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In-home aides and caregivers on the Nature Coast

In-home care lets your parent stay in their own home with help that fits the day. That help can be a companion a few hours a week, or hands-on care with bathing and dressing every day. Here's what each kind is, what it costs in Florida, who pays, and how to hire someone you can trust.

Last reviewed: August 10, 2026

The short version:

• In-home help runs from a companion a few hours a week to daily hands-on care with bathing, dressing, and getting around.
• Non-medical home care in Florida costs about $31 an hour (2026). Around-the-clock care runs roughly $25,000 a month.
• Medicare pays only for short-term skilled care a doctor orders. It does not pay for ongoing help with bathing, dressing, or meals.
• Medicaid can pay for that daily help, and its participant-directed option can even pay a family member.
• Not on Medicaid? The Elder Helpline opens in-home help to anyone 60 and older, often free or on a sliding fee, with no income test.

Common questions

How much does in-home care cost in Florida?

Non-medical home care runs about $31 an hour in Florida (2026), a little below the national average of $34 to $35. Part-time care of about 40 hours a week works out to roughly $5,000 to $5,900 a month, and around-the-clock care runs about $25,000 a month.

Does Medicare pay for in-home care?

Only for short-term skilled care a doctor orders while your parent is homebound, such as nursing or therapy, with an aide alongside it. Medicare does not pay for ongoing help with bathing, dressing, or meals when that's the only care needed, and it never pays for 24-hour care.

Can I be paid to care for my parent at home?

Sometimes, yes. If your parent qualifies for Florida Medicaid long-term care, its participant-directed option lets them hire and pay their own caregiver, and that caregiver can be a family member. Ask the Elder Helpline how to start.

What if we don't qualify for Medicaid?

Call the Elder Helpline. Older Americans Act services, including in-home help, respite, and meals, are open to anyone 60 and older, often free or on a sliding fee, with no income test.

Should I hire a caregiver directly to save money?

The hourly rate is usually lower, but you take on the license-checking, background screening, supervision, insurance, backup coverage, and, in many cases, the payroll taxes of a household employer. Weigh the savings against that added work and risk.

What are the types of in-home care?

People use "home care," "home health," and "aide" to mean different things. The big split is simple: non-medical care is everyday help and needs no doctor's order. Medical care is clinical work by a licensed nurse or therapist, and it does need a doctor's order.

Two terms you'll hear a lot: ADLs are the activities of daily living, the basics of self-care like bathing, dressing, using the toilet, moving from a bed to a chair, and eating. IADLs are the tasks that keep a household running, like cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, rides, and managing pills and bills.

What does in-home care cost?

Non-medical home care is priced by the hour, and Florida runs a little below the national average.

(Sources: CareScout / Genworth Cost of Care, 2025; A Place for Mom, 2026.) Most agencies set a shift minimum, often four hours, so a one-hour visit usually isn't an option. Rates also run higher for specialized care, nights, and holidays.

Who pays for in-home care?

This is the question that trips up most families. Here's the short version; our how to pay for care guide walks through each one.

• Medicare: pays only for doctor-ordered, part-time skilled home health while your parent is homebound. It does not pay for ongoing help with bathing, dressing, or meals when that's the only need, and it never pays for 24-hour care.
• Florida Medicaid long-term care: the main public payer for ongoing personal care at home. It has an income and asset limit and often a wait list. Its participant-directed option lets your parent hire and pay their own caregiver, who can be a family member.
• VA: Aid & Attendance adds money to a veteran's pension to help pay for care, and the VA can arrange a home health aide directly.
• Long-term-care insurance: pays for home care if the policy covers it. Check the benefit and the waiting period.
• Private pay: paying out of pocket, the default when the others don't apply.
• Not on Medicaid? The Older Americans Act opens in-home help, respite, and meals to anyone 60 and older through the Elder Helpline, often free or on a sliding fee, with no income test. See our guide to the Older Americans Act and the Elder Helpline.

Should you hire through an agency or on your own?

You have three ways to bring a caregiver into the home, and the choice decides who screens, supervises, insures, and backs up that caregiver, and who the tax law calls the employer.

In Florida, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) licenses home health agencies and nurse registries, and registers homemaker and companion providers. A homemaker/companion registrant may clean, cook, run errands, and keep company, but cannot do bathing, the toilet, transfers, or medications. If anyone offers hands-on personal care, they must be licensed, not just registered.

How do I choose a good home care agency?

Interview two or three, and use this checklist:

Walk away from anyone who won't put terms in writing, can't show a license, or pressures you to decide fast.

Home health agencies in your county: ratings, services & the full licensed list

Much of the care above is non-medical home care you arrange and pay for yourself. Home health is different. It is skilled, doctor-ordered care -- a nurse, a physical or occupational therapist, or a home health aide -- and Medicare usually pays for it.

We built the local picture you cannot get in one place anywhere else. We started with the State of Florida's license file (every agency with an office in your county, what it is allowed to do, and its phone) and added Medicare's two star ratings on top. Here is what that gives you.

Medicare-rated agencies located in your county

Citrus County (3)

Hernando County (7)

Pasco County (15)

What patients say online (top-rated agencies)

Medicare's stars come from records and formal surveys. They do not always match what families write in public. So for the agencies that earned 4 or 5 Medicare quality stars, we also checked their public Google rating and matched each listing by address and phone. Here they are side by side, most-reviewed first.

Also Medicare-rated, and they serve the area -- but licensed from a nearby county

Medicare's own tool mixes these in with local offices, which is confusing. They are worth a call, they just are not licensed with an office inside your three counties.

The complete list: every licensed home health agency with an office in your county

Medicare's finder only shows the roughly 30 agencies that take Medicare. The state licenses many more that do private-pay nursing or aide care -- useful when you are paying yourself or bridging a gap. Here are all 83 with a local office. "Skilled" means the state licenses them for nursing or therapy. "Aide / personal care" means help with bathing, dressing, and day-to-day tasks.

Who provides in-home care in Citrus, Hernando & Pasco?

These are real agencies we confirmed from their own websites (August 2026). This list isn't complete and isn't an endorsement. Interview a couple, and check each one's license on FloridaHealthFinder before you sign.

Sources

• Medicare -- Home health services. https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/home-health-services
• CareScout (formerly Genworth) -- 2025 Cost of Care Survey. https://www.carescout.com/cost-of-care
• A Place for Mom -- In-home care costs, 2026. https://www.aplaceformom.com/caregiver-resources/articles/in-home-care-costs
• Florida AHCA -- Home health agencies, nurse registries & homemaker/companion registration (Fla. Stat. Ch. 400, Part III). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2023/Chapter400/PART_III
• Florida AHCA -- FloridaHealthFinder license look-up. https://quality.healthfinder.fl.gov/
• Florida Department of Elder Affairs -- programs & the Elder Helpline. https://elderaffairs.org/
• Administration for Community Living -- Older Americans Act services (no means test). https://acl.gov/about-acl/authorizing-statutes/older-americans-act
• VA -- Aid & Attendance, and Homemaker/Home Health Aide Care. https://www.va.gov/pension/aid-attendance-housebound/
• IRS -- Hiring household employees. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/hiring-household-employees