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Kupuna Care Absorbed the Caregivers Programme — and the $210 a Week Left the Statute With It

The kupuna caregivers programme at HRS §349-18, the one with the $210-a-week allocation guides still quote, was repealed by L 2022, c 160, §4. What remains is the kupuna care programme at §349-17, which now serves care recipients, caregivers AND employed caregivers, runs through the area agencies on aging, and pays the service provider directly. Its text carries no weekly cap and no veteran route.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The kupuna caregivers programme at HRS §349-18, the one with the $210-a-week allocation guides still quote, was repealed by L 2022, c 160, §4. What remains is the kupuna care programme at §349-17, which now serves care recipients, caregivers AND employed caregivers, runs through the area agencies on aging, and pays the service provider directly. Its text carries no weekly cap and no veteran route.

What it's worth: Long-term services and supports through the area agencies on aging — no veteran route

  • No weekly figure is claimed, because the repeal took the figure out of the statute. Subsection (l) awards an allocation of funds to cover the cost of services subject to availability of funding, and says nothing about a ceiling.
  • Money goes to the provider, not to the family. Subsection (l) directs that allocated funds be issued directly to the service provider or the financial management service provider on invoice.

This record exists to correct a myth. The $210-a-week kupuna caregivers allocation is quoted in guides published years after the section that carried it was repealed. Anybody budgeting on that number is budgeting on a repealed statute. The successor programme has no cap in its text — which cuts both ways, because it also has no floor.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served — and this programme is open to you on the same terms as anyone else who meets the definitions.
  • The programme reaches caregivers and employed caregivers as well as care recipients, so a family member can be the applicant.
  • You are in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Ring the aging and disability resource centre, not the state office. Subsection (d) puts eligibility determination with the area agency on aging through the resource centre or another designated entity.
  2. 2Expect three stages, and prepare for the middle one. Subsection (d) sets out an intake to determine preliminary eligibility for publicly funded services, a comprehensive in-home assessment of the care recipient or a caregiver assessment where necessary, and then a written individualised person-centred support plan.
  3. 3Ask for participant direction if you want to control the budget. Subsection (f)(2) allows participant-directed services and support in which the care recipient has decision-making authority over their own budget to purchase and manage the services in their plan — the alternative is traditional delivery through a contracted provider.
  4. 4Bring the VA paperwork to the assessment. The support plan under subsection (d)(3) is required to identify all services and supports needed or currently used, including those provided by other programmes, so a veteran already receiving VA-funded care should expect it to be counted rather than duplicated.
  5. 5Do not go looking for §349-18. It was repealed in 2022 and the section number now returns nothing but the repeal note.
  6. 6Ask about the waitlist explicitly. Subsection (n) requires an annual report to the legislature naming both participants and the number of individuals on a programme waitlist, which is the tell that demand exceeds the appropriation.
Form
No statewide form — intake is through the aging and disability resource centre
File with
Your area agency on aging, through the aging and disability resource centre
Periodic recertification
Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.
CorrectionThe $210-a-week kupuna caregivers allocation is quoted in guides published years after the section that carried it was repealed. Anybody budgeting on that number is budgeting on a repealed statute. The successor programme has no cap in its text — which cuts both ways, because it also has no floor.
Worth knowingPublished with a zero weight because nothing in the programme turns on service. It is here because caregiver support is the thinnest thing in this corpus and an ageing veteran needs the right office and the right section number, not a figure from a repealed one.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.