How do you apply for Universal Basic Care Income?

There is nothing to apply for. UBCI is founded, not applied for: you found your personal care co-op, charter your responsibilities, achieve standing by keeping a simple covenant, and your floor of care Hours accrues. No waitlist, no means test, no application.

Universal Basic Care Income

You don't apply for it.
You found it.

Q: Is this real money?

Hours are real, and so are dollars — they run on two rails. Hours are the unit of presence: care given and received, fully spendable inside the federation. Licensed, billable work runs on the dollar rail right alongside. You hold both.

Q: Who mints UBCI Hours?

The network's robots do the minting, from a robot-hour reserve — the hours of work automation contributes back to the commons. How fast Hours mint, and the ratio that backs them, is set by member vote.

Q: What if I can't give care back?

Then you receive, and that is the point. The floor is yours regardless — pooled and robot-backed precisely so the people who can give least are still held. UBCI is a floor, not a swap. Giving care raises your co-op; needing care never lowers it below the floor.

Q: Is my family eligible for UBCI?

There is no eligibility — there is membership. A co-op can be 1 to 20 people, related or chosen, under one roof or scattered across the country. Solo is welcome. If you can keep the covenant, you can found a co-op.

Q: Can I lose UBCI?

Not abruptly, and never your care. If the covenant lapses, standing degrades gracefully — accrual slows and we reach out, long before anything stops. There is no expulsion from care. The most you can lose is the rate at which Hours build above the floor.

UBCI is a floor of care, denominated in Hours — minted by the network's robots, accrued by households that keep a simple covenant. No waitlist. No means test. No application.

Click here — found your co-op (10 min) Read how it works

No waitlist No means test No application

How to apply

The honest answer: there's nothing to apply for.

Benefits are built to ration what's scarce. UBCI is built the other way around.

The old way

40-page applications, notarized and mailed
Means tests that punish you for saving
Waitlists measured in months and years
Pilots capped at a few thousand people, then closed

The UBCI way

Found your personal co-op — a household ledger, yours from day one
Charter your responsibilities — name your people, proxy, and pledge
Achieve standing — keep the covenant, not a paperwork audit
Your floor accrues — Hours arrive, automatically, while it holds

Applications ration scarcity. Founding recognizes abundance.

How it works

Ten minutes, start to floor.

Five steps. No forms to mail, no one to wait on.

Claim your handle

Pick the name your household will be known by across the federation.

yourfamily.coop.care

Run the charter wizard

A guided 10-minute setup. Plain questions, plain language.

Name your people, proxy & pledge

Who's in the co-op, who speaks for it, and the mutual-aid you'll offer.

Achieve standing

Meet the covenant once and your co-op is recognized by the network.

Your floor accrues

Hours begin minting to your ledger — and keep arriving while standing holds.

What's an Hour

Care, denominated in time — not status.

1 Hour = 1 hour of presence

One hour of presence = one Hour

The same for everyone. Sitting with someone, a ride to the clinic, a shared meal — presence is the unit, and it's worth the same whoever gives it.

Licensed skill is paid in dollars, alongside

A nurse's visit or a therapist's session runs on the dollar rail — billed and paid as it always was. Hours sit beside money; they don't replace it.

Spend them, or send them anywhere

Use Hours on a neighbor's care or on robot services — or transfer them to your parents' co-op across the country. The federation settles it.

The covenant

Five things you keep current.

This is the whole of it. Hold these, and your co-op holds standing.

Directives current

Your wishes for care are written down and up to date — so they're known before they're needed.

Prevention attested

The basics of staying well are checked in on — a light, honest attestation, not a physical.

Proxy named

One trusted person who can speak for the co-op if someone in it cannot speak for themselves.

Home safety check

A quick walk-through of the place people are cared for — fall risks, exits, the simple stuff.

One mutual-aid pledge

A single promise of help you'll offer a neighbor — the thread that ties co-ops into a federation.

Standing is a covenant, not a compliance audit.

Keep faith with your people. That's the test — and it's one you already pass.

The engine

The engine for the new care economy — built by communities and you.

We don't own the cars. We make the engine.

Open-source Hostable anywhere Leave with everything

Straight answers

Questions families actually ask

Is this real money?

Hours are real, and so are dollars — they just run on two rails. Hours are the unit of presence: care given and received, fully spendable inside the federation. Licensed, billable work runs on the dollar rail right alongside. You're never trading one for the other; you hold both.

Does anyone actually pay family caregivers today?

Yes — paying family caregivers isn't radical, it's just rationed. The VA already pays a veteran's primary family caregiver up to ~$2,750/month (its PCAFC program). Medicaid self-direction, WA Cares, and the federal Credit for Caring pay others. The scandal is the gap: roughly 48 million Americans give about $600 billion in unpaid care a year, and most get nothing — because those programs are gated, siloed, and invisible. co-op.care routes you to every dollar you already qualify for on the dollar rail — then gives you the Hours floor on top, which no program does.

Who mints it?

The network's robots do the minting, from a robot-hour reserve — the hours of work automation contributes back to the commons. How fast Hours mint, and the ratio that backs them, is set by member vote, not by us. The engine runs it; the community steers it.

What if I can't give care back?

Then you receive, and that's the point. The floor is yours regardless — it's pooled and robot-backed precisely so that the people who can give least are still held. UBCI is a floor, not a swap. Giving care raises your co-op; needing care never lowers it below the floor.

Is my family eligible?

There's no eligibility — there's membership. A co-op can be 1 to 20 people, related or chosen, under one roof or scattered across the country. Solo is welcome; a household of one is still a household. If you can keep the covenant, you can found a co-op.

Can I lose it?

Not abruptly, and never your care. If the covenant lapses, standing degrades gracefully — accrual slows and we reach out, long before anything stops. There is no expulsion from care. The floor is the floor; the most you can lose is the rate at which Hours build above it.