In-Home Care for Veterans in Texas: VA Referrals & Medicaid Options
If a veteran in your family needs help at home — with bathing, dressing, meals, or simply a real break for the spouse who carries it all — Newport Home Health provides that care. We accept VA community care referrals and serve veteran families across Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston.
Newport is a licensed Texas home care agency (HCSSA) headquartered in Grand Prairie, and we have served Texas families for 17 years. When the VA authorizes in-home help for a veteran, we can be the agency that sends the caregiver. And because many veteran households also qualify for Texas Medicaid programs, we check both paths on the same call — VA and Medicaid — so your family ends up on the one that actually works.
Want a straight answer about your options? Call 972-602-3500 or use the short form below — no cost, no obligation.
What In-Home Help Looks Like
This is hands-on, non-medical help with everyday living — the support that keeps a veteran safe, clean, fed, and comfortable in their own home instead of a facility. A typical week with a Newport caregiver can include:
- Bathing, dressing, and grooming — steady, dignified help with morning and evening routines
- Meals — cooking, meal prep, and help with eating when it’s needed
- Groceries and errands — shopping trips the veteran or spouse can no longer manage alone
- Light housekeeping and laundry — keeping the home safe and livable
- Moving safely — help getting from bed to chair, or a steadying arm on the way to the bathroom
- Respite for the spouse or family caregiver — a trained aide takes over for a few hours so the person who does it all can finally rest (see our respite care page)
If you have read the VA’s own description of its Homemaker and Home Health Aide services, this list will look familiar: a trained aide, supervised by a registered nurse, helping with exactly these daily activities. On the Medicaid side, Texas calls the same kind of support personal attendant services. Different program names — the same daily-life help.
The VA Path: How a Referral Works
The VA covers in-home aide care for veterans who qualify, and when the VA cannot provide that care directly, eligible veterans can receive it from a community provider on the VA’s behalf — paid for by the VA through community care. Community care must be authorized by the VA before care starts. In practice, the path looks like this:
- Talk to your VA primary care team or social worker. Tell them plainly what is getting hard at home — bathing, falls, meals, caregiver exhaustion. That conversation is what starts everything.
- Ask about in-home care through community care. Ask specifically about Homemaker/Home Health Aide services and whether a community care referral makes sense for your situation.
- The VA reviews eligibility and issues the referral. The VA — not Newport — decides who is eligible and how many hours are approved, and it can tell you whether a copay applies to your situation.
- Newport schedules your caregiver. Once the authorization reaches us, we match a caregiver to your family and get visits on the calendar.
We want to be straight with you: no agency can promise the VA will approve care, and we won’t pretend otherwise. What we can do is help you understand what to ask for, stay on top of the referral once it is in motion, and be ready to start the moment it is authorized.
The Texas Medicaid Path (Many Veteran Families Qualify for Both)
The VA is not the only door. If the veteran — or the veteran’s spouse — has Texas Medicaid and is 65 or older or has a disability, the STAR+PLUS program pays for personal attendant services at home. That includes dual-eligible households with both Medicare and Medicaid. Newport is a contracted STAR+PLUS provider with Molina, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Superior HealthPlan, and Wellpoint — see all the insurance and Medicaid plans we accept.
When you call, we check both paths. Sometimes the VA route is the better fit; sometimes Medicaid approves sooner or covers more hours. Each program makes its own decision — the VA on its side, the Medicaid health plan on its side — but checking both costs you nothing, and it often surfaces an option families didn’t know they had.
Can a Family Member Be Paid to Help?
Under the Texas Medicaid path — yes, in many cases. A daughter, son, or other family member who is already doing the caregiving can be hired and paid as the attendant. Through Newport’s agency option, family caregivers earn $13–14 per hour, or the family can run the arrangement themselves through Consumer Directed Services (CDS). Start with our guide to becoming a paid caregiver for a family member.
Under VA programs, the rules are different: the VA runs its own caregiver support programs with their own eligibility, so ask your VA care team what your family qualifies for. If the answer there is no, the Medicaid path above is often the one that pays a family member. We will help you sort out which is which.
What About Aid & Attendance?
Aid & Attendance is a separate VA pension benefit some families ask about — monthly payments added to a VA pension for qualified veterans and survivors who need help with daily activities. It is not the same thing as the community care referral described above, and Newport does not process pension claims. If you think it may apply to your family, start at the VA’s Aid & Attendance page or ask your VA benefits office — we are glad to point you to those resources when you call.
Questions Veteran Families Ask
Does the VA pay for home care in Texas?
Yes, for veterans who qualify. The VA’s Homemaker and Home Health Aide services place a trained aide in the veteran’s home, and when the VA can’t provide that care itself, it can authorize a community agency like Newport Home Health to deliver it, paid for by the VA. The VA decides eligibility and hours, and the authorization must be in place before visits begin.
How do I get a VA referral for home care?
Start with the veteran’s VA primary care team or social worker and describe what’s getting hard at home. Ask about Homemaker/Home Health Aide services through community care. If the VA approves, it issues a referral to a community provider. If you’d like that provider to be Newport Home Health, give your VA care team our name and number: 972-602-3500.
Can you also check whether we qualify through Medicaid?
Yes. Many veteran households also qualify for Texas Medicaid’s STAR+PLUS program, including spouses and dual-eligible members who have both Medicare and Medicaid. On one call, we check the VA path and the Medicaid path side by side so nothing gets missed.
Do you serve veterans in the Houston area?
Yes. Newport provides veterans home care across Texas, with primary coverage in Dallas–Fort Worth (we are headquartered in Grand Prairie) plus an established care team in greater Houston. One number reaches both: 972-602-3500.
Tell Us About Your Situation
Send us a little about what is going on and a member of our team will call you back — usually the same business day. We will listen, explain the VA and Medicaid paths in plain English, and tell you honestly which one looks stronger for your family. Please don’t include medical or service details in this form; we will cover those by phone.
No cost, no obligation — bilingual staff available.