Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Elderly and Persons with Physical Disabilities (EPD) Waiver: 1915(c) waiver. Medicaid does not pay the facility’s room and board either way; only the care and service component.
What District of Columbia covers
| Waiver / state plan option | Elderly and Persons with Physical Disabilities (EPD) Waiver: 1915(c) waiver |
|---|---|
| Covers an assisted living setting? | Yes: “Assisted living consists of a licensed home in which participants can live in and have access to and receive all of the services that they need in order to maintain as much independence as possible. The person’s choice for independence must be balanced against the safety of the resident and other persons. This service does not cover room and board expenses.” |
| Room and board | Never covered by Medicaid, in District of Columbia 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. District of Columbia’s own materials say the same thing directly: “This service does not cover room and board expenses.” (DC DHCF, EPD Waiver Participant Handbook, “Assisted Living” section).
The waitlist
Current waitlist status not confirmed. The handbook linked on this page predates 2014: DHCF announced the suspension of the EPD waiting list as of March 1, 2014 (DHCF Medicaid Update Transmittal 14-17), and the January 2019 edition of the EPD Waiver Participant Handbook says that once the program is at its maximum number of participants, a waiting list is established. We did not find a current statement that the list is open or closed, or a count.
What you get to keep: the personal needs allowance
Not published in the materials reviewed this session. 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
The coverage verdict and the room-and-board exclusion are quoted from DHCF’s EPD Waiver Participant Handbook, which shows no revision date and references 2012 SSI income figures; the current Medicaid.gov listing shows the EPD waiver (0334.R05.00) effective February 7, 2022 through February 6, 2027. The waitlist text in that older handbook is superseded by DHCF’s 2014 suspension notice and the January 2019 handbook edition described above, so current waitlist status is unconfirmed. No PNA dollar amount for EPD Waiver participants was found in the handbook, so the personal needs allowance is marked unverified.
Figures verified against the DHCF EPD Waiver Participant Handbook (undated edition and the January 2019 edition), DHCF Medicaid Update Transmittal 14-17, the Medicaid.gov listing for waiver 0334.R05.00, and 42 U.S.C. §1396n(c)(1) (law.cornell.edu) on September 30, 2026; the personal needs allowance and current waitlist status were not re-checked.
Sources
Read September 4, 2026.
Same question, other states: Nebraska · Nevada.
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: District of Columbia’s Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance; the amount a nursing-facility resident keeps from their own income each month.