Iowa Home Care Medicaid
Iowa's Elderly Waiver stays separate in the HOME redesign, but published 2026 materials give mixed signals that require checking current slot access.
The Elderly Waiver is Iowa's older-adult HCBS route
Iowa HHS says the Elderly Waiver provides extra Medicaid services to adults age 65 or older so they may live at home rather than in a hospital or nursing facility. The applicant must be Medicaid eligible, have income below three times the SSI limit, have assets below $2,000, and need the level of care ordinarily provided in a nursing facility; an assessor performs the level-of-care assessment (Iowa HHS Elderly Waiver quick guide).
The same January 2026 material states the 2026 annual income figure as less than $35,788. Iowa HHS plans to combine six diagnosis-based waivers into Children and Youth and Adults with Disabilities waivers, but it decided to keep the Elderly Waiver separate after hearing concerns about access for people 65 and older (Iowa HHS Elderly Waiver quick guide).
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