Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Nebraska Medicaid Aged and Disabled (AD) Waiver, Supported Residential Living service. Medicaid does not pay the facility’s room and board either way; only the care and service component.
What Nebraska covers
| Waiver / state plan option | Nebraska Medicaid Aged and Disabled (AD) Waiver, Supported Residential Living service |
|---|---|
| Covers an assisted living setting? | Yes: “Supported Residential Living Provides shelter, food, and other services, such as assistance with personal care activities, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and health maintenance. Assisted living facilities are licensed through Public Health and regulated by Medicaid and Long-Term Care (MLTC).” |
| Room and board | Never covered by Medicaid, in Nebraska or any state; see below. |
The room-and-board split
Federal law is the floor every state builds on: “The Secretary may by waiver provide that a State plan approved under this subchapter may include as “medical assistance” under such plan payment for part or all of the cost of home or community-based services (other than room and board) approved by the Secretary” (42 U.S.C. §1396n(c)(1), Social Security Act §1915(c)). The words in parentheses do the work: whatever a state’s waiver pays for inside an assisted living community, it is not the rent, the meals, or the room itself. That portion stays the resident’s own to fund, out of income, savings, or a family contribution; the waiver only ever reaches the care and service layer on top of it. Nebraska’s own materials say the same thing directly: “You pay room and board and any Medicaid share of cost.” (NE DHHS, Aged and Disabled (AD) Waiver Services Quick Guide (July 2026), ‘Supported Residential Living’ section).
The waitlist
Not published by the state in the materials reviewed this session.
What you get to keep: the personal needs allowance
$75/month (effective 9/1/23) a month: “Effective 9/1/23: Personal Needs Allowance of $75 is included in the living arrangements listed:” This is the amount of a waiver participant’s own income the state lets them keep for personal spending after the rest goes toward the cost of their care; it varies by state because each state sets its own figure inside the federal floor.
What this doesn’t answer
Waitlist status is unverified: no dhhs.ne.gov page or PDF opened this session states the current wait-list status for the AD Waiver, so it is left unverified rather than repeating a secondary site’s claim. The $75/month personal needs allowance is drawn from a general ABD Standard-of-Need eligibility table that lists ‘Assisted Living Waiver’ and ‘Licensed Assisted Living Facility’ as distinct budget rows alongside nursing homes; it confirms the PNA figure embedded in those living-arrangement budgets but does not use the exact phrase ‘AD Waiver’ next to the $75 figure, so treat it as strong but slightly indirect evidence. The waiver name, assisted-living coverage via ‘Supported Residential Living,’ and room-and-board being the participant’s responsibility are confirmed directly from Nebraska DHHS’s own AD Waiver Quick Guide.
Figures verified against the Nebraska DHHS Aged and Disabled Waiver Quick Guide (July 2026), Medicaid Eligibility Manual 477-000-044 (rev. December 17, 2025), the DHHS Aged and Disabled Waiver web page and 42 U.S.C. §1396n(c)(1) (law.cornell.edu) on September 30, 2026; waitlist status was not re-checked.
Sources
- NE DHHS: Aged and Disabled (AD) Waiver Services Quick Guide (July 2026)
- NE DHHS: Aged and Disabled (AD) Waiver Info Sheet
- NE DHHS Medicaid Eligibility Manual 477-000-044: ABD Standard of Need (rev. 12/17/2025)
- NE DHHS: Aged and Disabled (AD) Waiver Eligibility brochure (April 2026)
- NE DHHS: Services on the Aged and Disabled Waiver (webpage)
Read September 4, 2026.
Same question, other states: Nevada · New Hampshire.
Related: what assisted living actually costs · assisted living vs. staying home vs. a CCRC · why home care has a waitlist and a nursing home doesn’t.
General information drawn from each state’s own Medicaid agency and federal statute, not legal, tax or financial advice. Medicaid is administered state by state; waiver names, coverage decisions, waitlists and allowance amounts change by state budget and legislative action. This page cannot see your own state’s current caseload. We are not a law firm, a benefits counselor, or a fiduciary, and this is not personalized advice. We sell nothing on this page and earn nothing from it.
Related: Nebraska’s Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance; the amount a nursing-facility resident keeps from their own income each month.
Related: use the Medicaid spend-down calculator to estimate how much you would need to spend down to qualify for long-term-care Medicaid in your state.
Related: Nebraska’s Medicaid home equity limit.