Who pays for a group home? A plain answer.
Most families never pay out of pocket. Here is how funding usually works in Minnesota, in plain language.
Most adults who need residential care in Minnesota do not pay for it out of pocket. This surprises people, and it is the single most common thing families call us confused about.
The usual path
Care is most often funded through Medical Assistance waiver programs. In Minnesota those include the DD, CADI and BI waivers, along with the Elderly Waiver for older adults. The waiver pays the provider. The family does not get a bill for services.
The door into all of this is your county. Every county has case managers who assess eligibility, manage waiver budgets, and help match a person to a home.
If you do not have a case manager yet, call your county's human services department and ask for a MnCHOICES assessment. That assessment is what determines which supports someone qualifies for, and nothing much moves until it happens.
Other routes
- County contracts, where the county arranges and pays for a placement directly.
- Long-term care insurance, if the person holds a policy that covers residential care.
- Private pay, which some families choose while waiting for a waiver, or for reasons of their own.
What we can and cannot tell you
Funding rules change, and every situation is different. Your county case manager has the current answer for your specific circumstances, and we will not pretend otherwise.
What we can do is walk you through what we have seen work, tell you honestly whether we think a placement here is realistic, and point you at the right desk at the county. We do that most weeks, and it costs nothing to ask.