If you live in a nursing home or other facility, but want to live in your own place in the community instead, the I Choose Home NJ program can help. It can help you move to your own place, while making sure that you still have the level of care you need.

How to Get Started

Ask a social worker in your facility to help you explore options for returning to the community. You can also call I Choose Home NJ at 1-855-466-3005 (1-855-HOME-005) to talk about living in the community.

Who Qualifies?

To qualify for I Choose Home NJ, you must:

• Live in a nursing home or developmental center and want to move into the community
• Have lived in the nursing home or developmental center for at least 90 days, and
• Qualify for Medicaid for at least one day before leaving the facility.

What Help Can You Get?

The specific services you get depend on your situation. They could include home health aides, adult day care, transportation, and meal delivery. You get help identifying what services you need.

Learn more about I Choose Home NJ.

Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS)

Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) is a New Jersey program that can help you get your long-term care needs met through a Managed Care Organization (MCO).

MLTSS can help with services in a nursing home, but it can also help with long-term care services in your own place in the community. These services can help you live independently. Your MCO sets you up with a care manager who helps you figure out what services you need and how you can get them.

If MLTSS is helping you with services in a nursing home now, the MLTSS services will “follow you” if you move into the community. You won’t lose your MLTSS benefits when you move.

MLTSS helps many people with disabilities who live in the community.

Applying for MLTSS

MLTSS benefits are for people who have Medicaid health coverage:

• If you already have Medicaid, you can start the MLTSS application process by calling the member services department of your MCO or by contacting your local county Board of Social Services or Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) office.
• If you don’t have Medicaid coverage, you need to apply for Medicaid first, before you can apply for MLTSS. Learn more about applying for Medicaid.

Learn more about Medicaid in DB101’s How Health Benefits Work article.

Who Can Get MLTSS?

To get MLTSS, you must:

• Live in New Jersey
• Be a U.S. citizen or qualified alien
• Have a disability, be blind, or be 65 years old or older
• Have resources at or below $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples
• Have gross income of $2,742 per month or less in 2023. If your income is higher, you may still qualify for MLTSS if you have a Qualified Income Trust (QIT). Learn more about QITs.
• Be qualified to enter a nursing home based on a physical and cognitive assessment given by the New Jersey Office of Community Choice Options (OCCO). OCCO looks at:
  • Physical needs, like help with bathing, dressing, eating, walking, or transferring from a wheelchair to a bed or shower, or chronic conditions that require nursing services
  • Cognitive abilities, like memory deficits, difficulty with decision-making, or difficulty with activities like knowing how to get dressed

Note: You must have an impairment that impacts your ability to be independent in the community and qualifies you to enter a nursing home. You do not have to live in a nursing home.

Working in the community is an option for people with disabilities and good supports and services can help make work a reality. Yet many people with disabilities think that they aren’t qualified to work and worry that if they work, they won’t get the support they need to succeed and will lose their health benefits, including long-term services and supports.

Work and Keep Your Benefits

Medicaid's New Jersey WorkAbility program lets you keep your Medicaid benefits while working. The income limit for NJ WorkAbility is much higher than for standard Medicaid, so you can work, earn more, have more resources, and still qualify for Medicaid health coverage.

To qualify for NJ WorkAbility, you must:

• Be 16 – 64 years old
• Live in New Jersey
• Be a U.S. citizen or a qualified immigrant
• Be working
• Have a disability that meets Social Security’s medical standards.
  • Note: For NJ WorkAbility, SSA’s disability rules related to income do not apply.
• Have unearned income at or below $1,215 per month for individuals.
  • The NJ WorkAbility program does not count Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Railroad Retirement System benefits as income.
• Have earned income at or below $73,692 per year for individuals.
• Have less than $20,000 in resources for individuals.
  • Money in an ABLE account, the house you live in, cars used for medical transportation or work, and retirement accounts are not counted.

Note: The limits for income and resources are higher for couples where both people have disabilities and are working.

If you get NJ WorkAbility and your income is very low, you don't have to pay a monthly premium. If your income is higher, you may have to pay $25 per month. Important: During the COVID-19 public health emergency, there is no premium for Medicaid/NJ FamilyCare.

Learn more about NJ WorkAbility in DB101’s How Health Benefits Work article.

Getting Back Into the Workforce

Services and supports can help people with disabilities work and earn money. The New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS) helps people with:

• Vocational counseling and training
• Job search, application, and interviewing skills
• On-the-job coaching
• Keeping a job
• Job accommodations
• Medical or psychological testing
• Assistive technology evaluations
• Equipment or therapies to improve physical or cognitive functioning
• Individual, group, or other types of mental health counseling
• Home and vehicle modifications for employment-related purposes
• Financial needs assessments

Most of these services are free or the cost is based on how much you can afford. Any person who has a disability that is a substantial barrier to employment may qualify for DVRS services.

For career counseling and guidance, One Stop Career Centers offer career planning, career training, and job development, as well as workshops, help looking for work, and job referrals. Career Services lists tips and resources, and Job Source explains how to get started.

Valerie’s Story

Valerie was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 23. Within a year, she lost the ability to walk, and shortly after that, Valerie entered a nursing home. A nursing home can be a difficult place for a young person. While Valerie got excellent care and made friends with the nurses and social workers there, she felt limited by her environment and didn’t get to see her friends and family much. Valerie couldn’t eat what she wanted unless she ordered food from the outside and she had to wake up early every morning for her medications.

I Choose Home NJ

After three years in a nursing home, Valerie learned about the I Choose Home NJ program. It could help her move into her own place in the community! She was very excited about giving it a try.

Valerie met with Barbara, a social worker from the I Choose Home NJ program, to figure out what supports and services could help her live in the community. After they figured out what Valerie needed, Barbara made sure that those services would be up-and-running the minute Valerie was in her new place.

Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS)

Valerie now is happy in her new place. She has medical benefits through Medicaid and qualifies for the Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) program. Valerie has a care manager who helps make sure she has the services and supports she needs to remain independent and healthy.

Valerie has an all-day aide who helps her with daily activities, like dressing, bathing, cooking, and cleaning. Valerie also has a doctor and nurse, who visit her on a regular basis. Valerie gets help with transportation to and from her rheumatologist, who is the only doctor she must travel to see. Valerie uses a wheelchair, and her care manager arranged to have a ramp installed leading up to the front door of her apartment. More importantly, Valerie sees her friends and family more often, and that makes her happier.

New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS)

Now that she is settled in her own home, Valerie is thinking about getting a job. Work would give her more income, a renewed sense of purpose, and the ability to meet new people and make new friends. Valerie plans to get services from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS), such as vocational counseling, training, and help finding and applying for jobs.

Valerie’s life has changed a lot since she decided to move out of the nursing home. Instead of limitations, Valerie sees her life as full of possibilities and potential.