Does Georgia Medicaid pay for a personal care home? What about room and board?

Georgia’s Community Care Services Program lists Alternative Living Services (ALS) in state-licensed personal care homes as a waiver service. These homes provide 24-hour personal care supervision. A Georgia aging group’s summary says Medicaid waiver funding applies only to personal care homes of up to 24 beds, and that assisted living communities (25 or more beds) cannot use these waiver services.

Two points matter for your budget:

1. Medicaid does not pay room and board. A group’s summary notes that federal rules bar states from using Medicaid for it. So the resident usually has to cover housing and meals some other way. We could not find a Georgia page that spells out how.
2. A Social Security document from 2011 describes a Georgia state supplement for SSI recipients in nursing home settings only. It did not mention personal care homes. We could not confirm any current supplement for personal care home residents.

To serve waiver clients, a home needs a full state license and an ALS enrollment in the Elderly and Disabled Waiver. The manual has separate ALS requirements, including site visits for new locations and certificate of occupancy.

Ask DCH and the Division of Aging Services what the resident pays and what the waiver pays before you set your price.