State Supplementation Program in Kentucky: 2026 Payment Standards

The Kentucky State Supplementation Program is a state-funded monthly cash payment that helps aged, blind, or disabled Kentuckians pay for care when their income, including any federal Supplemental Security Income, is not enough to meet the state’s established standard for their living arrangement. The Division of Family Support inside the Cabinet for Health and Family Services runs the program under Kentucky Revised Statutes 205.245 and 921 KAR 2:015, and it has operated since January 1, 1974.¹

How the Payment Is Calculated

Kentucky administers this program itself. Applications and payments go through the Department for Community Based Services, not the Social Security Administration.¹ The state sets a monthly standard of need for each recognized living arrangement, subtracts your countable income (federal SSI included), and pays you the difference.²

A worked example: a personal care home resident in 2026 has a standard of $1,610 per month. If federal SSI pays $994, the state supplementation payment is $616.² The check goes to the recipient, who then pays the care provider.

One boundary worth naming. The regulation also contains a mandatory supplementation category for people who received the pre-1974 Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled Program in December 1973 and later lost SSI. As of the SSA’s 2011 snapshot, no one was receiving it.¹ Everything below concerns the active, optional side of the program.

Who Qualifies

To receive optional state supplementation, you must meet all of the following:²

Be aged 65 or older, blind (20/200 or less in the better eye with correction), or disabled (a medically determinable impairment preventing substantial gainful activity for at least 12 months). Applicants are generally 18 or older, but personal care home residents may be as young as 16.³
Be a Kentucky resident and a U.S. citizen or qualified immigrant.
Have countable resources of no more than $2,000 (individual) or $3,000 (couple).⁴
Apply for federal SSI if potentially eligible.
Live in one of the four recognized care arrangements below.

Approval carries a significant side benefit. Recipients are automatically eligible for Medicaid, with no separate Medicaid application required, and they qualify for automatic SMI Buy-In, meaning Medicaid covers the Medicare Part B premium if it applies.²

The Four Living Arrangements and 2026 Payment Standards

Which category you fall into determines both your monthly standard and what services you can layer on top. Effective January 1, 2026:²

Personal Care Home — $1,610 per Month

Personal care homes are licensed facilities providing supervision, basic health services, personal care, and social and recreational activities for residents who are ambulatory or mobile non-ambulatory and do not need skilled nursing.³ A home that accepts state supplementation must treat the standard as full payment for care, and the resident keeps a $60 monthly personal needs allowance for clothing, transportation, and copayments.²

Personal care home residents are not eligible for Medicaid waiver services such as the Home and Community Based Waiver or the Supports for Community Living Waiver. Medicaid still covers their clinical and behavioral health services, but not room and board — that is what the state supplementation payment covers.⁵

Family Care Home — $1,166 per Month

Family care homes are smaller settings licensed to serve no more than three unrelated residents, offering 24-hour supervision and personal care for adults who need a protective environment but not constant medical attention.⁶ Residents must be 18 or older and able to manage most activities of daily living. The personal needs allowance is $40.² Unlike personal care home residents, family care home residents can also receive Medicaid waiver services if there is no duplication.

Community Integration Supplementation — $1,514 per Month

Community Integration Supplementation, or CIS, is for adults with a serious mental illness who live in a private residence rather than a congregate facility. The 2026 standard is $1,514.²

A qualified mental health professional must diagnose a mental illness or disorder as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, excluding primary diagnoses of Alzheimer’s or dementia. The illness must impair functioning in at least one major area of living and be unlikely to improve without treatment or support. The residence must be permanent housing with tenancy rights, a preference for single occupancy, and the resident’s own control over daily activities and community access.⁷

CIS eligibility is also the gateway to transition services provided by Community Mental Health Centers under the CHFS-Protection and Advocacy Third Amended Settlement Agreement, which help eligible people move from personal care homes or psychiatric hospitals into integrated community housing.⁸

Caretaker Services — $1,056 to $1,606 per Month

Caretaker services fund care delivered at regular intervals in the recipient’s own home or another family setting to prevent institutionalization. The caretaker may live in the home or come to it.⁷ The 2026 monthly standards are:

Individual: $1,056
Eligible couple where one spouse requires care: $1,552
Eligible couple where both spouses require care: $1,606

Certain relatives are excluded from serving as the paid caretaker if they live with the applicant: a spouse, a parent of an adult or minor child with a disability, or an adult child of a parent who is aged, blind, or disabled. The care must also be provided where the recipient lives; bringing the recipient to the caretaker’s home on a daily or periodic basis does not qualify.⁷ A caseworker verifies the arrangement each year by contacting the caretaker about the schedule, how the arrangement prevents institutionalization, and how the caretaker is paid.²

How to Apply

The Department for Community Based Services runs offices in all 120 Kentucky counties. You can apply in person at a local DCBS office, by phone at (855) 306-8959, or through a home visit.⁹ The kynect benefits self-service portal does not accept state supplementation applications, even though it handles other public assistance programs.²

After you apply, you have 30 days to return verification documents, with up to 30 additional days available for extenuating circumstances. A case cannot stay pending more than 60 days from the application date. There is no retroactive eligibility: payments start the month you file, not before.²

You may designate an authorized representative — a spouse, court-appointed guardian, power of attorney holder, SSI representative payee, or statutory benefit payee — to act for you. Anyone else can serve as an authorized representative if you sign and date a written statement naming them. Recertification is required every 12 months.²

Verification documents can be mailed to DCBS Family Support, P.O. Box 2104, Frankfort, KY 40602, delivered in person, or uploaded through benefind.ky.gov.⁹

If You Are Temporarily Hospitalized

A temporary admission to a hospital, psychiatric hospital, or nursing facility does not automatically end your benefit. Payments can continue for up to three full calendar months if the admission is intended to be temporary and you plan to return to your primary living arrangement.⁴ That window is what protects your bed in a personal care home or other setting during a short medical stay.

1
Social Security Administration. SSI State Assistance – Kentucky
2
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. DFS Manual Volume V – State Supplementation
3
WorkWorld. SSI State Supplement – Kentucky
4
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 921 KAR 2:015 – Supplemental Programs for Persons Who Are Aged, Blind, or Have a Disability
5
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Personal Care Homes in Kentucky – Research Report No. 438
6
Cornell Law Institute. 902 KAR 20:041 – Family Care Homes
7
Cornell Law Institute. 921 KAR 2:015 – Supplemental Programs for Persons Who Are Aged, Blind, or Have a Disability
8
University of Kentucky IPOP. Data Tracking Tool – Community Integration
9
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Division of Family Support