Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP, formerly CCSP) and SOURCE (Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment). Medicaid does not pay the facility’s room and board either way; only the care and service component.
What Georgia covers
| Waiver / state plan option | Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP, formerly CCSP) and SOURCE (Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment) |
|---|---|
| Covers an assisted living setting? | Yes: “Alternate Living Services (personal care home placement) … State licensed personal care homes, providing 24-hour personal care supervision.” |
| Room and board | Never covered by Medicaid, in Georgia 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. We did not find Georgia’s own materials restating this point in the sources read this session; the federal rule above still governs.
The waitlist
A waiting list exists, capacity- and funding-based; no current headcount published : “Admission to EDWP is based on available funding determined by the state legislature. Priority is given to those most in need of services.”
What you get to keep: the personal needs allowance
$994.00 a month: an individual in EDWP [uses] the current amount of the Individual FBR for LA-A as the PNA in the Patient Liability/Cost Share Budget; the LA-A FBR (SSI Limit) individual amount is $994 (Effective 1-26) 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
No primary source read this session states explicitly that Medicaid does not pay room and board for Georgia assisted living/personal care homes; the $994 personal needs allowance figure (the LA-A individual FBR, effective 1-26, per Appendix A1 as revised July 2026) is confirmed by name for EDWP but not independently confirmed for SOURCE specifically, whose own policy chapter does not restate a PNA figure. No published current waitlist headcount was found; Georgia’s own materials describe the waitlist mechanism qualitatively only. The state’s authoritative MMIS provider manual (the likely source of exact room-and-board language) returned a 404 and its directory required an authenticated login this session.
Figures verified against the Georgia DFCS Medicaid Policy Manual (section 2131, section 2552 and Appendix A1 as revised July 2026), the DCH Community Care fact sheet, and 42 U.S.C. §1396n(c)(1) (law.cornell.edu) on September 30, 2026; SOURCE program coverage, the room and board language and a waitlist headcount were not re-checked.
Sources
- Georgia DFCS Medicaid Policy Manual §2131: Elderly Disabled Waiver Program
- Georgia DFCS Medicaid Policy Manual, Appendix A1, ABD Financial Limits: Charts A1.2 and A1.9
- Georgia DCH: Community Care Services Program Fact Sheet, March 2022
Read September 3, 2026.
Same question, other states: Delaware · Maryland.
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: Georgia’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.