Medicaid's Frail Elder Waiver

Often a spouse's added income disqualifies a person from the Massachusetts Home Care Program. Medicaid has recognized that a patient may have extreme needs (due to dementia) resulting in very high costs of care that exceed the patient and spouse's combined income.

In some cases the spouse's assets and income can be waived in computing a person's eligibility for Medicaid paid in-home care. Frailty is the determining factor. If a patient needs assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) like bathing, taking medications, grooming and/or instrumental ADLs like transportation, meal preparation, and medication management s/he may qualify for the Frail Elder Waiver (FEW) which increases the patient's income limit.

The FEW is available to people 60 and older, and to younger people diagnosed with dementia.

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