Enrolling in a Waiver

Waivers are one way to pay for the services a person with developmental disabilities needs.  By working with your county board of developmental disabilities to understand and coordinate all of the services available to you, your current needs may be met with or without enrolling in a waiver.

A service and support coordinator or SSA from your county board will work with you to coordinate all available support, including

• any support that your family, friends or other people you know can provide,
• supports or services that are available to anyone, like community programs or apps you can get on your phone
• programs and services available through your county board,
• services available through your Ohio Medicaid State Plan benefits, and
• services available through waiver funding.

 If you do need to enroll in a waiver, your county board will help you complete that process, as well.

​	Your county board of developmental disabilities uses a few different assessment tools to get to know you, what support you might need, and what support you might be able to access. You can have people who know you well with you during an assessment to help you answer questions.
	​Waivers are only one way to pay for services. If you do need a waiver, you will need to apply for state Medicaid benefits as well. Your county board of developmental disabilities can help you. You can also complete the application for Medicaid benefits and check on your benefits online. Learn more about how Medicaid benefits work at benefits.ohio.gov.
	​To keep your services current, each year you may need to update some of the information you gave during your assessment. You can also ask for a new assessment when your needs change.