Omid Saatsaz
Founder, Red Hill Home Care
One of the first questions families ask when a parent or spouse needs help at home isn't "what kind of care?" — it's "how are we going to pay for this?" The good news: private pay isn't the only option, and most California families end up using some combination of the paths below rather than just one.
Private Pay / Out-of-Pocket
This is the most flexible option and the fastest to start — there's no authorization process, no waiting on a claim, and no restriction on which agency you choose or how many hours you use. The tradeoff is cost: non-medical home care in California typically runs in the $40-60/hour range depending on the county and level of care, though exact rates vary by agency and region.
Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance
If your loved one purchased a long-term care insurance policy years ago, it may cover in-home personal care and companionship — many policies do, but terms vary a lot by carrier and policy age. The key steps: find the policy documents, call the insurer to confirm what's covered and what documentation they require (often a care plan and sometimes a physician's certification), and ask whether they pay the agency directly or reimburse the family. Start this process early — claims can take time to set up.
Medi-Cal / Medicaid (State Waiver Programs)
California's Medi-Cal program offers several paths to in-home support for eligible seniors and people with disabilities, most notably the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered county by county. Eligibility depends on income, assets, and level of need, and the application goes through your local county IHSS office, not a private agency. If your loved one is Medi-Cal eligible, it's worth exploring this alongside private-pay care — some families use IHSS hours for baseline support and private pay to fill in additional hours or more specialized care.
Veterans Affairs (VA) Benefits
Veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for VA Aid and Attendance, a benefit that can help cover the cost of in-home care for those who need help with daily activities. It's a separate benefit from standard VA disability compensation, with its own eligibility rules around service history, income, and care need. The application goes through the VA directly, and processing can take a while, so it's worth starting as soon as a need is identified rather than waiting for a crisis.
Combining Options
In practice, many families layer these together — for example, IHSS hours covering part of the week and a private-pay agency like Red Hill filling in the rest, or LTC insurance reimbursing part of a private-pay invoice. We're a private-pay agency, so if you're not sure how a government benefit might fit alongside that, that's worth a call to the agency or office that administers it directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Red Hill Home Care accept Medi-Cal or VA benefits directly?
No — Red Hill is private-pay. If you're eligible for IHSS (Medi-Cal) or VA Aid and Attendance, those programs pay the veteran/family directly or pay their own designated provider, and a private-pay agency can fill in hours alongside that rather than billing those programs itself.
Which payment option is fastest to actually start care?
Private pay, by far. There's no application, no eligibility review, and no waiting on a government agency's processing time — care can typically start within days of your first call.
Can I combine private pay with LTC insurance or a government program?
Yes, and many families do — for example, using IHSS hours for a baseline amount of support and private pay to cover nights, weekends, or specialized needs IHSS doesn't reach.
About Omid Saatsaz
Founder, Red Hill Home Care
Omid founded Red Hill Home Care after watching his grandfather receive home care firsthand, and after a close family friend with disabilities struggled to get the daily support they needed. Before starting Red Hill, he spent several years consulting for home care agencies on operations, marketing, and M&A, and three years at Medtronic in Irvine, CA working on neurovascular stroke-prevention devices (aneurysm treatment and blood clot retrieval). He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona (2016).