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Getting paid to care for a parent in Florida

Updated 2026-08-10 · Every figure below is dated and sourced · Rules change — confirm with the agency
The short answer: Florida's door is Participant Direction Option (PDO) inside the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care program (SMMC LTC), run by Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), with screening/assessment by the Department of Elder Affairs (CARES) and financial eligibility by the Department of Children and Families. Pay: About $15.00/hr for personal care, homemaker, and companion services; skilled nursing tasks pay more (plan schedules have run roughly $20-$32/hr for LPN/RN work). The rate is set by the member's LTC managed-care plan, not the state, so it varies by plan; Florida has required at least $15/hr for Medicaid direct-care workers since Oct 1, 2022, and Florida's general minimum wage is $14.00/hr in 2026 (rising to $15.00 on 9/30/2026). Workers can request periodic raises within the plan's budget. Confirm the exact rate with the specific LTC plan. (Checked Aug 2026.)

Who can be the paid caregiver

Almost anyone the enrollee chooses: spouse, adult child, parent, sibling, grandparent, other relative, friend, or neighbor. The worker must be 18+, pass a Level 2 background screening (renewed every 5 years), and be hired through the plan's PDO paperwork with timesheets paid via the plan/fiscal agent.

The spouse question

Yes — a spouse can be paid under the SMMC LTC PDO, per American Council on Aging (medicaidplanningassistance.org/florida-medicaid-smmc-ltc/) and Paying for Senior Care (payingforseniorcare.com/paid-caregiver/florida). Plan PDO guidelines (United, Humana) phrase it as 'any person you choose including a neighbor, family member, or friend' without naming spouses explicitly — confirm spouse hiring with the specific plan rather than citing the guideline as explicit.

Waitlist reality

Honest answer: there is a real waitlist for the SMMC LTC home-and-community track. After the 701S phone screening, applicants get a frailty-based priority score — placement is by how frail you are, not how long you have waited. Low-priority scores may never be released; high-priority people are released in periodic batches. Waits range from weeks (very frail) to many months or longer. Bypass exists for people leaving a nursing home after 60+ consecutive days and certain DCF high-risk referrals. Once actually enrolled in an LTC plan, choosing PDO itself has no separate waitlist. Non-Medicaid HCE and CCE programs also carry waitlists.

Worth knowing: Disqualifiers and traps: (1) The parent must need nursing-facility level of care — help with a few chores will score too low to ever leave the waitlist. (2) 2026 money limits: $2,982/month income and $2,000 assets (single); over-income is fixable with a Qualified Income Trust, so do not self-reject on income alone. (3) The waitlist is frailty-ranked, not first-come — recheck and request rescreening when your parent's condition worsens, because a worse score moves them up. (4) The paid family member must be 18+ and pass a Level 2 background screening; certain criminal records disqualify. (5) PDO hourly rates are set per health plan, so the exact wage is only knowable after plan enrollment — ask each plan about its PDO rates before choosing a plan. (6) HCE requires the caregiver to live with the parent and generally cannot be stacked with SMMC LTC enrollment. (7) Getting paid is taxable employment income (Medicaid Difficulty-of-Care exclusion may apply for live-in caregivers — flag for a tax preparer). Recent context: all SMMC contracts re-procured in 2025-2030 cycle; plan lineup changed in Feb 2025, so older articles may name plans that no longer operate.

Other doors in Florida

ProgramWhat to know
Home Care for the Elderly (HCE)Non-Medicaid DOEA program for age 60+ at nursing-home risk with a caregiver living in the home. Pays a basic subsidy of $160/month (2026, per DOEA) plus special subsidies for supplies/equipment — a stipend, not an hourly wage. Limited funds; waitlists common. Apply via the same Elder Helpline, 1-800-963-5337.
Community Care for the Elderly (CCE)Non-Medicaid DOEA program funding in-home services (homemaker, respite) for 60+ at risk; supports the caregiver rather than paying them a wage; typically waitlisted. Same Elder Helpline intake.
Veteran-Directed Care (VDC)If the parent is a veteran enrolled in VA health care: a monthly flexible budget to hire caregivers including family and spouses. Offered through Florida VA medical centers (e.g., Bay Pines, Tampa, Miami, Gainesville, West Palm Beach, Orlando) — ask the VA social worker. Also VA Aid & Attendance pension can fund family care (but not a spouse) for wartime veterans/surviving spouses.
Consumer-Directed Care Plus (CDC+)Still exists but only for people on APD's iBudget waiver (developmental disabilities), which has a years-long waitlist — not the door for a typical aging parent. The old elder CDC+ pathway was absorbed into the SMMC PDO.
Structured family caregivingFlorida does not have a Medicaid structured-family-caregiving per-diem model like Georgia or Indiana; the PDO hourly model is the route.

Wartime veteran or surviving spouse in the family? VA Aid & Attendance stacks on top of state programs — see the national guide.

How to apply — step by step

  1. 1. Call Florida's Elder Helpline at 1-800-963-5337 (1-800-96-ELDER) to reach your local Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) and ask for SMMC Long-Term Care screening. The 701S screening is done by phone with you and/or your parent and takes 45-60 minutes; it produces the waitlist priority score.
  2. 2. While waiting, get finances ready: 2026 limits are $2,982/month income and $2,000 countable assets for a single applicant (a Qualified Income Trust can fix over-income; the home is generally exempt up to $752,000 equity).
  3. 3. When your parent is released from the waitlist, complete the Medicaid application through DCF (MyACCESS at myflfamilies.com or 850-300-4323), have the doctor complete Form 3008, and finish the CARES level-of-care assessment.
  4. 4. Choose and enroll in a Long-Term Care managed-care plan (enrollment broker: flmedicaidmanagedcare.com, 1-877-711-3662).
  5. 5. Tell the plan case manager you want the Participant Direction Option (PDO). Sign the PDO employer paperwork, hire your family member as the direct service worker (18+, background screening), and set the hourly rate within the plan's schedule.
  6. 6. The worker submits timesheets and is paid through the plan's payroll/fiscal process; you can request rate increases over time.

Where to start: Elder Helpline / local Aging and Disability Resource Center (Florida Department of Elder Affairs): 1-800-963-5337 — this is the first call for the LTC waitlist screening. Program info: ahca.myflorida.com (SMMC Long-Term Care program).

Do it yourself vs. get help

Free, accredited help first, always: your Area Agency on Aging (eldercare.acl.gov) walks families through these applications at no charge, and your county Veterans Service Officer files VA claims free. Where Resbit fits: if you're working a job and don't have hours for hold music, Resbit finds what your family qualifies for, fills out the paperwork down to the signature line, and does the chasing — flat $49/month, and the screener that starts it is free.

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Sources & dates checked: Program rules and payment rates change. Everything here is educational — real eligibility is decided by the agencies, based on your family's details.