How to Pay for a Walk-In Tub or Stair Lift in Michigan: Medicaid Waivers, VA Grants & Assistance Programs (2026)

If you're searching for grants for wheelchair ramps in Michigan, here's the honest starting point: Original Medicare will not pay for a ramp, a stair lift, or a walk-in tub. But Michigan residents do have real funding routes — the MI Choice Medicaid waiver's environmental modifications benefit, the VA's HISA grant for veterans, USDA rural repair grants for homeowners 62+, and low-interest assistive technology loans. This guide walks through each one, with a worked example showing exactly how a Michigan veteran covered a ramp and bathroom package with a $6,800 VA grant.

First, the honest answer: Medicare doesn't cover ramps or walk-in tubs

Original Medicare (Parts A and B) covers durable medical equipment — walkers, wheelchairs, hospital beds — when a doctor prescribes it for use in your home. Home modifications are a different category. Wheelchair ramps, stair lifts, grab bars, and walk-in bathtubs are considered structural changes or convenience items, not durable medical equipment, so Original Medicare does not pay for them. You can confirm this directly on Medicare.gov's walk-in bathtub coverage page and its durable medical equipment coverage rules.

Two partial exceptions worth knowing:

• Some Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans offer supplemental home-safety benefits — typically a bathroom safety allowance or grab-bar installation. These vary plan by plan and year by year, so check your specific plan's Evidence of Coverage document rather than assuming.
• Medicaid is a different program with different rules. If you qualify for Michigan Medicaid and need a nursing-home level of care, the waiver programs below can pay for exactly the modifications Medicare refuses — and that's where most Michigan families should look first.

MI Choice waiver: Michigan Medicaid's home modification benefit

The MI Choice Waiver Program is Michigan's main Medicaid home-and-community-based services waiver. It lets adults who medically qualify for nursing-home care receive services in their own home instead — and one of those services is environmental accessibility adaptations: wheelchair ramps, stair lifts, widened doorways, grab bars, roll-in showers, and accessible bathroom remodels.

The program is run through roughly 20 regional waiver agents — many of them Area Agencies on Aging — each covering a defined set of counties under contract with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).

Who qualifies

• Age/disability: adults 65+, or adults 18+ with a disability.
• Medical need: you must meet the nursing facility level of care — assessed by the waiver agent using the state's screening tool.
• Financial: you must meet Medicaid's income and asset criteria for the waiver. These limits change; the waiver agent or MI Bridges will screen you against the current-year figures rather than you having to guess.

How the assessment works, step by step

1. Contact the waiver agent for your county (the MDHHS MI Choice page lists them), or start through MI Bridges at 1-844-799-9876.
2. Phone screening — basic questions about health, daily activities, and finances to confirm you're likely eligible. Many regions maintain a waitlist, so getting on the list early matters.
3. In-home assessment — a nurse and social worker visit, assess your ability to manage daily activities, and confirm nursing facility level of care.
4. Person-centered service plan — you and the care team write the plan. This is where the ramp, stair lift, or bathroom modification is documented as a needed environmental adaptation.
5. The waiver agent arranges and pays the contractor. Modifications go through the agency's approved-vendor and bidding process — you don't pay up front and seek reimbursement.

MI Health Link: the route for dual-eligibles (Medicare + Medicaid)

If you have both Medicare and full Medicaid, you may be steered toward MI Health Link instead of MI Choice. It's a managed-care program for dual-eligible adults 21+ that combines Medicare and Medicaid benefits under one health plan — and its home-and-community-based services waiver includes home modifications for members who need nursing facility level of care.

How it differs from MI Choice:

Two practical notes. First, you can't be enrolled in both programs at once — if you're dual-eligible in a MI Health Link county, ask the care coordinator which route gets the modification done faster in your region. Second, Michigan restructured this waiver effective January 1, 2026 (the successor is the MI Coordinated Health waiver — the state's MDHHS site carries the current program documents), so confirm current program naming and enrollment with MDHHS or your health plan rather than older third-party guides.

VA HISA grant: up to $6,800 for Michigan veterans

The VA's Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) grant pays for medically necessary home modifications for veterans — and unlike the better-known SAH/SHA grants, HISA is available for both service-connected and non-service-connected conditions. Per the VA's HISA program page, the lifetime benefit is:

• $6,800 — for a service-connected condition, or a non-service-connected condition in a veteran rated 50%+ service-connected.
• $2,000 — for other non-service-connected conditions.

HISA covers exactly the things this article is about: permanent ramping for home access, accessible bathroom facilities including roll-in showers, accessible sinks, and the plumbing/electrical work needed for medical equipment. It does not cover hot tubs or spas — so a "walk-in tub" request should be framed as an accessible bathing facility with documented medical need, and a roll-in shower is the more commonly approved solution.

You apply with VA Form 10-0103, plus a VA physician's prescription stating the medical justification, an itemized contractor estimate, and photos of the area to be modified. Applications go through the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service at your VA medical center — in Michigan that's facilities like the John D. Dingell VAMC (Detroit), Ann Arbor VA, Battle Creek VA, and Aleda E. Lutz VAMC (Saginaw).

USDA Section 504: grants up to $10,000 for rural homeowners 62+

If you own your home in a rural part of Michigan — and large swaths of the state outside the Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing metros qualify — the USDA Section 504 Home Repair program offers:

• Loans up to $40,000 at a fixed 1% interest rate over up to 20 years, for repairs and improvements including accessibility modifications — available to very-low-income homeowners of any age.
• Grants up to $10,000 (lifetime) for homeowners age 62 or older who can't repay a repair loan, specifically to remove health and safety hazards — which is exactly what a wheelchair ramp or an unsafe bathroom is. Loans and grants can be combined for up to $50,000 of assistance.

Requirements: you must own and occupy the home, be in a USDA-eligible rural area (check the USDA eligibility map), and have household income below the very-low-income limit for your county. One catch to know up front: if you receive a grant and sell the home within 3 years, the grant must be repaid. Apply through your USDA Rural Development office in Michigan.

Michigan Assistive Technology loans: financing the gap

When you don't qualify for the programs above — or the waitlist is long and the stairs are a problem today — Michigan's assistive technology loan program fills the gap. The Michigan Assistive Technology Loan Fund is a partnership between UCP of Michigan, the state's Disability Network agencies, and MSU Federal Credit Union. It offers low-cost, fixed-rate loans up to $30,000 (no minimum) for assistive technology — explicitly including home modifications such as ramps, stair lifts, widened doorways, and roll-in showers. Any Michigan resident with a disability, or a senior who needs assistive technology, can apply; details are on the MSUFCU program page and through Michigan Rehabilitation Services, the state's assistive-technology gateway.

A loan isn't a grant — but at a below-market fixed rate, financing a $4,000 stair lift over a few years is often the fastest realistic path when grant programs are waitlisted.

Michigan funding options at a glance

Frequently asked questions