Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Assisted Living Waiver (CMS waiver 0355.R05.00). Medicaid does not pay the facility’s room and board either way; only the care and service component.
What Mississippi covers
| Waiver / state plan option | Assisted Living Waiver (CMS waiver 0355.R05.00) |
|---|---|
| Covers an assisted living setting? | Yes: “Medicaid pays the facility a per diem for services received in the facility. If you are enrolled in the Assisted Living Waiver, you are responsible for payment of your room and board.” |
| Room and board | Never covered by Medicaid, in Mississippi 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. Mississippi’s own materials say the same thing directly: “The waiver does not include the costs of room and board expenses for waiver participants. Room and board expenses must be met from participant resources or through other venues.” (Mississippi Division of Medicaid, Assisted Living Waiver CMS 1915(c) renewal application).
The waitlist
unverified: mechanism confirmed (annual unduplicated-participant caps, 900 rising to 1,100 across the last renewal cycle) but no current headcount published
Paying for care is the harder half
What a waiver covers is only part of the problem, because room and board still has to come from somewhere, and an adviser can look at income, savings and the likely timeline together before a placement decision is made.
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What you get to keep: the personal needs allowance
unverified for AL Waiver participants specifically (a formula, not a flat figure); $44.00 ($90.00 for qualifying veterans/surviving spouses) is the separate nursing-facility figure a month: “The maintenance needs allowance is equal to the individual’s total income as determined under the post eligibility process” 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
Current (2026) waitlist open/closed status and headcount were not found in a primary source; the participant-cap figures found (900-1,100) are from the 2018 renewal filing, not a live dashboard. Mississippi uses an income-based formula rather than a flat personal needs allowance for AL Waiver participants, so no single dollar figure is reported for that population; the $44/$90 figures shown are the separate nursing-facility PNA, stated as such rather than conflated.
Sources
- Mississippi Division of Medicaid: Assisted Living Waiver Fact Sheet
- Mississippi Division of Medicaid: Assisted Living Waiver renewal submittal
Read September 3, 2026.
Same question, other states: Colorado · Florida.
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.