How to Apply for the Georgia Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP)

To apply for Georgia’s Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program, call the Area Agency on Aging at 866-552-4464 for a phone screening, then file a Medicaid application through the Division of Family and Children Services. Both tracks can run at the same time, and once you clear the screening your name goes on a waiting list until a funded slot opens.¹ When a slot comes up, a Care Coordination Agency visits your home to confirm you meet nursing-facility level of care and to build your care plan.²

EDWP (formerly called the Community Care Services Program, so you may still see CCSP on older paperwork) covers personal care, adult day health, home-delivered meals, emergency response, respite, and other supports that let someone who qualifies for a nursing home stay in a home or community setting instead.²

Check That You’re Likely Eligible Before You Call

There is no age minimum. EDWP serves both older Georgians and younger adults with disabilities, and you do not have to be homebound.² Before you call, confirm you can answer yes to each of these:

You live in Georgia, in your own home, someone else’s home, or a personal care home.
You need the kind of care a nursing facility provides, and a physician will document that.
Your income and assets fall within Georgia’s Medicaid limits (covered below), or you’re prepared to use a Miller Trust.
You intend to actually use at least one waiver service once admitted.

Step 1: Call the Area Agency on Aging

Dial 866-552-4464. An intake specialist runs a phone screening covering your living situation, health conditions, and ability to handle daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and eating.¹ The screening decides whether you appear to meet the clinical threshold and how urgently you need help. Both answers affect where you land on the waiting list.

Step 2: Apply for Medicaid Through DFCS

EDWP sits on top of Medicaid, so financial eligibility is handled separately by the Division of Family and Children Services. You can apply online at the Georgia Gateway portal (gateway.ga.gov), mail a paper application to your local DFCS office, or fax it. DFCS compares your income and assets against the limits below. Start this track at the same time you call AAA; waiting for one before beginning the other only lengthens the process.

Income Limit

Georgia caps countable monthly income at 300 percent of the federal SSI benefit rate. In 2026, with the individual SSI rate at $994, that ceiling is $2,982.³ Everything counts: Social Security retirement or disability, pensions, annuities, and interest from savings and investments.

Asset Limit

The resource limit is $2,000 for an individual.⁴ Bank balances, CDs, stocks, non-homestead real estate, and life insurance with cash surrender value all count. Your primary home is normally excluded if you live there or intend to return.

Miller Trust If Income Is Over the Cap

Being even slightly over $2,982 does not disqualify you. Georgia allows a Qualified Income Trust, commonly called a Miller Trust, to shelter the excess. The trust must be irrevocable, must hold only income (no lump-sum resources), and at your death any balance goes to the Department of Community Health to repay Medicaid.⁵

Three rules trip people up. You cannot fund the trust by direct deposit; income has to land in a personal account first and then move to the trust. The trust must be set up in Georgia, not another state. And you must fund it every single month. Skip a month and you lose Medicaid eligibility for that month.⁵

If You’re Married

When one spouse applies and the other stays in the community, federal spousal impoverishment rules protect the at-home spouse. In 2026, the Community Spouse Resource Allowance tops out at $162,660, so the non-applicant spouse can keep up to that much in countable assets. The community spouse can also hold a Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance of up to $4,066.50 per month, and if their own income falls short, some of the applicant’s income can be diverted to meet that floor.

Documents to Gather Before You Apply

Georgia state ID or driver’s license, Social Security card, and a utility bill or lease showing your current address.
Social Security award letters, pension statements, and bank interest statements, plus your most recent tax return as backup.
Current statements for every checking, savings, and brokerage account; CDs; cash-value life insurance policies; and deeds or tax records for any real estate beyond your primary home.
Your primary care physician’s name and contact, a current medication list, and records of diagnoses or treatments that document your limitations.
A doctor’s statement approving intermediate or skilled nursing home level of care. The georgia.gov application page lists this as required.¹

If your doctor’s office charges to copy records, ask up front. Georgia doesn’t fix those fees by a single statewide statute, so they vary.

Step 3: The Waiting List

Clearing the phone screening does not get you services. Georgia’s waiver programs run on a capped number of funded slots, and your name goes on a waiting list until one opens.² The state does not publish a fixed timeline. How long you wait depends on your region, the urgency rating from your screening, and current funding. Several months is common, and some areas run longer.

Step 4: The In-Home Assessment

When your name reaches the top of the list, a Care Coordination Agency sends an assessor to your home.² The visit covers how well you manage daily tasks, whether your home is safe, and what support you need. The outcome is your care plan: which services you receive and how many hours per week.

If the assessment confirms nursing-facility level of care, you are admitted and a care coordinator arranges services. From then on you work with a case manager who checks in, adjusts the plan if your condition changes, and helps you stay on top of your annual Medicaid redetermination so services don’t lapse.

If You’re Denied

A denial or reduction has to come in a written notice. You have 30 days from the date of that notice to request a fair hearing.⁶ You can start the request by phone, but you must follow up with a written request within 15 days of the oral one. An Administrative Law Judge hears the case. Filing late forces the judge to decide whether you had good cause, which is a gamble; file within the 30 days.

If you were already receiving EDWP services and you request the hearing before the reduction or termination takes effect, services generally continue until the hearing is resolved.⁶

Two Things to Know Before You Sign Up

Estate recovery. Georgia requires Medicaid to seek reimbursement from a deceased recipient’s estate for long-term care and home and community-based services, including EDWP. You will be asked to sign an acknowledgment of this before enrolling. No action is taken while a surviving spouse, or a child who is blind, disabled, or under 21, lives in the home. Estates with a gross value of $25,000 or less are exempt, and heirs can request an undue-hardship waiver by clear and convincing evidence.⁷

The 60-month look-back. Georgia reviews all asset transfers for the five years before your application date. Gifts, below-market sales, or transfers to family during that window trigger a penalty period of ineligibility, with the length tied to the value transferred. The federal gift tax exclusion does not protect you here. Medicaid rules and tax rules are separate.

1
Georgia.gov. Apply for Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program
2
Division of Family and Children Services. Elderly Disabled Waiver Program
3
Social Security Administration. How Much You Could Get From SSI
4
Division of Family and Children Services. Appendix A1 ABD Financial Limits
5
Division of Family and Children Services. Qualified Income Trust
6
Division of Family and Children Services. Appendix B Hearings
7
Georgia Medicaid. Medicaid Estate Recovery