Texas STAR+PLUS Home Care: Eligibility, Hours & How to Choose a Provider
STAR+PLUS is Texas Medicaid’s managed-care program for adults who are 65 or older or who have a disability — and it is the program that pays for long-term services and supports at home, including a personal attendant who helps with bathing, dressing, meals, housekeeping, and errands.
Newport Home Health is a licensed Texas home care agency (HCSSA) and a contracted STAR+PLUS home care provider with Molina, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Superior HealthPlan, and Wellpoint. We have served Texas families for 17 years and currently support roughly 390 members across the state, with care teams in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. This guide covers STAR+PLUS eligibility, what the program pays for at home, how attendant hours are decided, the interest list, and how to choose — or switch to — the right provider agency.
Want answers for your family today? Call 972-602-3500 or use the quick eligibility form below — no cost, no obligation.
Who Qualifies for STAR+PLUS?
STAR+PLUS eligibility in Texas comes down to two things that both have to be true:
- Age or disability. You are an adult 65 or older, or an adult with a qualifying disability. Many members qualify automatically because they receive SSI; others qualify for Medicaid through a disability determination.
- Medicaid financial eligibility. Your income and resources must fall within Texas Medicaid limits. Those limits are adjusted over time, so rather than quote numbers that go stale, check the current rules on the official Texas HHS STAR+PLUS page or apply through Your Texas Benefits.
Still working, but have a disability? Ask about the Medicaid Buy-In program. It lets working adults with disabilities get Texas Medicaid — sometimes for a modest monthly premium — even when a paycheck would otherwise put them over the income limit.
Already on Medicare? Dual-eligible members (Medicare plus Medicaid) are a large part of STAR+PLUS. Medicare stays your primary coverage for doctors and hospitals, while STAR+PLUS adds the long-term services Medicare was never designed to cover — like ongoing attendant hours at home. Our plain-English guide to Medicaid and Medicare home care coverage breaks down how the two work together.
What STAR+PLUS Covers at Home
Home care under STAR+PLUS flows through two pathways. Most members use the first; members with higher needs may qualify for the second. The plain-English difference: state-plan personal assistance services are the standard attendant benefit available to eligible members, while the STAR+PLUS Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver program is a bigger toolbox for people whose needs would otherwise qualify them for a nursing facility — but who choose to stay home.
State-plan personal attendant services (the most common benefit)
- Bathing, dressing, and grooming
- Meal preparation and help with eating
- Light housekeeping and laundry
- Groceries, errands, and escort to appointments
- Medication reminders and mobility help around the home
This is the day-in, day-out care Newport delivers across Texas. You can read more about how our personal attendant services work, or see what Medicaid caregivers actually do on a typical visit.
The STAR+PLUS Waiver program (HCBS) — an extra layer for higher needs
- Respite care, so family caregivers can rest
- Adult day activity and health services
- Emergency response systems and home-delivered meals
- Minor home modifications, adaptive aids, and medical equipment
- In-home nursing and therapies beyond the standard benefit
Both pathways can include attendant care, and the same agency can serve you in either one. If you are not sure which pathway fits your situation, that is exactly the kind of question we untangle on a five-minute phone call.
How Many Hours Will You Get?
Here is the honest answer: no agency can promise you a number of hours, and you should be cautious of any that does. Authorized hours come from a needs assessment performed by your STAR+PLUS health plan. A service coordinator reviews which daily tasks you need help with — bathing, dressing, meals, housekeeping — and how often, and the plan authorizes hours based on those documented needs. Hours vary widely from member to member because needs vary widely.
What an experienced agency can do is help you prepare. Before the assessment, Newport walks families through a typical day so the real picture gets captured — not the “good day” version many families describe out of habit. If help is needed with a task every day, the assessment should say so. For the step-by-step journey from application to the first caregiver shift, see our Texas Medicaid STAR+PLUS timeline guide.
The Interest List, Explained
Families researching the Texas STAR+PLUS Waiver program often hit the phrase “interest list” and panic. Here is the distinction that matters: state-plan personal assistance services do not have an interest list. If you are eligible, your health plan assesses you and authorizes services. The interest list applies to certain routes into the HCBS waiver pathway, where slots can involve waiting — how long varies by region and situation, and it is often measured in months.
The practical takeaway: do not assume you have to wait for home care. Many families who fear a years-long list actually qualify for state-plan attendant services right now, and start there while any waiver question gets sorted out. Call 972-602-3500 and we will help you figure out which pathway fits — checking costs nothing.
STAR+PLUS Health Plans We Work With
In STAR+PLUS, you get your Medicaid benefits through a health plan (a managed care organization), and the plan choice always belongs to the member — Texas lets you compare options on the official STAR+PLUS comparison charts and change plans through Texas Medicaid enrollment if your current one is not working out. Newport is contracted with all four plans below, so switching plans does not mean switching caregivers:
- Molina Healthcare of Texas — we work with Molina service coordinators daily across DFW, Houston, and San Antonio; see our Molina home care guide for how Molina STAR+PLUS benefits work.
- UnitedHealthcare Community Plan — a long-standing Newport partner; members choose or change plans at enrollment, and we coordinate care with UHC from day one.
- Superior HealthPlan — Superior members can name Newport as their preferred provider agency, and their service coordinator sends us the authorization.
- Wellpoint (formerly Amerigroup) — same routine: you pick the plan, your coordinator handles the paperwork, and we handle the care.
Whichever plan you are on, the pattern is the same: your service coordinator is your main contact inside the plan, and Newport works with that coordinator to get services authorized, staffed, and running.
Want a Family Member to Be the Paid Caregiver?
STAR+PLUS allows many members to choose their own caregiver — including an adult child, sibling, or other family member. The simplest route is the agency option: Newport hires your family member as an employee, handles the background check, training, scheduling, payroll taxes, and visit verification, and pays them $13–14 per hour for the authorized attendant hours. Most families pick this option because the family member just cares for their loved one and gets a paycheck — we do the rest. Here is exactly how to become a paid caregiver for a family member.
The second route is Consumer Directed Services (CDS), described on the Texas HHS CDS page. Under CDS, the member (or a representative) becomes the employer: you recruit, hire, set pay within an authorized service budget, and manage your caregiver, with a financial management agency handling payroll. It offers more control in exchange for more responsibility. Families moving from New York often know this model as CDPAP — our CDPAP-in-Texas guide translates the terms and helps you pick between CDS and the agency option.
How to Switch Home Care Agencies Without Losing Hours
This worry keeps a lot of families stuck with an agency that no-shows: “If we leave, will we lose our hours?” No. Your authorization belongs to you, the member — not to the agency. Transfers are routine in STAR+PLUS: you tell your service coordinator (or tell us, and we will contact them with you) that you want to change agencies, the plan re-issues the authorization to the new agency, and care continues. Newport coordinates the handoff with your health plan so there is no avoidable gap in service, and your hours are not reduced simply because you switched. If your current agency told you otherwise, call us — we will walk you through it.
STAR+PLUS Frequently Asked Questions
What is STAR+PLUS?
STAR+PLUS is the Texas Medicaid managed-care program for adults who are 65 or older or who have a disability. It combines regular health coverage with long-term services and supports — most importantly, personal attendant care at home — delivered through a health plan the member chooses. For a deeper plain-English walkthrough, see STAR+PLUS in Texas, explained.
What is the difference between STAR+PLUS and regular Medicaid?
“Regular” Texas Medicaid (and the STAR program) mainly covers doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions. STAR+PLUS serves adults with disabilities and seniors, and adds long-term services and supports on top of medical coverage — attendant hours, respite, day activity, and, through the HCBS waiver pathway, home modifications and more.
How long does STAR+PLUS approval take?
It depends on your starting point. If Medicaid is already in place, the main steps are the plan’s needs assessment and service authorization. Starting from a brand-new Medicaid application takes longer because the application and disability or financial review come first. Our STAR+PLUS timeline guide walks through every step and what tends to speed each one up.
Can I keep my doctor on STAR+PLUS?
Usually, yes — with one check to do. Each STAR+PLUS health plan has its own network, so confirm your doctor is in the plan’s directory before you choose (or switch to) a plan. If you are dual-eligible, your Medicare doctors are unaffected: STAR+PLUS handles long-term services while Medicare keeps covering your medical care.
Which areas does Newport Home Health serve?
Newport serves STAR+PLUS members across Texas, with primary coverage in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (our headquarters is in Grand Prairie), plus established care teams in Houston and San Antonio. If you are nearby but outside those metros, call — we can often still help or point you to the right resource. New here? Start with how to get started.
Check Your STAR+PLUS Eligibility
Tell us a little about your situation and a member of our team will call you back — usually the same business day. We will help you check eligibility, pick a pathway, and get the process moving. Please don’t include medical details in this form; we will cover those by phone.
No cost, no obligation — bilingual staff available.