Short-term care for the person you look after, so you can take a break. Medicaid, the VA, Medicare and state programs each pay for it in some cases. Who pays, how much, and how to get it in your state.
Respite care is short-term care for the person you look after, so that you can rest, work, see a doctor or simply be away for a while. It can be a few hours at home with a trained worker, a day at an adult day center, or a short stay in a care facility. Medicaid, the VA, Medicare (for hospice patients and some people with dementia) and federally funded state programs all pay for respite in some cases, and you can also pay for it yourself.
The VA puts it plainly: respite "pays for care for a short time when family caregivers need a break" (VA, Respite Care, checked November 2, 2026). Who pays depends on who the person you care for is: a Medicaid member, a veteran, a hospice patient, someone with dementia, or none of these. This guide takes each payer in turn, then shows the open respite programs we have checked in each state.
Start with the person you care for, not with respite itself. The payer is usually a program they already belong to, or could join.
If the person you care for gets Medicaid home care through a waiver, respite may already be one of the services they can use. CMS lists respite care among the standard services of 1915(c) home and community-based services waivers, alongside personal care, homemaker services and adult day health (Medicaid.gov, Home & Community-Based Services 1915(c), checked November 2, 2026).
Each state decides which of its waivers include respite, where it can be given, and how much. Ask the person's case manager to add respite to the care plan, and ask which settings the waiver covers, at home, at a day program or in a facility. Where we have a waiver's respite rules on record, the state's page names the waiver, with the state's own rule linked.
VA respite comes in two forms. Home respite means a worker comes to the veteran's home, or the veteran goes to an adult day health care program. Nursing home respite takes place in a VA Community Living Center or a community nursing home, and should be scheduled ahead of time. "All enrolled Veterans are eligible for Respite Care IF they meet the clinical criteria for the service and it is available," and services vary by location. The program is for veterans who need help with activities of daily living, or who are isolated, or whose caregiver is experiencing burden. If the respite is provided by a community agency, an adult day health care center or a nursing home, the veteran also needs to meet community care eligibility (VA, Respite Care, checked November 2, 2026).
A copay may apply, based on the veteran's service-connected disability status and financial information; the VA social worker or case manager can tell you the amount and helps with VA Form 10-10EC. To arrange respite, ask the VA social worker (VA, checked November 2, 2026).
If you are the primary caregiver in the VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, you are entitled to "at least 30 days of respite care per year" (VA, Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, checked November 2, 2026). Our guide to getting paid to care for a family member explains who qualifies for that program. For any VA caregiver question, the Caregiver Support Line is 1-855-260-3274, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern (VA Caregiver Support Program, checked November 2, 2026).
Medicare's hospice benefit covers respite, described as "short-term care to help give caregivers a rest." When the hospice team arranges it, Medicare covers the stay in the facility, and you "may pay 5% of the Medicare-approved amount for inpatient respite care," a copayment that cannot be more than the inpatient deductible (Medicare.gov, Hospice care, checked November 2, 2026). Ask the hospice nurse or social worker; the hospice arranges it.
GUIDE is a Medicare program, run by CMS as a model that began July 1, 2024 and is set to run for eight years, for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Participating care teams offer care navigation, a support line open around the clock, caregiver training and respite (CMS, GUIDE Model, page updated October 27, 2026, checked November 2, 2026).
GUIDE pays for respite only for patients in its moderate to high-complexity tiers who have an unpaid primary caregiver: CMS says "Only patients with an unpaid primary caregiver in moderate to high-complexity dyad tiers are eligible for GUIDE respite services." The tier is set from the severity of the dementia and, where it applies, the caregiver's burden. Respite can be care at home, a day at an adult day center or a stay in a facility. The annual cap for 2026 is $2,625 per patient (CMS MLN fact sheet MLN7172818, July 2026, checked November 2, 2026). The program may not charge patients anything for GUIDE services, respite included. People who live in a residential care community, such as assisted living, cannot get GUIDE respite, though their caregivers can still get its education and support (CMS, GUIDE Model FAQs, page updated September 25, 2026, checked November 2, 2026).
GUIDE is not available everywhere: the person must be seen by a participating program. CMS publishes a participant list on its GUIDE page, and its FAQs suggest contacting a GUIDE doctor or care team to schedule an assessment. For Medicare questions, call 1-800-MEDICARE (CMS, checked November 2, 2026).
This federal program funds states and territories to support family caregivers, and respite care is one of its services, along with information, help getting services, counseling, support groups and training, and limited supplemental services. It serves unpaid family members and other informal caregivers of adults 60 and older, caregivers of people of any age with Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder, and relatives 55 or older raising a child (not parents), and relatives 55 or older, including parents, caring for an adult with a disability aged 18 to 59 (Administration for Community Living, National Family Caregiver Support Program, page updated March 18, 2026, checked November 2, 2026).
You reach it through your local Area Agency on Aging. To find yours, call the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116, a public service of the Administration for Community Living, or use its website (Eldercare Locator, checked November 2, 2026). Ask the agency what respite it offers caregivers, whether there is a waiting list, and whether you pay a share of the cost.
The Lifespan Respite Care Program is a federal grant to states to build coordinated, community-based respite systems. Congress created it in 2006 and reauthorized it in 2020, and since 2009 the Administration for Community Living has awarded grants to agencies in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Grantees use the money in different ways, from caregiver outreach and provider training to respite vouchers (Administration for Community Living, Lifespan Respite Care Program, page updated April 20, 2026, checked November 2, 2026).
A voucher program gives you money toward respite from a provider you choose, which can make it the most flexible help available. It also depends on the grant. In Arkansas, the state says the federal Lifespan Respite grant ended effective June 30, 2026 and it is no longer accepting voucher applications (Arkansas Department of Human Services, checked November 2, 2026). In Montana, voucher funding ended June 30, 2026, and the state has applied for more federal funding (Montana DPHHS, checked November 2, 2026). Where a program is open, the amounts are set by the state: Nebraska pays up to $125 per eligible person a month, plus up to $2,000 more per eligibility year for exceptional circumstances (Nebraska Lifespan Respite, checked November 2, 2026).
Because these programs open and close with their funding, check your state's page for the program's status and the date we last confirmed it before you apply. For respite providers near you, the ARCH National Respite Network, the national technical assistance center that ACL funds for Lifespan Respite, keeps a National Respite Locator.
51
States and DC with an open respite program on record
82
Programs a family caregiver can use today
We have open respite programs on record for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Between them they list 82 programs a family caregiver can use today, each with who qualifies and how to apply, sourced and dated. The oldest check behind them is . A program that is closed, or that we have not yet confirmed both facts for, is not counted here; the state's page shows what we have.
Every state's pages are listed on one page.
When no program covers it, families pay home care agencies, adult day centers or facilities directly. A federal tax credit can return part of that cost when the care lets you work.
The federal child and dependent care credit can apply to care for an adult. It covers care for your spouse, or for a dependent, who is not physically or mentally able to care for themselves and lived with you for more than half the year, when you pay for that care so that you (and your spouse, if filing jointly) can work or look for work. Care outside your home, such as an adult day center, counts if the person regularly spends at least 8 hours a day in your home. For 2025 returns, the expenses you can count are limited to $3,000 for one qualifying person or $6,000 for two or more (IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, for 2025 returns, checked November 2, 2026). The credit is tied to work: respite you use only so you can rest does not meet that test. A tax professional can tell you how the rules apply to your return.
The first respite is often the hardest to take. A worker or facility that has what it needs makes it easier for both of you. Before the first visit, write down the person's medicines and when they take them, the doctors' names and numbers, how they like to eat, sleep and be helped, and who to call if something goes wrong. Leave copies of any health care proxy or power of attorney if the provider asks for them.
Try a short first session, a few hours rather than a weekend, so the person can get used to someone new while you are close by. Then use the time for yourself. Planned breaks, taken before you are exhausted, are easier to arrange than help in a crisis.
We can tell you which programs pay for respite, whom they serve and how to apply, and in each state's page exactly what the state's own rules say. We cannot tell you whether the person you care for qualifies, how many hours or days a program will approve, or whether its funding will last the year. The program that pays decides those: your state Medicaid agency, the VA, the hospice, the GUIDE care team or your Area Agency on Aging.
Every federal fact on this page was read on November 2, 2026 at the official page linked beside it. The state examples come from our State Records, where each fact was checked at the state's own source on the date its state page shows. The state counts and the list of programs under "Open respite programs, state by state" are read from those records each time this page loads, so they always match the state pages. Sources:
Something here wrong or out of date? Tell us through the contact form and we will check it against the source. Fixes are listed on Corrections.
Guide
Guide
Yes, in many states Medicaid can pay a family member to give care, and some veterans' families can be paid by the VA. Spouses face stricter rules. How each route works, who decides, and where your state stands.