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Respite care
Respite is short-term care that exists so the everyday caregiver can stop — for an afternoon, a week, a surgery, a wedding, or enough sleep to keep going. Families often do not use it because they do not know it exists, or do not know who pays. Here are both answers.
The three kinds
Prices are national medians (middle prices) from CareScout's cost survey, gathered July to November 2025.[1] Your area will differ, sometimes a lot.
- Respite at home — a paid aide, or in some programs a trained volunteer, comes to the house for a few hours or overnight. The national median for a non-medical caregiver at home is $35 an hour. Skilled nursing at home has a median of $90 an hour.[1] Lower-cost hours exist. See below.
- Adult day programs — a built-in weekday break, at a median of $95 a day. Covered in full here.[1]
- A short stay in a facility — 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 for assisted living is $6,200 a month. A shared room in a nursing home has a median of $315 a day.[1] A short stay usually has its own price and is not just a slice of the monthly rate. So ask for the real respite rate and what it includes.
Who pays
- Your Area Agency on Aging. The federal National Family Caregiver Support Program sends money to states and territories. Respite care is one of the five kinds of help it pays for. The others are information; help getting services; counseling, support groups and training; and a small amount of other help.[3] It covers adult family members caring for someone 60 or over, people caring for someone 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 decide who they take first and keep their own waiting lists. So ask plainly: what respite money is there here, and how do I apply?
- Medicaid waivers for care at home (HCBS waivers). Many state waivers cover respite. Some let the family choose or even hire the provider. Each state decides if its waiver includes it. Federal law does not promise it. See how waivers work.
- The VA. Be careful with the number you may have seen, including on this page in the past. What is on record is specific. A caregiver enrolled as a Primary Family Caregiver in the VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) gets at least 30 days of respite care a year. But PCAFC is narrow. The veteran must have a VA disability rating of 70% or higher, be signed up for VA health care, and need at least six months of ongoing, in-person personal care.[5] The VA offers other respite outside PCAFC, through its care for older veterans. But how much, where, and any copay depend on the veteran's program and what is set up locally. Ask the VA caregiver support coordinator. Don't assume 30 days.
- Medicare, in one case only. For a person who has chosen hospice, the hospice team can set up a short respite stay in a facility. The patient pays 5% of the amount Medicare approves, and no more than the hospital 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 waiting period. Don't trust a summary. The insurance page explains how to read one.
Finding providers: the ARCH National Respite Network runs a national provider finder. It also points to each state's Lifespan Respite Care Program and state respite coalition.[4] archrespite.org
What only local offices can tell you
What respite money and providers exist in your county right now is a local matter. It changes with each year's funding.
Who to ask: your Area Agency on Aging (1-800-677-1116), since respite is part of what the caregiver support program pays for; for veterans, the VA caregiver support coordinator or the social worker on the care team.
What to ask them:
- What respite money does the caregiver support program have here? How do I apply? Is there a waiting list?
- Does our state's Medicaid waiver cover respite? Can we choose the provider?
- Which local facilities take short respite stays? What is the real respite rate, and what does it include?
- Is there a respite program just for dementia in this area?
- For a veteran: which kind of VA respite applies to us? How much, in what setting, and is there a copay?
Free local help. Your Area Agency on Aging will talk through your choices with you for free. Find yours through the federal Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov (run by the Administration for Community Living).[6] To learn about the four kinds of local helpers and what each one does, see Who helps me locally.
Quick answers
What is respite care and how much does it cost?
It is short-term care that gives the usual 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 (middle prices) 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 assisted living. Short respite stays are usually priced from that monthly rate, though a short stay is often quoted in its own way. Lower-cost respite exists through Area Agencies on Aging, Medicaid waivers and the VA. So ask before you assume you will pay the median. [1, 2]
Does Medicare cover respite care?
Only through hospice. For a person who has chosen the Medicare hospice benefit, the hospice team can set up a short respite stay in a facility. The patient pays 5% of the amount Medicare approves, and no more than the hospital deductible. Outside hospice, respite is paid for in other ways: the National Family Caregiver Support Program through your Area Agency on Aging, state Medicaid waivers, VA programs, or the respite benefit in a long-term-care insurance policy. [2, 3]
How do I find respite care near me?
Try two places. Call your Area Agency on Aging through the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 and ask what respite money and providers exist near you. Respite is one of the five kinds of help the federal caregiver support program pays for. And search the provider finder run by the ARCH National Respite Network. It also points you 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.