Michigan Home Help Program
Home Help is Michigan Medicaid’s state plan personal care program. It pays providers, often family members, to help people with daily activities at home. For the wider picture, see our Michigan Long-Term Care Medicaid guide.
Figures change periodically. Double-check current amounts before relying on them.
At a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Type of program | Medicaid state plan personal care benefit |
| Who runs it | Michigan MDHHS |
| Age | Medicaid members of any age |
| Care need | Needs hands-on help with at least one activity of daily living, ranked 3 or higher |
| Michigan 2026 income rule (long-term care) | No fixed cap for nursing home care (income over the limit goes toward the cost of care) |
| Michigan 2026 asset limit (single applicant) | $9,950 |
| Waiting list | No |
Home Help in brief
Put simply, responsibility for Home Help sits with Michigan MDHHS. Who it is for: medicaid members of any age. Care need required: Needs hands-on help with at least one activity of daily living, ranked 3 or higher. Waiting list status in 2026: No. More detail on each point follows, and the Michigan state guide covers the shared financial rules. Families weighing Home Help against other Michigan options can use the related pages at the end to compare programs side by side.
What the program is
Home Help is administered by MDHHS adult services workers in local offices. The worker visits the home and ranks the person’s need for help with each activity of daily living (such as eating, toileting, bathing, grooming, dressing, transferring and mobility) and instrumental activities (such as housework, laundry, shopping, meal preparation and medication) on a scale of 1 to 5. Home Help can pay only for needs ranked 3 or higher, meaning the person needs some direct physical help. Help with instrumental activities is paid only if the person also has at least one qualifying activity of daily living need. The person chooses an individual provider or an agency, and many providers are family members.
Because Home Help is a state plan service, it works differently from a waiver. There is no cap on how many people can use a state plan benefit, which means no waiting for a slot once need is shown. The trade-off is that state plan personal care is narrower: it focuses on help with daily activities and lacks the wider menu of supports a waiver offers. See In-home care.
Who qualifies in 2026
Eligibility for Home Help comes down to these points. The person:
- Has active Michigan Medicaid
- Needs hands-on help with at least one activity of daily living, ranked 3 or higher
The money test. The person must have active Michigan Medicaid. Michigan’s rules are in our state guide. The income and asset figures in the table above are Michigan’s 2026 Long-Term Care Medicaid figures from our state guide. The home (up to the equity limit, when the person or a spouse lives there or plans to return), one vehicle, belongings and a small burial fund are generally not counted by Michigan MDHHS. When one spouse applies for Home Help and the other stays at home, the spouse at home keeps a protected share of the couple’s assets and may receive part of the applicant’s income. See Spousal impoverishment rules.
About the level-of-care assessment. Michigan MDHHS’s assessment covers daily activities, from bathing and dressing to toileting and medications, plus memory and safety. The visit is normally face to face, at home or in a hospital or facility. Before a Home Help assessment, it helps to line up a family member who can describe a typical bad day, and to have a list of diagnoses and medications ready. See Nursing home level of care and Activities of daily living.
What services it can pay for
What a participant receives under Home Help follows the care plan. Possible services include:
- Help with bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, mobility
- Help with IADLs such as housework when an ADL need exists
The menu is broad, but the plan is built from need, and unpaid family help is factored in. When needs grow, request an updated assessment.
How to apply
Getting Home Help means passing a money test and a care test. Step by step:
- Contact your local MDHHS office.
- Complete assessment.
- Choose a provider.
For the paperwork, use our documents checklist before applying for Home Help; Applying for a waiver explains the general process.
Waiting lists
Home Help is a Medicaid state plan service, so there is no waiting list. The main delays are the assessment visit and enrolling the chosen provider.
More on how lists work: Waiver waiting lists.
How it relates to nursing home Medicaid
Home Help does not require a nursing facility level of care, so it often starts earlier than MI Choice would. Many people use Home Help while waiting for MI Choice, or alongside it. Michigan’s nursing home Medicaid rules, described in our state guide, apply if a nursing home becomes necessary.
What is the same as nursing home Medicaid. Most money rules carry over from nursing home Medicaid. The five-year look-back still matters: a transfer for less than fair value can delay payment for long-term care services. Estate recovery also applies: the state can seek repayment from the estate of a person who received long-term care services after age 55. Some participants pay a monthly share of income toward services.
Income in a nursing home. In 2026, Michigan lets a nursing home resident keep $60 a month for personal needs; the rest of their income mostly pays toward care. Our state guide covers the nursing home rules in detail.
Tips for families
- Start early. If there is a waiting list or a slow assessment, the clock usually starts when you ask, not when the crisis comes.
- Document everything, from forms and letters to who you spoke with at Michigan MDHHS and when.
- Read every notice. If services are denied, cut or ended, the notice explains how to request a fair hearing and the deadline. Requesting one before the deadline often keeps services in place during the appeal.
- Tell Michigan MDHHS about changes in money, address or household as they happen.
- Mark renewal dates. Eligibility and the care plan are usually reviewed annually; see Renewals.
- Get help with complex Home Help cases, such as a spouse at home or past gifts. A certified Medicaid planner or a legal aid office can review how Michigan’s rules fit a family’s situation.
Common questions
Can my son be my Home Help provider? Yes. Many providers are adult children or other relatives. Michigan does not pay a “responsible relative,” meaning a spouse caring for a spouse or a parent caring for a minor child. Another caregiver can be paid when the responsible relative is unable or unavailable, and that has to be documented.
What does a rank of 3 mean? Some direct physical help or assistive technology is needed for that activity.
Is there a waiting list? No.
Does Home Help pay for housework only? No. Housework and similar tasks are paid only when the person also needs hands-on help with at least one activity of daily living.
Related pages
- Michigan Long-Term Care Medicaid guide
- Michigan MI Choice
- Three kinds of Long-Term Care Medicaid
- PACE programs
Last updated for 2026. General information only, not legal or financial advice. Medicaid Answers is a free educational resource published by Medicaid Answers Foundation.