How to Apply for PASSPORT in Ohio: Where to Call, the Nursing Home Level of Care Assessment, and Income Limits
The Ohio Department of Aging's own PASSPORT eligibility page quotes $2,829 a month and $2,000 in countable assets, and labels those figures 2024. They have not been refreshed. Ohio's institutional Medicaid income ceiling is set at 300 percent of the SSI federal benefit rate, and the 2026 federal benefit rate is $994 — which puts the current ceiling near $2,982 rather than $2,829.
We are not going to print one number and call it settled. Ask the agency that screens you what figure they are applying this month. The same page also notes that people above the limit may still qualify depending on the extent of their medical and in-home needs, which is the part most summaries drop.
PASSPORT pays for care at home instead of a nursing home for Ohioans aged 60 and over. Start with one phone call: 1-800-266-4346, weekdays 8 to 5. There is no form to hunt for first.
First, check which programme is actually yours
This is the question to settle before anything else, and it changed during 2026.
Ohio ran a separate integrated programme for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, called MyCare Ohio. For more than a decade it existed in only 29 counties. The Ohio Department of Medicaid rolled it out to the rest of the state during 2026, in stages organised around Area Agency on Aging regions.
| Date | Counties added |
|---|---|
| January 1, 2026 | The original 29 |
| April 1, 2026 | Sandusky, Erie, Henry, Williams, Defiance, Paulding, Fayette, Fairfield, Licking, Ashtabula |
| May 1, 2026 | Preble, Darke, Miami, Shelby, Champaign, Logan, Van Wert, Putnam, Hancock, Allen, Mercer, Auglaize, Hardin, Seneca, Huron, Wyandot, Crawford, Richland, Ashland, Marion, Morrow, Knox |
| June 1, 2026 | Ross, Vinton, Highland, Pike, Jackson, Gallia, Brown, Adams, Scioto, Lawrence |
| July 1, 2026 | Holmes, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Jefferson, Coshocton, Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey, Muskingum |
| August 1, 2026 | Hocking, Perry, Morgan, Noble, Monroe, Washington, Athens, Meigs |
→ swipe the table sideways
Source: Ohio Department of Medicaid, Next Generation MyCare Program Rollout schedule.
The practical consequence: if you have only Medicaid, PASSPORT is your route. If you have both Medicare and Medicaid, ask which programme now covers home care in your county before you go any further — the answer may be MyCare rather than PASSPORT.
Be aware that the state's own pages have not been reconciled with each other. The Department of Aging's PASSPORT pages do not mention MyCare at all. Do not treat either page as settling the question for your household. The number below reaches people who can tell you.
Where to start
| Route | Details |
|---|---|
| Phone | Ohio Department of Aging, 1-800-266-4346, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm. For TTY use Relay Ohio: dial 711. |
| Online consultation | The Department of Aging runs a short questionnaire at ltssi.age.ohio.gov for anyone seeking services for themselves or an older relative. Almost nobody knows it exists. |
| Medicaid side | The financial application is a Medicaid application — benefits.ohio.gov, or your county Department of Job and Family Services. |
Source: Ohio Department of Aging; PASSPORT eligibility page.
Two applications run alongside each other — one for care, one for money. Starting both at once is the difference between a decision in weeks and a decision in months.
The two steps
The Department of Aging describes PASSPORT as having two main parts, and it is worth knowing which one you are in.
Staff work out whether you are likely to qualify for Medicaid, assess how much care you are likely to need, and explain the long-term care options available to you. This happens on the telephone. Nobody comes to the house yet.
Once you are found eligible, a case manager builds a package of services with you from local providers, and checks in regularly to make sure the care meets quality standards. The plan is adjusted as needs change rather than fixed at the start.
What can be in that package:
Source: Ohio Department of Aging, PASSPORT.
Participants also receive a Medicaid card covering physician care, hospital care and prescriptions. The home services are the point, but the card is not a small thing on top.
Who qualifies
Four conditions, all of them at once.
This is the long-term care standard, not the ordinary Medicaid one. Ask the screener for the current month's figure.
This is the condition people misread. You do not apply because you would like some help — you apply because you would otherwise be in a facility.
Your doctor is part of this. Raise it at the next appointment rather than after the assessment.
One line on the state's page is worth reading twice: people above the financial limit may still be eligible depending on the extent of their medical and in-home needs. Being over the number is not automatically the end of it.
The estate recovery warning
This is the opposite of the rule for Medicare premium help, and confusing the two is a costly mistake in either direction.
The Department of Aging states it directly: some costs the state incurs for PASSPORT care may be subject to estate recovery. All Medicaid services provided to people aged 55 or older can be recovered, including home and community-based waiver services like PASSPORT. The authority is the federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and Ohio Revised Code section 5111.11.
That is a real consideration for a family with a house, and it deserves a conversation rather than a panic. Recovery happens against the estate after death, not during life, and your county Department of Job and Family Services can explain how it would apply to your situation.
What it does not apply to is the Medicare Savings Programs. Those are a separate benefit with a separate rule, and the Ohio Department of Insurance says plainly that they are not subject to estate recovery. If someone in the family has been avoiding both because of the house, only one of the two warrants that caution.
Help with the Medicare Part B premium — $202.90 a month in 2026 — carries no claim against your home.
Ohio Medicare Savings Programs →Paying a family caregiver who lives with you
This is recent and it is not in most guides. Structured Family Caregiving was added to PASSPORT in October 2024.
Under it, an agency provider can employ or contract a caregiver who lives with the participant to provide daily care and support based on that person's daily needs. If a daughter or a son has already left work to look after a parent, this is the service to ask about by name at the assessment. Nobody offers it unprompted.
There is also a consumer-directed option within PASSPORT, which changes who selects and manages the workers. Ask about both at the same time.
Seven things that go wrong
If you have both Medicare and Medicaid, MyCare may now be your route rather than PASSPORT. Settle this on the first call.
Those figures are labelled 2024 and have not been refreshed. Ask what applies this month.
The state's own page says people above it may still qualify depending on medical and in-home needs.
Run them together. Sequencing them adds months.
Eligibility requires being able to stay safely at home with your physician's consent.
A live-in family member can be paid through an agency provider. It is a named service, so name it.
It reaches PASSPORT. It does not reach the Medicare Savings Programs.
If something goes wrong after you are enrolled
Ohio runs an online tool for exactly this. The Customer Experience Management System lets people enrolled in PASSPORT or the Assisted Living waiver submit questions, inquiries or concerns about their care directly, rather than working through the provider who is the subject of the concern. It is at contact.medicaid.ohio.gov. There is also a long-term care ombudsman for disputes the system does not resolve.
| Programme | PASSPORT — Ohio's home and community-based Medicaid waiver for older adults |
| Agency | Ohio Department of Aging |
| Phone | 1-800-266-4346 · weekdays 8am–5pm · TTY dial 711 |
| Request a consultation | ltssi.age.ohio.gov |
| Eligibility rules | ODA PASSPORT eligibility |
| Medicaid application | benefits.ohio.gov · 800-324-8680 |
| County office | ODJFS local agencies directory |
| MyCare county schedule | ODM rollout schedule (PDF) |
| Concerns about your care | contact.medicaid.ohio.gov |
Related programs
No estate claim on this oneOhio Medicare Savings Programs: income and asset limits→ Same county officeHow to apply for Medicare premium help in Ohio→ Staying at home costs money tooPIPP Plus: capping the utility bill at a share of income→ PrescriptionsExtra Help with Part D drug costs→Tools you'll need
aging.ohio.gov — what PASSPORT covers
aging.ohio.gov — eligibility and estate recovery
benefits.ohio.gov — the Medicaid application
jfs.ohio.gov — find your county office
ODM — which counties are in MyCare, by date
contact.medicaid.ohio.gov — raise a concern about your care
Sources. Ohio Department of Aging, PASSPORT — the two-part structure, the service list, Structured Family Caregiving as a service added in October 2024, and the Customer Experience Management System. Ohio Department of Aging, PASSPORT Eligibility — the four eligibility conditions, the figures the page labels 2024, the note that people above the limit may still qualify, and the estate recovery statement citing OBRA 1993 and Ohio Revised Code 5111.11. Ohio Department of Aging — the telephone number, hours, and the consultation questionnaire. Ohio Department of Medicaid — the county-by-county MyCare rollout dates. Social Security Administration, 2026 COLA fact sheet — the 2026 federal benefit rate used to derive the current institutional ceiling.
Verified: August 1, 2026. The state's published PASSPORT figures carry a 2024 label and the programme structure changed during 2026. Confirm current amounts and which programme applies in your county before relying on anything here.
This page explains a public program. It is not legal or financial advice and it is not an eligibility decision. Only the Ohio Department of Aging, the Ohio Department of Medicaid and your county Department of Job and Family Services can determine what you qualify for.
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