Home Care in Massachusetts

The cost of home care in Massachusetts is $5,911 per month, according to the 2021 Genworth Cost of Care Survey. In-home care provides personal care services for seniors, including help with daily living activities, while home health care offers these same services but with added medical attention, such as medication administration, wound or post-surgery care and health monitoring for seniors with long-term chronic illnesses.

Massachusetts’s home care costs are relatively close to prices in surrounding states. In Rhode Island, in-home care is slightly less at $5,720 per month, while home health care costs a little more at $5,958 per month. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont have more affordable home care costs; however, New Hampshire seniors pay slightly more than Massachusetts seniors at $6,006 monthly for in-home care and $6,197 for home health care. When compared with the monthly national median, Massachusetts’s home care fees are close to $1,000 more.

When it comes to long-term senior care costs in Massachusetts, in-home care and home health care are more affordable than residential care options, such as assisted living, which costs $6,500 monthly and nursing home care at $12,623 per month. Those who don’t need round-the-clock support may want to consider adult day care, which provides out-of-home services for seniors at a more affordable monthly price of $1,587.

MassHealth, Massachusetts’s Medicaid system, offers several programs to help seniors cover the cost of home care. These programs include the Frail Elder Waiver, the Home Care Services for Elders waiver, Home Care Services waiver, Senior Care Options and Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Massachusetts has four waiver programs that cover costs for seniors who live independently while receiving home care services.

You must meet specific income guidelines to qualify for MassHealth coverage. For a single person, annual income may not exceed $18,075, and countable assets can’t be more than $2,000 in value. For two-person households, Medicaid limits their income to $24,353 per year and their assets to $3,000.

To apply for Medicaid in Massachusetts, you can call (800) 841-2900 or (800) 497-4648 for TTY service. Alternatively, you can apply online via the Massachusetts Health Connector or print and mail your application to:

Health Insurance Processing Center
P.O. Box 4405
Taunton, MA 02780-0419

What Information You Will Need

Before applying, you should be prepared to provide:

• Social Security number
• Copies of federal tax returns
• Proof of citizenship or immigration status
• Employer and income data for all household members
• Health insurance policy numbers

How to Get Help Applying for Medicaid

In Massachusetts, several resources are available to help seniors process their Medicaid applications.

Medicare doesn’t pay for non-medical home care, but it can cover the cost of the medical version of home care, called “Home Healthcare” in some situations. In order to be eligible, you need to be homebound and have a referral from your doctor for the specific type of medical care that is needed. There are also other restrictions that apply.

Below is an overview of some of the services typically covered by Medicare for those who are eligible:

• Physical Therapy: Physical therapy is used to help patients recover from injuries (broken bones, knee injuries, etc.), and to treat ongoing conditions such as arthritis. Additionally, physical therapy is often provided in the home to help seniors recover from surgeries and procedures, such as a knee or hip replacement.
• Nursing Care: Licensed nurses can provide a number of medical services (such as wound care, changing feeding tubes, etc.) for those who need medical care, but don’t need to stay in a hospital full-time.
• Occupational Therapy: Occupational therapy is designed to help seniors regain or maintain the ability to accomplish normal, daily tasks, such as bathing, dressing, eating, etc., and providers can travel to your home if needed.
• Speech Therapy: Seniors can lose the ability to adequately communicate for many reasons, and speech therapists are there to help seniors regain the ability to communicate using a variety of means. Additionally, speech therapists help to keep seniors independent by modifying diets and teaching special techniques to swallow safely.

As mentioned above, home care is distinctly different from home healthcare, but there is some overlap – so while Medicare doesn’t cover non-medical home care, there are personal care services that may be covered in special circumstances – such as an occupational therapist helping with eating or dressing.

Read our guide to Medicare and Home Care Coverage for more information.

While the above programs can be a great way to make home care affordable for many people, they are not the right solution for everyone. Thankfully, there are other ways to make home care more affordable for you and your family. For more information about your other options, read our section on Other Ways to Pay for this guide.

There are several resources in Massachusetts designed to help seniors who live at home enjoy a better quality of life, even with a modest income.

In Massachusetts, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) required all in-home care and home health care workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no later than February 28, 2022. It has enforced this requirement, effective January 28, 2022. While the regulation requires two rounds of vaccine, all health care workers should follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

These guidelines are up-to-date as of April 2022; however, they are subject to change, so it’s important to continually check for revised recommendations from local government agencies. Home care agencies may also have additional recommendations or rules in place for their workers, which you can obtain by contacting the agencies directly.

Massachusetts does not regulate home care providers at the state level; however, those providing food or health services must abide by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s health care and food service regulations.

Whether you are looking for yourself or a loved one, finding a quality home care provider can be a stressful process. To help you overcome this challenge, we’ve created a helpful checklist below that can help guide you through the process of both determining your needs, and finding a home care agency that will be the best fit for you and your family.

Download PDF Here

Learn More About Home Care in Massachusetts’s Top Cities

• Boston
• Plymouth
• Reading
• Worcester