Skip to content

What Benefits Can Family Caregivers Use?

Family caregivers should usually check these categories first:

  1. Caregiver support and respite
  2. Medicaid home and community-based services
  3. Medicaid self-directed or consumer-directed services
  4. Leave from work
  5. Veterans caregiver benefits
  6. Household assistance and tax credits

There is no single national caregiver-benefit application. Rules vary by state, county, relationship, work history, care need, insurance, income, and program funding. Use this page to decide what to check, then verify with the official program.

Caregiver support and respite

The National Family Caregiver Support Program can fund information, help accessing services, caregiver counseling, support groups, training, respite care, and limited supplemental services through local aging networks.1

Start here when the person you care for is an older adult, or when you need respite, training, support groups, or local navigation more than direct cash.

Medicaid home-care services

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services waivers let states provide long-term services and supports at home or in the community instead of in an institution. Services can include case management, homemaker help, home health aide, personal care, adult day health, and respite care.2

These programs are state-specific and often have functional eligibility rules, financial eligibility rules, and waitlists.

Some Medicaid self-directed programs let the person receiving services or their representative recruit, hire, train, and supervise workers. Some states allow certain family members to be paid. State rules decide whether spouses, parents, legally responsible relatives, or live-in caregivers can be paid and what services are covered.3

Check the state program page, not just a generic national explanation.

Leave from work

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act can provide job-protected unpaid leave for eligible workers caring for certain family members with serious health conditions. Some states also have paid family leave programs. Eligibility depends on the employer, worker tenure, hours worked, relationship, and state rules.4

Veterans caregiver benefits

If the person you care for is a veteran, check VA caregiver support, respite, Aid and Attendance, Veterans Directed Care, and geriatric services. VA caregiver programs have separate eligibility and application paths.5

Household assistance

Some help is not labeled as a caregiver benefit but still matters:

  • Food assistance
  • Utility assistance
  • Disability benefits
  • Housing assistance
  • Child or dependent care tax credits
  • State caregiver tax credits
  • Local nonprofit grants or respite funds

Before you apply

Write down:

  • State and county
  • The care recipient's age and condition
  • Insurance coverage: Medicaid, Medicare, VA, private insurance, or none
  • Whether they need help with bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, walking, medication, or supervision
  • Your relationship to the person
  • Whether you live together
  • Whether you need direct pay, respite, leave, equipment, transportation, or help with bills

Then check Benefits Programs and GiveCare Benefits for source-linked program discovery.

  1. Administration for Community Living. "National Family Caregiver Support Program." Program -> ↩

  2. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services 1915(c) waivers." Source -> ↩

  3. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "Medicaid self-directed services." Source -> ↩

  4. Family and Medical Leave Act. Program -> ↩

  5. VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. Program -> ↩