Home health vs home care

One is medical and often paid by Medicare; the other is help with daily living and paid privately. Families mix them up constantly, and the mistake is expensive.

Home health

Skilled, intermittent care ordered by a doctor: nursing (wound care, injections, medication management, education), physical, occupational and speech therapy, medical social services. Delivered by a Medicare-certified agency, usually for weeks or months after a hospital stay or a change in condition. Original Medicare pays 100% of covered services when the homebound and skilled-need rules are met; the visits stop when skilled need ends.

Home care

Non-medical help with daily living: bathing, dressing, meals, medication reminders, companionship, supervision, help around the house. Delivered by home-care aides or companions, billed hourly by a private agency or directly. Medicare does not pay for it when that is the main need. It is paid privately, by long-term care insurance, or through Medicaid waiver programs in some states.

What it costs

CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey puts the national median for a home health aide at about $35 an hour. Forty hours a week of that is roughly $6,000 a month — which is why the amount of care needed matters as much as the hourly rate. Skilled home-health visits covered by Medicare carry no coinsurance.

Which do you need?

If there is a medical need a nurse or therapist must handle — a wound, an infusion, therapy after an injury — it is home health; ask the doctor for an order and a Medicare-certified agency. If the need is safety, supervision and help with daily activities, it is home care; budget hours and plan the money (private pay, LTC insurance, VA benefits, or a state Medicaid programme).

Written and maintained by the US Home Health data team · last reviewed 2026-10-24 · sources and methodology.