Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Aged and Disabled Waiver (CMS waiver ID ID.1076.R07.00). Medicaid does not pay the facility’s room and board either way; only the care and service component.
What Idaho covers
| Waiver / state plan option | Aged and Disabled Waiver (CMS waiver ID ID.1076.R07.00) |
|---|---|
| Covers an assisted living setting? | Yes: The waiver funds adult residential care in Residential Assisted Living Facilities (RALF) and Certified Family Homes (CFH). |
| Room and board | Never covered by Medicaid, in Idaho 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. Idaho’s rule does not state the exclusion in those words, but it treats room and board separately: if a RALF or CFH participant does not require State Plan Personal Care Services, eligibility and allowances are based on the Room and Board rate in Section 512 of the rules. (IDAPA 16.03.05.513).
The waitlist
Not published by the state in the materials reviewed this session.
What you get to keep: the personal needs allowance
$96.00 base (2013), adjusted annually by the SSI COLA; current exact figure unverified a month: A participant living in a RALF… or a CFH… is budgeted a basic allowance of ninety-six dollars ($96) monthly. Beginning July 1, 2013, this basic allowance will be adjusted annually by the percentage of the annual cost-of-living increase in the federal SSI benefit rate… effective on January 1st of each year. 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
IDAPA 16.03.05.513 sets a $96/month base allowance effective 2013 with an annual SSI-COLA adjustment written into the rule; the current (2026) COLA-adjusted dollar figure was not located in a source read this session, so the base figure and its adjustment mechanism are reported rather than an extrapolated current number. Waitlist status was not found on any Idaho Health and Welfare page read this session. No Idaho source read this session states the room-and-board exclusion in so many words; the rule text’s separate room-and-board rate is the closest evidence.
Figures verified against IDAPA 16.03.05.513 (IDAPA 16.03.05 chapter text and Cornell LII) and 42 U.S.C. 1396n(c)(1) on September 30, 2026; the CMS waiver number and waiver coverage of RALF and CFH settings, the waitlist statement, and the current COLA-adjusted allowance were not re-checked.
Sources
- CMS Medicaid.gov: Idaho Aged and Disabled Waiver factsheet
- IDAPA 16.03.05.513: RALF and CFH Allowances
Read September 3, 2026.
Same question, other states: Illinois · Indiana.
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: Idaho’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.