Residency and Medicaid status
Two baseline requirements come first: the care recipient must have a Michigan address, and they must be Medicaid-eligible — or willing to apply. If your loved one isn't already on Medicaid, that application happens first, and it carries its own separate eligibility tests around income and assets.
2026 asset limits
Medicaid uses an asset test to determine financial eligibility for long-term-care programs like Home Help:
- Single applicant: $9,950 in countable assets
- Married couple (regardless of whether one or both spouses are applying): $14,910
Not everything counts toward that limit. Generally exempt: the applicant's primary home (up to $752,000 in equity), household furnishings and appliances, personal effects, and one vehicle.
Watch for the look-back rule: assets given away or sold below fair market value within 60 months of a long-term-care Medicaid application can trigger a penalty period of ineligibility. If a gift or transfer happened recently, that's worth mentioning to whoever helps with the application.
The functional test: activities of daily living
Financial eligibility alone doesn't qualify someone for Home Help — there also has to be a genuine, documented need for hands-on assistance with at least one Activity of Daily Living:
- Bathing
- Dressing
- Grooming
- Mobility within the home
- Transferring (e.g., bed to wheelchair)
- Toilet use
The key phrase MDHHS uses is "hands-on assistance." Needing occasional reminders or gentle supervision usually isn't enough on its own to qualify — though once a genuine ADL need is established, supervision needs can add to the total approved hours.
What disqualifies an applicant
Home Help exists specifically to help people stay out of institutional care, so it isn't available to people currently living in:
- A nursing home
- An adult foster care home
- An assisted living residence
If your loved one is currently in one of these settings but hoping to transition home, that's a conversation worth having with their MDHHS caseworker directly, since Home Help can often become relevant again once someone returns to a private residence.
The MDHHS-5534 home assessment
Everything above gets verified in person. An MDHHS Adult Services Worker visits the home and completes the Adult Services Comprehensive Assessment (form MDHHS-5534), which documents exactly which ADLs and IADLs your loved one needs help with. This assessment is what determines the number of approved monthly hours — commonly up to 180 — not a fixed formula based on diagnosis alone.
Quick answers
Yes — Home Help is a Medicaid benefit, so Medicaid eligibility comes first, either already in place or applied for alongside the Home Help request.
No — Home Help is only available to people living in their own home, not in a nursing home, adult foster care home, or assisted living facility.
Supervision-only needs generally don't qualify on their own, but they can be added to total approved hours once a genuine ADL need is already established.
Think your family might qualify?
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