Paying for home care
What home care costs in New Jersey
Nobody quotes you a price for home care. They quote you a rate, and the rate is the smallest part of what you end up paying. Here is what actually sets the number in New Jersey, including the state rules that decide what a live-in arrangement can even look like.
Endurance Home Care is a New Jersey registered Health Care Service Firm, registration HP0435100, arranging home care across Essex, Morris, Union, Bergen and Somerset counties from an office at 788 Morris Turnpike in Short Hills.
Endurance does not accept Medicare, Medicaid or VA benefits as payment. Care is paid for privately, or reimbursed to the household by a long term care insurance policy. This page is here for information.
How much does home care cost in New Jersey?
It depends on four things: how many hours, which care model, which county, and how much help is needed in each hour. New Jersey does not publish a rate and neither do we, because a figure on a page is a guess about a household nobody has seen. What we will do on the first call is give a real range for your hours in your town, and say plainly which of the four is driving it.
The number
The four things that set it
In the order a family can do something about them. The first is yours to shape, the last is not.
- 01
How many hours, and which ones
A weekday morning is the cheapest hour on the board and the easiest to staff. A Sunday night is neither. Two households buying the same weekly total can pay materially different amounts because of where those hours fall.
- 02
Which care model
Hourly visits, live-in, and awake overnight cover are three different services with three different staffing structures behind them. They are not three prices for one thing, and the gap between the last two is the largest on the page.
- 03
Which county
Essex, Morris, Union, Bergen and Somerset do not share a labour market. What a caregiver is paid in Short Hills and what one is paid an hour north are different numbers, and the rate follows the caregiver.
- 04
How much help each hour needs
An hour of company is not an hour of transfers and personal care. The second needs a caregiver with different training and a different match, and that is the part of the number nobody can negotiate down.
New Jersey law
What the state does to a live-in arrangement
The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights took effect on 1 July 2024. It is the reason a live-in arrangement in New Jersey has a shape before anybody discusses money, and it is worth reading before you compare two quotes.
- A written agreement is required
- For anyone working more than five hours a month, excluding casual work. It must set out job duties, wages including overtime, the schedule, how and how often payment is made, breaks, sleeping periods, leave and paid holidays, transport and housing, and the term.
- Breaks are not optional
- A 10 minute paid break every four hours, and a 30 minute meal break after more than five consecutive hours. The meal break is unpaid only if the worker is fully relieved of duties and free to leave; otherwise it is paid.
- Every home care worker is a CHHA
- New Jersey mandates that all home care workers in the state be certified home health aides, working to a care plan written by a nurse practitioner.
- Food is provided by the family on a live-in schedule
- A live-in caregiver eats in the home, and the household provides the food. On an awake around-the-clock schedule nobody lives in, so it does not apply.
Live-in and awake overnight
Two arrangements, not two prices
This is the most expensive thing a family can get wrong, and the two are frequently quoted as though one were a cheaper version of the other.
Live-in
One caregiver living in the home, with a sleeping period and personal time written into the agreement, and food provided by the family. It suits a household where the days need support and the nights are settled.
Live-in home careAwake overnight
A rotating team who stay awake through their shifts, because somebody has to be awake. It is a multiple of live-in, not a increment, and it is the right answer when the nights are the actual problem rather than the days.
Awake 24-hour careThe full comparison, with what changes at 2am, is in live-in care compared with awake 24-hour care.
State help
JACC, and who it is actually for
Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving is the state funded programme families ask about most, and the eligibility is narrower than the name suggests.
Information only. Endurance does not accept JACC, Medicaid, Medicare or VA benefits as payment.
Income must be no greater than 365 percent of the federal poverty level, and an applicant cannot already be enrolled in Medicaid. Applications go through the county Area Agency on Aging, not through an agency. We are not a JACC provider and cannot enrol you; we mention it because a household that qualifies should know before it starts paying privately.
Questions families ask
Is live-in care cheaper than 24 hour care in New Jersey?
Usually, and they are not the same purchase. Live-in care is one caregiver living in the home with a sleeping period written into the arrangement. Awake overnight care is a rotating team who stay awake through their shifts. On a live-in schedule the household provides the food, and the arrangement is set out in a written agreement, so it is a staffing structure with rules attached rather than a discount.
Does New Jersey help pay for home care?
For some households. Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving is a state funded programme for people aged 60 and over who need help with at least three activities of daily living and are not enrolled in Medicaid. It is capped at 1,090 dollars per participant per month plus care management, and it has income and asset limits. You apply through your county Area Agency on Aging, not through an agency.
What must a New Jersey home care contract include?
Since 1 July 2024 the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights requires a written, signed agreement for anyone working more than five hours a month. It has to set out job duties, wages including overtime, the schedule, how and how often payment is made, breaks, sleeping periods, leave and paid holidays, transport and housing, and the term. If you are being asked to arrange care without one, that is the thing to ask about first.
Where we work in this state, town by town, is on home care across New Jersey. If a policy is involved, start with long-term care insurance.
Endurance Home Care provides care at home in Connecticut and New Jersey, with companion care only in New York. Skilled nursing, home health aides and physical therapy in Connecticut are provided by Endurance Home Health. We are a New Jersey registered Health Care Service Firm, registration HP0435100. Nothing here is legal or financial advice.