCare Ohio often stack NFCSP respite vouchers on top of the waiver service plan.

For families that do not qualify for any Medicaid waiver, VA program, or DODD waiver, the remaining route is a personal services contract: a written, arms-length agreement between the care recipient and the family caregiver, signed before care begins, that converts informal family help into a documented exchange of value. A defensible Ohio personal services contract specifies the date services begin, the specific services performed, hours per week and schedule, a reasonable hourly rate documented against two or three local agency quotes, payment terms, a daily log of duties and hours, and the caregiver's commitment to report income on a tax return. Done correctly, the contract preserves the care recipient's right to spend down assets on care without triggering a Medicaid transfer penalty under the 60-month look-back. Done sloppily, it looks like a disguised gift, and the transfer-penalty divisor at $7,787 per month converts the misstep into months of LTC Medicaid ineligibility.

How to Choose

The order of operations for an Ohio family running this decision tree is: veteran benefits first, county-MyCare check second, DODD pathway third, age and disability profile fourth, spouse-vs-non-spouse last.

Start with the VA pathway if the care recipient is a wartime veteran. The PCAFC stipend is tax-free, VDC is permissive for spouses, and A&A pension money is unrestricted. A veteran's family can often combine VA benefits with one of the Ohio Medicaid waivers, though hours under one program reduce billable hours under another to avoid duplicate payment.

Check your county against the Next Gen MyCare rollout schedule. If your county is in Phase 1 (January 1, 2026), the dual-eligible care recipient is already in the MyCare Ohio Waiver. If your county is in a later phase, the legacy PASSPORT or OHCW waiver continues until the rollover date.

Route to DODD if the care recipient has an I/DD diagnosis and meets ICF/IID level of care. DODD waivers are not on the MyCare track; they have their own self-direction framework and PD-HPC service.

Use the age cutoff. PASSPORT is age 60+. OHCW is age 0–59 with physical disability. There is no overlap.

Address the spouse question last. If the family caregiver is the recipient's spouse, the answer is the conditional pathway at OAC 5160-44-32 (agency or FMS employment, no other willing-and-able provider, health-and-safety determination by the state agency). If a veteran is involved, the VA's Veteran-Directed Care is the better answer because it does not have a spousal exclusion.

Personal Services Contracts and Ohio's Estate Recovery

Ohio's 60-month look-back applies to institutional and §1915(c) waiver Medicaid (PASSPORT, OHCW, MyCare Ohio Waiver, DODD waivers when used for nursing-facility level care). The look-back does not apply to MAGI Medicaid or ABD spend-down. Within the look-back, uncompensated transfers create a penalty period: the gift amount divided by Ohio's Average Private Pay Rate (APPR) divisor, set at $7,787 per month effective September 1, 2024 and not yet updated for 2026 despite appearing on the 2026 Ohio Medicaid Help Sheet. A $100,000 cash transfer to an adult child creates roughly 12.84 months of LTC Medicaid ineligibility.

A personal services contract is the principal tool for paying a family caregiver while preserving Medicaid eligibility. The Ohio practitioner-standard elements are listed above under Pathway 6. The single most common mistake is signing the contract after services have already been provided, which Ohio Medicaid treats as a retroactive gift. The single second-most-common mistake is setting a rate above what local agencies charge, which Medicaid treats as the difference being a gift. The contract must be prospective and rate-defensible.

Spouses generally cannot be paid under a personal services contract for Medicaid look-back purposes. Transfers between spouses are disregarded under Social Security Act § 1917(d)(3)(A), but the same provision means the spouse is not a separate person for transfer purposes. The conditional OAC 5160-44-32 pathway is the spouse's route.

Ohio's estate recovery program under ORC 5162.21 is among the most aggressive in the country. The state recovers against not only probate assets but also transfer-on-death accounts and deeds, joint property with right of survivorship, payable-on-death accounts, assets in living and revocable trusts, life estates created by the decedent, and any other interest the decedent held at the moment before death. ORC 5162.211 authorizes pre-death TEFRA liens on permanently institutionalized recipients' property. Federal exemptions still apply: surviving spouse alive, minor or disabled child alive, caregiver-child exception (an adult child who lived in the home for at least two years and provided care that delayed institutionalization), and sibling-with-equity-interest. HB 318 in the 136th General Assembly would narrow estate recovery to probate-only, auto-waive recovery on estates under $10,000, and cap home-equity liens at 75% of assessed value for homes valued at $150,000 or less. As of May 11, 2026, HB 318 is pending in the House Medicaid Committee. It is not current law.

Tax Considerations

C-HCAS, CD-PCS, Structured Family Caregiving, DODD PD-HPC, and VA Veteran-Directed Care all pay the family caregiver as a W-2 employee through a fiscal management service (Public Partnerships LLC for the Ohio Medicaid waivers, the partner AAA or its FMS subcontractor for VDC). The FMS handles federal income tax withholding, FICA, FUTA, Ohio income tax, school district tax where applicable, and municipal tax in the localities that levy one.

The single most valuable tax rule for live-in family caregivers under Ohio Medicaid waivers is the IRS Notice 2014-7 difficulty-of-care exclusion, which excludes qualified Medicaid waiver payments from federal gross income when the caregiver and care recipient share a household. The exclusion applies under PASSPORT, OHCW, MyCare Ohio, and DODD waivers. Ohio's state income tax generally conforms to federal AGI as the starting point, so excluded payments are typically also excluded for Ohio state income tax, though families should verify against the current Ohio IT-1040 instructions.

The PCAFC stipend is federally tax-free under 38 U.S.C. § 1720G and is not reported on a W-2. VA Aid and Attendance pension paid to the veteran is tax-free to the veteran but becomes ordinary taxable income to the family caregiver who receives it under a private arrangement or personal services contract. Personal services contract income is W-2 if the caregiver is treated as an employee and 1099 if the caregiver is a genuine independent contractor; misclassification is the principal audit risk in this space.

Common Misconceptions

A handful of beliefs Ohio families bring to this conversation are partly or fully wrong, and getting them right is what separates the families who get paid from the families who don't.

"My spouse can never be paid in Ohio." Partly wrong. The federal §1915(c) default excludes spouses, but Ohio's OAC 5160-44-32 opens a conditional pathway when no other willing-and-able provider exists, requiring employment through an agency or FMS. The pathway is narrower than Tennessee's Freedom for Family Caregiving Act or New York's CDPAP, but it is a real path for the family that genuinely has no alternative.

"Medicare pays family caregivers." Wrong. Medicare pays for short-stay post-hospital skilled nursing and for home health when the patient is homebound with a skilled need. It does not pay family caregivers for personal care, custodial care, or long-term hourly support.

"Adding my child to my deed is a Medicaid plan." Wrong, and dangerous in Ohio. Joint-with-survivorship property is recoverable under Ohio's expanded estate recovery, so the child does not actually receive the home. A timely transfer to the caregiver-child exempt class (lived in home 2+ years, provided care that delayed institutionalization) is the right Medicaid plan; informal joint titling is not.

"My mother will lose Medicaid if I get paid." Wrong, when paid through an authorized waiver service. Authorized hours under C-HCAS, CD-PCS, SFC, or DODD PD-HPC do not count against the recipient's eligibility, because they are billed to the program and not taken from the recipient's $50 or $75 personal needs allowance.

"I should expect Tennessee-style spouse access in Ohio." Wrong. Ohio has not enacted a counterpart to Tennessee's PC 182 of 2025 or New York's CDPAP. The Ohio pathway is the narrow OAC 5160-44-32 exception. Be honest about that with extended family before promising anything.

Related Terms

• HCBS waiver
• Nursing facility level of care
• Fiscal Employer Agent
• FIDE-SNP
• Qualified Income Trust
• Community Spouse Resource Allowance

Learn More

• Ohio Medicaid overview
• Next Generation MyCare Ohio guide
• Ohio Medicaid eligibility and income limits
• Ohio Medicaid estate recovery
• Federal FIDE-SNP hub

This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or medical advice. Verify all program details, dollar figures, and eligibility rules with the Ohio Department of Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Aging, the Department of Developmental Disabilities, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or qualified elder-law counsel before acting on the information here.