·State program
Hawaii Self-Directed Services / Community Living Program
Hawaii offers self-directed options under its HCBS waivers, allowing Medicaid-eligible individuals with functional limitations to hire and manage their own caregivers. Family members including spouses can be hired as paid attendants. Hawaii also has the Kupuna Caregivers Act, a separate state-funded program for employed family caregivers.
What it offers
Hawaii self-directed services provide personal care through QUEST Integration HCBS. Participants can hire family members, including spouses, as paid caregivers; Med-QUEST's 2026 HCBS fee-for-service schedule lists self-directed chore and companion services at $4.00 per 15 minutes, personal assistance at $17.40 per hour, and nurse-delegated personal assistance at $22.72 per hour. Hawaii also offers the Kupuna Caregivers Act, a separate state-funded program providing assistance to employed family caregivers of elderly relatives. QUEST Integration STCs cap medically needy demonstration-group gross income at 300% FPL; Hawaii's 2026 MAGI-excepted chart lists the household-one 300% FPL amount as $4,590/month and the aged/blind/disabled household-one asset limit as $2,000.
Questions that decide eligibility
GiveCare prepares the questions; the program makes the decision. Bring these to the call or the application:
- 01
Does the person receiving care live in Hawaii?
Residency is usually the first thing a program checks.
- 02
Does your relationship to the person — spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, other relative, or non relative — count for this program?
- 03
What are the current income and asset limits, and whose income counts?
Our record lists gross monthly limit around $4,590 for a household of one, 300% of the federal poverty level, or an asset limit around $2,000 — limits change, so confirm the current figures.
- 04
What counts as a qualifying disability or level of care need, and what documentation shows it?
- 05
Does the VA disability rating meet the program’s minimum (our record lists null%)?
- 06
Do the work hours meet the minimum (our record lists null hours)?
- 07
Is there a caregiver-specific department, coordinator, or support line? Ask for it by name.
Many agencies have one that isn’t advertised on the website.
- 08
What documents do you need from us to start an application?
- 09
Is there a waitlist right now, and how long is it?