Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through PathWays for Aging (Assisted Living Waiver, age 60+) and the Health and Wellness Waiver (under 60), governed by 455 IAC 3-1. Medicaid does not pay the facility’s room and board either way; only the care and service component.
The same question in other states: Does Medicaid Pay for Assisted Living in Iowa?, Does Medicaid Pay for Assisted Living in Kentucky? and Does Medicaid Pay for Assisted Living in Louisiana?
What Indiana covers
| Waiver / state plan option | PathWays for Aging (Assisted Living Waiver, age 60+) and the Health and Wellness Waiver (under 60), governed by 455 IAC 3-1 |
|---|---|
| Covers an assisted living setting? | Yes: Indiana FSSA states that, effective July 1, 2025, the Health & Wellness and PathWays Medicaid waivers have a designated reserved waiver capacity for individuals residing in assisted living who meet the defined criteria. |
| Room and board | Never covered by Medicaid, in Indiana 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. Indiana’s own materials say the same thing directly: “Each recipient is responsible for payment of the room and board services. The provider shall charge recipients room and board rates that are no higher than the SSI rate current at the time room and board services are provided, less the amount of the personal needs allowance for room and board for Medicaid eligible individuals.” (455 IAC 3-1-12).
The waitlist
Waitlisted: 12,266 on the PathWays waiver waitlist, 6,920 on the Health and Wellness waiver waitlist : “As of September 2026 there are 12,266 individuals on the PathWays Medicaid Waiver Waiting List” and “As of September 2026 there are 6,920 individuals on the Health and Wellness Medicaid Waiver Waiting List” (as of September 2026)
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
455 IAC 3-1-12 sets the personal needs allowance as a formula (the SSI rate minus the room-and-board charge) rather than a flat number, and the state PDF likely containing the current computed rate was not machine-readable this session, so no dollar figure is reported.
Figures verified against the Indiana FSSA waiver waiting list page (September 2026), 455 IAC 3-1-12 (Cornell LII) and 42 U.S.C. 1396n(c)(1) on September 30, 2026; the “Assisted Living Waiver” program label and the personal needs allowance dollar figure were not re-checked.
Sources
- 455 IAC 3-1-12: room and board responsibility
- Indiana FSSA: HCBS waiver waiting list information, August 2026
Read September 3, 2026.
Same question, other states: Alabama · Alaska.
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: Indiana’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.