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Respite care
Respite is temporary care that exists so the permanent caregiver can stop — for an afternoon, a week, a surgery, a wedding, or enough sleep to keep going. Families often do not take it because they do not know it exists or do not know who pays. Here is both.
The three shapes it comes in
Prices are national medians from CareScout's cost-of-care survey, collected July to November 2025.[1] Your area will differ, sometimes a lot.
- In-home respite — a paid aide, or in some programs a trained volunteer, comes to the house for hours or overnight. The national median for a non-medical caregiver at home is $35 an hour. Skilled nursing at home runs at a median of $90 an hour.[1] Subsidised hours exist — see below.
- Adult day programs — the built-in weekday respite, at a median of $95 a day. Covered properly here.[1]
- Short-term residential respite — many assisted-living communities and nursing homes take stays of a few days to a few weeks, often for a caregiver's own surgery or travel. The median assisted living community is $6,200 a month; a nursing home semi-private room is a median of $315 a day.[1] A short stay is usually quoted its own way rather than as a fraction of a monthly rate, so ask for the actual respite rate and what it includes.
Who pays
- Your Area Agency on Aging. The federal National Family Caregiver Support Program sends grants to states and territories, and respite care is one of its five service categories — alongside information, help getting access to services, counselling and support groups and training, and limited supplemental services.[3] It covers adult family members caring for someone 60 or over, caregivers of a person of any age with Alzheimer's disease, and some older relatives caring for children or for adults aged 18 to 59 with disabilities.[3] Local programs set their own intake, priorities and waiting lists, so ask plainly: what respite funding exists here, and how do I apply?
- Medicaid HCBS waivers. Many state waivers cover respite, and some let the family choose or even hire the provider. It is a state option within the waiver, not a federal entitlement — see how waivers work.
- The VA. Be careful with the number you may have seen, including on this page before today. What is documented is specific: caregivers enrolled as a Primary Family Caregiver in the VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers receive at least 30 days of respite care a year, and PCAFC is narrow — it requires a veteran with a VA disability rating of 70% or higher, enrolled in VA health care, needing at least six months of continuous in-person personal care.[5] Other VA respite exists outside PCAFC through geriatrics and extended care, but the amount, the settings and any copays depend on the veteran's program and local arrangements. Ask the VA caregiver support coordinator rather than assuming 30 days.
- Medicare, in one situation only. For a person who has elected hospice, the hospice team can arrange short-term inpatient respite; the patient pays 5% of the Medicare-approved amount, capped at the inpatient deductible.[2] Outside hospice, Medicare does not cover respite.
- Long-term-care insurance. Many policies include a respite benefit. Read the policy for the daily limit and any elimination period rather than trusting a summary — the insurance page covers how to read one.
Finding providers: the ARCH National Respite Network runs a national provider locator, and points to each state's Lifespan Respite Care Program and state respite coalition.[4] archrespite.org
Where the public record stops
What respite funding and providers exist in your county right now is local, and it changes with each year's grant.
Who to ask: your Area Agency on Aging (1-800-677-1116) — respite is part of what the caregiver-support program funds; for veterans, the VA caregiver support coordinator or the social worker on the care team.
What to ask them:
- What respite funding does the caregiver-support program have here, how do I apply, and is there a waiting list?
- Does our state's Medicaid waiver cover respite, and can we choose the provider?
- Which local facilities take short respite stays, what is the actual respite rate, and what does it include?
- Is there a dementia-specific respite program in this area?
- For a veteran: which VA respite pathway applies to us, how much, in what setting, and is there a copay?
Who helps you locally, free. Your Area Agency on Aging gives free options counseling. Reach any of them through the federal Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov (Administration for Community Living).[6] More on the four people who help on Who helps me locally.
Quick answers
What is respite care and how much does it cost?
Temporary care that gives the regular caregiver a break: an aide at home, an adult day program, or a short stay in a facility. CareScout's 2025 survey puts national medians at $35 an hour for a non-medical caregiver at home, $95 a day for adult day health care, and $6,200 a month for an assisted living community — which is where short residential respite is usually priced from, though a short stay is often quoted differently from a monthly rate. Subsidised respite exists through Area Agencies on Aging, Medicaid waivers and the VA, so ask before you assume you are paying the median. [1, 2]
Does Medicare cover respite care?
Only through hospice. For a person who has elected the Medicare hospice benefit, the hospice team can arrange short-term inpatient respite care, and the patient pays 5% of the Medicare-approved amount, capped at the inpatient deductible. Outside hospice, respite is funded through other routes: the National Family Caregiver Support Program via your Area Agency on Aging, state Medicaid waivers, VA programs, or a long-term-care insurance policy's own respite benefit. [2, 3]
How do I find respite care near me?
Two doors. Call your Area Agency on Aging through the Eldercare Locator on 1-800-677-1116 and ask what respite funding and providers exist locally — respite is one of the five service categories the federal caregiver-support program funds. And search the ARCH National Respite Network's provider locator, which also points to your state's Lifespan Respite Care Program and state respite coalition. [3, 4]
Sources and what they support
Sources checked 2026-09-19 using AI-assisted editorial research. This is a source check, not benefits advice.
- CareScout Cost of Care Survey, 2025. Supports the national medians used here: $35 an hour for a non-medical caregiver at home, $90 an hour for skilled nursing at home, $95 a day for adult day health care, $6,200 a month for an assisted living community, and $315 a day for a nursing home semi-private room. Collected July to November 2025 across metropolitan regions in all 50 states by a commercial provider whose detailed methodology sits in a separate document. These are medians, not quotes, they are not respite-specific rates, and a short respite stay is commonly priced differently from ongoing care.
- Medicare, hospice care coverage. Supports that inpatient respite care is available to a person who has elected hospice, arranged by the hospice team, at 5% of the Medicare-approved amount with the copayment capped at the inpatient deductible. It is hospice-only; nothing here establishes Medicare coverage of respite outside the hospice benefit.
- ACL, National Family Caregiver Support Program. Supports that the program gives grants to states and territories, its five service categories including respite care, the four eligible caregiver groups, its basis in Title IIIE of the Older Americans Act, and that grants are allocated on each state's share of the population aged 70 and over. Funding flows to states and then to local programs, which set intake, priority and availability — so this establishes that respite funding exists in the program, not that any particular family will receive it.
- ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center. Supports that ARCH runs a searchable respite provider locator and that it points to state Lifespan Respite Care Programs and state respite coalitions. A directory maintained by a national network; listings are not an endorsement and do not confirm that a provider has availability or takes your funding.
- VA, Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. Supports the at-least-30-days-a-year respite benefit for an enrolled Primary Family Caregiver, and the eligibility conditions: a VA disability rating of 70% or higher, enrolment in VA health care, and a need for at least six months of continuous in-person personal care. That 30 days belongs to PCAFC specifically. The general VA respite guidance checked in this pass does not establish a universal 30-day maximum or entitlement for veterans outside the program.
- Administration for Community Living, Eldercare Locator. Supports the referral route to a local Area Agency on Aging. What respite funding a given agency holds varies by county and by year.
Corrected in this pass: "up to 30 days a year" of VA respite was stated as a general veterans' benefit and is now tied to PCAFC, where it is documented; the National Family Caregiver Support Program was described as funding vouchers and hours "in every state" without the local-eligibility boundary; and a $206-a-day figure for residential respite, derived from a monthly assisted-living median, has been replaced with the published medians and an instruction to ask for the real respite rate.