Minnesota has caregiver-pay pathways. We help you find the right place to start.
CareBudget is a private navigation package for Minnesota families: focused preparation, a live working session, a county-specific action plan, and follow-up support — a flat $499. Which pathway applies, if any, is decided through the official assessment.
- Independent
- No placement commissions
- Not a government agency
- Official agencies decide eligibility
If this sounds like you
“I'm already providing the care but don't know which path applies.”
“Different offices gave us different starting points.”
“I want to know what to prepare before the county assessment.”
The pathways are real. The process is the problem — it runs through counties, assessments, and paperwork that were never built to guide a family step by step. That’s where weeks get lost: wrong offices, missing documents, applications that stall.
The CareBudget Minnesota Navigation Package
One flat $499 fee. Not a call that points you at a phone number — a worked-through preparation package that ends with a plan you keep.
A live 1:1 working session
Thirty focused minutes on your family's actual situation — a working session, not a sales call.
A county-specific written action plan
Yours to keep: where to start, who to contact, and in what order — written for your county.
A document checklist
Exactly what to gather before you call, so nothing gets asked for twice.
The questions to ask the official office
Phrased so your county, health plan, or tribal office can act on them on the first call.
What's likely a waste of time
The wrong doors and dead ends to skip, for a situation like yours.
One follow-up call
A 15-minute check-in once you've started, included.
You choose your session time immediately after checkout. Your written action plan follows after the session, and your included follow-up call comes once you've started.
One flat $499 fee: the live session, the written county action plan, and the follow-up call are all included. Nothing else to buy.
A fit check is free and takes about 2 minutes. It is not an eligibility decision. See a sample action plan.
Where CareBudget fits
| Doing it alone | A care agency | CareBudget | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applies for benefits on your behalf | You do | Usually no | No |
| Sells care services | No | Yes | No |
| County-specific preparation | On your own | Rarely | Yes |
| Written next-step plan | No | No | Yes |
| Independent of care placement | — | No | Yes |
We prepare families stuck at the starting point and hand them back to the official channel with a clearer plan. We take no placement commissions.
See how we help Minnesota families find their starting point
A short walkthrough of what we review, what you receive, and how the consultation helps you understand your next step.
Start the free fit checkWhy one consultation costs $499
A wrong start is expensive in a way that never shows up on a receipt: weeks of calls that go nowhere, documents gathered twice, an application that stalls because it went through the wrong door. The package exists to make your first move the right one.
Why $499?
Because a wrong start costs more — weeks of calls, documents gathered twice, an application that stalls because it went through the wrong door. It's a flat price with no upsells: the session, the written county action plan, and the follow-up call are all included.
Are you a government program?
No. CareBudget is independent and private — not affiliated with the state, any county, or any health plan. We help you work with the official channels; we aren't one.
Can you promise approval?
No — no one honestly can. Eligibility and payment decisions are made through the appropriate county, state, tribal, health-plan, and assessment processes, never by us. What we do stand behind is our deliverable: if your consultation doesn't leave you with a clear next step, tell us on the call and we'll refund it.
The clarity guarantee
If your consultation doesn't leave you with a clear next step, tell us on the call and we'll refund it. We stand behind our deliverable — official agencies decide eligibility, and we never promise an outcome.
Who this is for — and who it isn’t
This is for you if
- You're a Minnesota family caring for a parent, spouse, or another family member
- You want to understand whether a caregiver-pay pathway may be worth pursuing for your situation
- You want to start the process right the first time — not learn it by trial and error
This isn’t for you if
- Your family is outside Minnesota — our work is Minnesota-specific
- You want someone to file the application for you — applications go through official channels only
- You expect approval to be promised in advance — no one can honestly do that
From the practice
CareBudget
CareBudget is independent and Minnesota-focused. It exists because the caregiver-funding process was never designed to guide families — and watching people lose weeks to wrong offices and stalled paperwork made the fix obvious: give every family a clear starting point. We don’t sell home care, we take no placement commissions, and we don’t process applications. We do one thing — help you start this right.
Questions families ask us
Can't I just call the county myself?
Yes — and applying is always free, directly through your county or the state. What the county can't do is study your whole situation, compare your options, and tell you what to prepare before you call; offices answer the question you ask. The consultation exists so your first call to the county is the right call.
Are you a government program?
No. CareBudget is independent and private — not affiliated with the state, any county, or any health plan. We help you work with the official channels; we aren't one.
Are you a home-care agency?
No — we sell no care services at all. That's deliberate: it means our answer isn't shaped by a business model that needs you to choose an agency.
Can you promise approval?
No — no one honestly can. Eligibility and payment decisions are made through the appropriate county, state, tribal, health-plan, and assessment processes, never by us. What we do stand behind is our deliverable: if your consultation doesn't leave you with a clear next step, tell us on the call and we'll refund it.
What happens during the consultation?
It's a live 30-minute 1:1 session. We review your family's situation and map which pathway categories could be worth raising, then get specific: what to prepare, who to contact first, and what to skip.
What do I get after?
A written action plan for your county — yours to keep. Plus one 15-minute follow-up call after you've started, included.
Why $499?
Because a wrong start costs more — weeks of calls, documents gathered twice, an application that stalls because it went through the wrong door. It's a flat price with no upsells: the session, the written county action plan, and the follow-up call are all included.
Do you apply for us?
No — applications always go through official state, county, or health-plan channels. Our job is to prepare you to start right, not to file paperwork on your behalf.
What should I have ready before the session?
Nothing is required to book, but the more you know about the care recipient's coverage, a typical day of care, and where they live, the more we get done together. Your written plan includes a document checklist so the pre-call gathering is organized, not guesswork.
Can another family member join the call?
Yes. Caregiving is usually a family effort, and it often helps to have the people who share decisions on the same call. Just let us know so we can plan for it.
How fast does the written plan arrive?
You choose your session time immediately after checkout. The written action plan follows after the session — we write it for your county and household rather than hand you a template on the call — and your included follow-up call is there once you've started.
What if our situation changes later?
That's common — a hospital stay, a move, or new coverage can change the right path. Your plan flags what to re-confirm if things shift, and the included follow-up call is a good place to work through a change.
What exactly triggers a refund?
The guarantee is about our deliverable: if your consultation doesn't leave you with a clear next step, tell us on the call and we'll refund it. It is not tied to any government decision — no one can guarantee an eligibility or payment outcome, and we never imply otherwise.
What if it turns out nothing fits my situation?
Then you'll know that clearly and quickly, with the reasons why and what could change it. And the guarantee applies — if you don't leave with a clear next step, we'll refund the consultation.
Still weighing it? Read a full sample action plan — or start with the free fit check.
Start with the right first move.
A live working session, a written action plan for your county, and a follow-up call — a flat $499.
Start the free fit checkThe fit check is free and not an eligibility decision. If the consultation doesn’t leave you with a clear next step, we’ll refund it.