Free Care Package Services Offered in New Jersey & Maryland

Medicaid-Funded Home Care in New Jersey & Maryland

Cottage Home Care helps families in New Jersey and Maryland get home care paid for by Medicaid. If you qualify, you do not pay for personal care, company, or daily help. The state program covers the cost.

Started in New York in 2019. Grew into Maryland and New Jersey later. Medicaid is not simple. Forms pile up. Caseworkers change. Timelines shift for reasons nobody bothers to explain. Our team sits through all of it with families, from the first phone call to the day care actually starts.

Something worth saying straight: this is a home care agency, not the Medicaid office. Caseworkers decide who gets approved, not us. What we do is help you pick the right program, get your paperwork where it needs to go, and then show up and give the care once you're cleared.

Programs We Help Families Access

Read more about Medicaid-funded home care options in Maryland & New Jersey.

Maryland runs two main paths. Community First Choice (CFC) is a state Medicaid benefit through the Maryland Department of Health. If you already have full Medicaid, there is usually no waitlist. In most cases, a family member can even be hired as your paid caregiver. The Community Options Waiver is for people who need more support. It often fits those 65 and older, or anyone at risk of needing nursing home care. It does have a statewide waitlist. How long that takes depends on your case and your AERS assessment (Assessment, Evaluation & Review Services). Some families skip Medicaid and go Private Pay instead. That trades the paperwork for more control over scheduling and caregiver choice, at your own cost.

New Jersey works through MLTSS, short for Managed Long Term Services and Supports. It runs under NJ FamilyCare, through the state's Division of Medical Assistance & Health Services. It covers home-based care for people who meet both the health and income rules. Inside MLTSS sits the Personal Preference Program. This self-directed option gives you a monthly budget and lets you pick your own caregiver, family included in many cases.

None of this is guaranteed ahead of time. How much care gets approved comes down to your own assessment, and nobody, us included, can promise a number of hours before that happens. What we do control: a missing form or a callback that never came should not be why your case sits untouched.

What Care Actually Looks Like

• Bathing, grooming, dressing, and help using the bathroom.

• Reminders to stay on schedule with medication, and help keeping it organized. Aides are not medical staff and do not give medication themselves.

• Cooking meals and help eating, for people who need it.

• Getting around the home safely, including in and out of bed or a chair.

• If a client's program covers a PERS device (Personal Emergency Response System), we help get it set up. In a real emergency, the caregiver's job is calling 911 and reaching family fast, not stepping in with first aid.

• Company. Someone to talk to. It sounds small next to bathing and mobility help, but it matters just as much day to day.

Where We Serve

Maryland, 24 counties: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Somerset, St. Mary's, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico, Worcester.

New Jersey, all 21 counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren.

Why Families Work With Cottage Home Care

Maryland and New Jersey do not run their Medicaid home care the same way. Treating them like they do is a fast route to a delay. Each case gets handled on that state's own terms. Care plans are not copy-pasted either. A few hours of company a week and daily hands-on help are very different needs. The plan starts with a real conversation, not a form. Every caregiver is background-checked and trained before meeting a client. Paperwork is stressful enough on its own, so we try to match families with staff who speak their language, when that is possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

• 1. Who qualifies for Medicaid-funded home care?

  Depends on the program and the state, honestly. Maryland's CFC needs you to already hold full Medicaid, and the Community Options Waiver tends to fit people 65 and up or those at risk of needing nursing home care. New Jersey's MLTSS checks both health and income. The only real answer is to apply and see. Call us if you are not sure where you land.

• 2. How do I actually apply?

  Maryland routes through your local Aging and Disability office. Not sure which one covers your county? Maryland Access Point, 844-627-5465, will point you there. New Jersey is a different process. MLTSS applications go through your county Board of Social Services, or your managed care plan if you already have NJ FamilyCare. Either way, we help gather what's needed and walk it through with you.

• 3. What if I live outside the counties listed?

  Then Medicaid-funded services through us stop at that line, no way around it. Still worth a call. Private pay might work, or we point you somewhere that can help.

• 4. Is there a waitlist?

  Sometimes. CFC usually skips one if you already have Medicaid. Community Options does have a waitlist, and timing varies a lot person to person. MLTSS in New Jersey runs on your plan's own assessment schedule. We cannot make a state process move faster. We can make sure we're never the reason it's slow.

• 5. How is home care different from a nursing home?

  Mostly, where you are. Your own home instead of a facility. That usually means more one-on-one time, a schedule built around you instead of a building's routine, and staying close to the people you know. Cost shifts too, depending on whether Medicaid is covering it or you're paying privately.

• 6. Will I owe anything out of pocket?

  Not for anything covered under CFC, Community Options, or MLTSS, once you're approved. Private pay is a separate conversation, and we lay out those costs before anything starts. No surprise bills.

• 7. Can caregivers handle a medical emergency?

  They're trained to spot trouble and act fast, which in practice means 911 and calling family, not stepping in with treatment themselves. A PERS device, if your program covers one, adds another layer of safety on top of that.

• 8. What if I'm not happy with my caregiver?

  Say so. Fit matters more than people expect going in. If it's not working, we find someone else.

• 9. Can a family member get paid to be my caregiver?

  Usually, yes. Maryland's CFC allows it under its self-directed option, and New Jersey's Personal Preference Program works much the same way. There are exceptions, spouses get treated differently under each program's rules, so it's worth asking us about your specific case rather than guessing.

Contact Us

Interested in Caregiving Work?

Caring, dependable caregivers are always needed here, in both states. If that's you, email the address above for your state and someone will follow up about openings.

Get Started

Need home care in Maryland or New Jersey, for yourself or someone you love? Start by figuring out which program fits. Visit Cottage Home Care New Jersey or Cottage Home Care Maryland to get going.