Free · About 5 minutes

You may be able to get paid to care for your parent.

Most families never find out what they qualify for. Answer a few questions and get a personalized list of the programs, benefits and services available where you live.

Your plan

Example

In-Home Supportive Services

California can pay you to provide the care you already give.

Likely

Medicare Savings Programs

Could cover the $202.90 monthly Part B premium.

Worth a call

VA Aid and Attendance

Requires a veteran or a surviving spouse. You told us there is none.

Ruled out

Every line shows the official source and the date we checked it. Telling you what to skip is part of the job.

The help exists. Nobody tells you it does.

There is no letter that arrives explaining what your family is entitled to. There is no single office that knows. The programs sit in different agencies, each with its own form, its own words and its own idea of who counts.

So most families find out about the money years late, or never. Usually from another family, in a waiting room.

You are already doing the work. The driving, the cooking, the calls, the appointments. In California that work has a name and a pay rate.
Nobody asks you the right question. Eligibility usually turns on something small: a service record, a premium, a ZIP code, an income line.
The searching costs you time you do not have. Most people give up in the third phone menu, and the ones who keep going often apply for the wrong thing.

What you might be missing

Five real programs, and what they actually pay.

These are not examples. Every figure below was read from the official source on 28 July 2026, and the link is right there so you can check it yourself.

California can pay a family member to provide the care.

In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) State of California

IHSS helps people who are 65 or older, blind, or disabled stay in their own home instead of moving into care. The person receiving care hires their own provider, and California says plainly that the provider can be a relative.

Care providers may include, but are not limited to, family members, friends, neighbors, or registered providers through the public authority.
California Department of Social Services

Covered work includes housecleaning, meal preparation, laundry, grocery shopping, personal care, accompaniment to medical appointments, and protective supervision. The person receiving care is the employer: they hire, train and supervise the provider.

The catch: The person receiving care must be eligible for Medi-Cal and be assessed by the county as needing the services. Being related to them is not by itself enough.

Apply with form SOC 295 through your county IHSS office.

Source: cdss.ca.gov, IHSS provider resources · dhcs.ca.gov, IHSS Plus Checked 28 July 2026

You can be paid for up to 8 weeks while you take time off to care for a parent.

California Paid Family Leave State of California

Paid Family Leave is not only for new parents. Caring for a seriously ill family member qualifies, and a parent counts. It replaces part of your wages while you are away from work.

Up to 8 weeks in a 12 month period. The maximum is $1,765 per week in 2026.

You do not have to use it all at once. The family member's condition has to be certified by a licensed health care provider, and you have to be losing wages because of the time off.

The catch: This replaces part of your pay. It is not job protection on its own, which is a separate set of laws.

Apply through the Employment Development Department.

Source: edd.ca.gov, Paid Family Leave Checked 28 July 2026

Your state may pay the Medicare Part B premium, which is $202.90 a month in 2026.

Medicare Savings Programs Federal, run by the state

Most people have that premium taken straight out of their Social Security payment every month and never question it. Three programs can pay it for people under the income limits, and one of them also covers deductibles, coinsurance and copayments.

$202.90 a month is $2,434.80 a year.

The Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program has a 2026 monthly income limit of $1,350 for one person and $1,824 for a married couple, with resource limits of $9,950 and $14,910. The two other programs, SLMB and QI, reach higher incomes and pay the Part B premium.

The catch: Some states do not count certain types or amounts of income and resources, so being a little over the limit is not the same as being ruled out. Apply through the state and let them decide.

Apply through your state Medicaid office.

Source: medicare.gov, Medicare Savings Programs · medicare.gov, 2026 costs Checked 28 July 2026

A veteran, or a surviving spouse, can get a larger monthly VA pension when they need help with daily activities.

VA Aid and Attendance Federal

This is money added on top of a VA pension. Surviving spouses are eligible too, which is the part families most often miss, because they assume the benefit died with the veteran.

The VA lists the qualifying situations as needing another person to help with daily activities like bathing, feeding and dressing; being a patient in a nursing home because of lost mental or physical abilities; having very limited eyesight; or being confined to bed by illness.

The catch: You cannot receive Aid and Attendance and Housebound benefits at the same time. You have to be receiving or eligible for a VA pension first.

Apply through VA.gov or a Veterans Service Organization.

Source: va.gov, Aid and Attendance Checked 28 July 2026

Help paying the energy bill, and free work on the home to make it cheaper to heat and cool.

LIHEAP energy bill help Federal, run by California

Older adults on a fixed income often cut back on heating or cooling before they ask anyone for help. LIHEAP pays toward energy bills and also covers weatherization, which is physical work done on the home.

California received $236 million in LIHEAP funding for federal fiscal year 2026.

It covers several fuel types including natural gas, electricity, wood, propane and oil.

The catch: Funding is limited and local providers prioritize the households in greatest need, so some eligible households will not receive a benefit. Being eligible and receiving it are two different things here.

Apply through your local LIHEAP service provider.

Source: csd.ca.gov, energy bill assistance Checked 28 July 2026

How it works

Three steps. No jargon.

Tell us where you are

It starts with a ZIP code, because almost everything depends on where the person lives. One field to begin.

Answer a few questions

Age, coverage, military service, what is getting hard. Plain questions, one screen at a time. Skip anything you do not know.

Get your list

What to contact, what to prepare, and what to skip. Every line carries its source and the date we checked it.

Find out what your family is entitled to.

It takes about five minutes, and you can stop and come back to it.

No card
No Social Security number
No account needed

Who this helps

Situations, not categories.

You cut your hours to help, and it is starting to hurt

Paid Family Leave and IHSS both exist for exactly this, and most people helping a parent have never heard of either.

Something changed suddenly

A fall, a diagnosis, a hospital discharge with a week to arrange everything. Start with what is available now, not what takes months.

You are doing this from another state

What matters is where your parent lives, not where you live. The check works the same way from three time zones away.

You are looking for yourself

Not everyone here is a caregiver. If you are sorting out your own situation, the questions adjust and nobody talks down to you.

There was military service in the family

Including a spouse who has since died. Families routinely assume the benefit died with the veteran. It did not.

Several of you are helping and it is getting tangled

Different people driving, cooking and calling, with a group text holding it together. That is a coordination problem, and it has answers too.

Being built now

Three engines behind the check.

The check works today on verified California data. These three take it further, and each one is being built in the open. We will not fake a working tool.

Entitlement

Beta

What you are owed by statute. Government programs, where the rule is written down and the answer is knowable.

What this covers

Availability

Beta

What is actually open near you. Local and nonprofit help, where the question is capacity and waitlists, not eligibility.

What this covers

Follow-through

Beta

Making sure it actually happens. A plan nobody acts on helped nobody, and that is where most of this falls down.

What this covers

Questions families ask

The ones people ask first.

Are you the government?

No. AIOSeniors is an independent company. We are not a government agency, not an insurer, and not affiliated with Medicare, Medicaid, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs or any state agency.

We also do not decide whether you qualify for anything. The agency that runs each program makes that determination. What we do is find the programs, show you the rule, and tell you when the rule says no.

Is it really free?

Yes. No card, no account, no trial. Here is how we make money, in plain terms, because a free service in this category deserves that question.

What do you do with my information?

While you are answering, nothing leaves your browser. At the end you can ask us to email your plan, and if you do we receive your first name, email, ZIP code and your answers. We use them to send the plan and a small number of follow-ups, and for nothing else. One click unsubscribes.

We never ask for a Social Security number, a Medicare number, a member ID or bank details, and we never put your answers in a web address. The full detail is in the privacy page, which describes what the site actually does rather than what a template says.

Can you really get paid to care for a parent?

In California, often yes. In-Home Supportive Services pays a provider to help someone stay in their own home, and the state says plainly that the provider can be a family member. The person receiving care hires them.

The condition is on them, not on you: they have to be eligible for Medi-Cal and be assessed by the county as needing the help. Being related to them is not by itself enough.

Which areas do you cover?

California is researched properly, with real programs, real sources and real dates. Federal programs apply everywhere. For other states we will tell you plainly that we have not verified your area yet, rather than showing you a page of filler.

One state done properly beats fifty done thinly. More on coverage.

Will you tell me I do not qualify for something?

Yes, and that is deliberate. A family that spends forty hours applying for a program they were never eligible for has been failed by a tool that only ever returned longer lists.

We rule something out only on a clear rule you have told us about yourself, and we always show you the rule so you can challenge it. If we simply do not know, we say we do not know. Unknown is never treated as a no.

Start with a ZIP code.

That is the whole first question.