Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care is the set of Medicaid programs that pay for care in a parent’s own home — or in assisted living — for someone who would otherwise qualify for a nursing home. This Pennsylvania medicaid home care guide names the program, gives the 2026 financial limits, explains the level-of-care test and the waitlist reality, and shows where the application starts.
The financial figures come from the state Medicaid agency and CMS and reset on their own calendars; where Pennsylvania has not published a figure we say so.
In This Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care Guide:
Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care at a Glance (2026)
| Program | Pennsylvania’s Medicaid home-care program for people 65 and older who need nursing-home-level care is Community HealthChoices, usually shortened to CHC. |
| 2026 income limit (single applicant) | $2,982 |
| 2026 asset limit (single applicant) | $8,000 ($2,000 + $6,000 disregard) when income is at or below $2,982/month; $2,400 when income is above it |
| Assisted living covered? | Partly — Pennsylvania covers services in some assisted living settings; ask Applications for CHC long-term services and supports go through Pennsylvania’s Independent Enrollment Broker, reachable at 1-877-550-4227, which takes the request, arranges the in-home functional assessment and forwards the financial application to your County Assistance Office run by the Department of Human Services. which residences participate. |
| Waitlist | Community HealthChoices is not run as a first-come, first-served waiting list program the way many states’ elderly waivers are; Pennsylvania enrolls applicants who are found both financially eligible and nursing facility clinically eligible, and the Office of Long-Term Living does not publish an open waiting list for seniors seeking CHC. |
| PACE available? | Yes. The national PACE model — Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly — operates in Pennsylvania under the state name LIFE, which stands for Living Independence for the Elderly. |
| Hire your own caregiver? | Yes. Pennsylvania offers participant-directed personal assistance services, and the long-standing budget-authority version is called Services My Way. |
The Pennsylvania Program Behind Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care
Nursing home Medicaid is an entitlement: anyone who qualifies gets it. Home-based care is different. Pennsylvania delivers it through a waiver or a managed long-term care program with its own name, its own enrollment rules and, in many states, a cap on how many people it serves. The program Pennsylvania runs for people 65 and over is Pennsylvania’s Medicaid home-care program for people 65 and older who need nursing-home-level care is Community HealthChoices, usually shortened to CHC..
CHC pays for personal assistance services, meaning hands-on help with bathing, dressing, toileting, transfers and eating, plus help with cooking, laundry, shopping and light housekeeping. It also covers adult daily living services (adult day), respite so a family caregiver can rest, home-delivered meals, personal emergency response systems, non-medical transportation, home adaptations such as ramps and grab bars, vehicle modifications, assistive technology, counseling and employment supports.
Your CHC managed care plan’s service coordinator writes the person-centered service plan that authorizes each service.
Who Qualifies for Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care
Three tests, the same as a nursing home: a medical test, an income test and an asset test. Pennsylvania uses the nursing-facility level of care as the medical bar, which means the applicant needs hands-on help with daily activities or supervision because of dementia — not merely help with errands.
Pennsylvania uses a Functional Eligibility Determination, the FED, to decide whether someone is “nursing facility clinically eligible” (NFCE) — that is, whether the person needs the level of care a nursing home provides because of difficulty with activities of daily living, medical needs or cognitive impairment.
The assessment is arranged after you apply and is performed by the state’s Independent Assessment Entity, generally in your own home, a hospital or a nursing facility. Financial eligibility is decided separately by the County Assistance Office.
Financially, the applicant’s own income is measured against the Pennsylvania medicaid home care limit of $2,982, and countable assets against $8,000 ($2,000 + $6,000 disregard) when income is at or below $2,982/month; $2,400 when income is above it. The spouse who stays home is protected by the same spousal impoverishment rules that apply in a nursing home: up to $162,660 in assets in 2026 and a guaranteed income floor.
Waitlists and Enrollment Caps
Community HealthChoices is not run as a first-come, first-served waiting list program the way many states’ elderly waivers are; Pennsylvania enrolls applicants who are found both financially eligible and nursing facility clinically eligible, and the Office of Long-Term Living does not publish an open waiting list for seniors seeking CHC. The waiver document filed with the federal government still contains an approved participant capacity.
Any specific current wait time is UNVERIFIED, and processing time varies by county and by how quickly documents are returned.
Two facts hold everywhere: applying for the waiver does not stop you from applying for nursing home Medicaid later, and the level-of-care assessment for one is usually accepted for the other.
What Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care Pays For
Personal care (bathing, dressing, transfers), homemaker help, adult day programs, respite so the family caregiver can rest, home modifications such as ramps and grab bars, delivered meals, a personal emergency response button, and in many states assisted living services. It does not pay rent, a mortgage or groceries.
Assisted living: Partly — Pennsylvania covers services in some assisted living settings; ask Applications for CHC long-term services and supports go through Pennsylvania’s Independent Enrollment Broker, reachable at 1-877-550-4227, which takes the request, arranges the in-home functional assessment and forwards the financial application to your County Assistance Office run by the Department of Human Services. which residences participate.
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PACE: Yes. The national PACE model — Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly — operates in Pennsylvania under the state name LIFE, which stands for Living Independence for the Elderly. LIFE providers deliver medical care, therapies, day-center attendance, transportation and in-home help through one team, as an alternative to nursing home placement.
Can a Family Member Be the Paid Caregiver?
Yes. Pennsylvania offers participant-directed personal assistance services, and the long-standing budget-authority version is called Services My Way. Under participant direction the older adult (or an authorized representative) recruits, hires, trains, schedules, supervises and can dismiss their own direct care worker, including in many cases a qualified family member other than a spouse.
The participant is the common-law employer, while a Financial Management Services organization handles payroll, taxes, background checks and workers’ compensation paperwork. Your CHC plan’s service coordinator explains the option and helps you enroll in it.
The full picture — who may be paid, how the pay is set and how to enroll — is in our companion guide to Pennsylvania family caregiver pay.
How to Apply for Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care
Where: Applications for CHC long-term services and supports go through Pennsylvania’s Independent Enrollment Broker, reachable at 1-877-550-4227, which takes the request, arranges the in-home functional assessment and forwards the financial application to your County Assistance Office run by the Department of Human Services. — start here.
Ask for two things on the first call: the functional assessment and a Medicaid financial application. Doing both at once shortens the timeline by weeks. Bring the same five years of financial records a nursing home application needs; the look-back rule applies to waivers too.
What Happens on Assessment Day
The assessment is a visit, usually at the parent’s home, by a nurse or social worker who walks through the day: getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, eating, moving from room to room, taking medication, and whether the person can be left alone safely. Answer for the worst day, not the best one. Families who describe a good morning talk their parent out of Pennsylvania medicaid home care without meaning to.
Bring the medication list, the diagnoses, recent hospital paperwork and any dementia evaluation. If a doctor has written that the person needs supervision or hands-on help, bring that letter; it is often the single document that tips the level-of-care decision.
The Care Plan That Follows
Approval produces a written care plan: which services, how many hours, and who delivers them. The plan is the budget. Hours outside it are not paid, and hours inside it that go unused are not banked. A plan can be revised when the parent’s condition changes — after a fall, a hospital stay or a new diagnosis — so keep the case manager’s number and call when something changes rather than waiting for the annual review.
Mistakes That Cost Families Months
- Waiting for the crisis. Waiver slots and assessments take weeks; the application should start when the family first notices the parent needs daily help.
- Giving money away first. The five-year look-back applies to the waiver as well as the nursing home, so a gift meant to “get under the limit” creates a penalty period instead.
- Spending the spouse’s protected share. Ask for the resource assessment before paying anything down.
- Assuming Medicare covers it. Medicare pays for short-term skilled care after a hospital stay, never for ongoing daily help. Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care is the program that does.
Where to Get Help Free
Two free doors exist in every state: the Pennsylvania SHIP counselor for the Medicare side and the state’s Aging and Disability Resource Center for the Medicaid side. Neither sells anything. For a Pennsylvania medicaid home care question involving a house, a spouse at home or a recent gift, a local elder law attorney or legal aid office is the next call.
Key Takeaways: Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care
- Same tests as a nursing home: Pennsylvania medicaid home care requires nursing-facility level of care plus the income and asset tests.
- Not an entitlement: Pennsylvania medicaid home care runs through a waiver that can have a waitlist, so apply before the crisis.
- The assessment travels: the level-of-care finding for Pennsylvania medicaid home care is usually accepted for nursing home coverage later.
- Room and board are never covered: Pennsylvania medicaid home care pays for care services, not rent, even in assisted living.
- Family can be the caregiver: most Pennsylvania medicaid home care programs let the participant hire and direct a relative.
- The look-back applies: gifts inside five years create a penalty period for Pennsylvania medicaid home care just as they do for a nursing home.
Official Sources
- Pennsylvania’s Medicaid home-care program for people 65 and older who need nursing-home-level care is Community HealthChoices, usually shortened to CHC.: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/medicaid/chc is the Department of Human Services’ main Community HealthChoices page. Two other useful official pages are https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/aging-physical-disabilities/life for the LIFE (PACE) program and https://www.pa.gov/agencies/aging/local-resources/area-agencies-on-aging- for your local Area Agency on Aging.
- Applications for CHC long-term services and supports go through Pennsylvania’s Independent Enrollment Broker, reachable at 1-877-550-4227, which takes the request, arranges the in-home functional assessment and forwards the financial application to your County Assistance Office run by the Department of Human Services.: https://www.pa.gov/services/dhs/apply-for-community-healthchoices — this is the Commonwealth’s official “Apply for Community HealthChoices” service page, which explains the steps and links onward. The Medicaid financial application itself can be filed online through Pennsylvania’s benefits portal, COMPASS, at https://www.compass.state.pa.us. To request help from the aging network first, use https://www.pa.gov/services/aging/request-aging-and-disability-resources-through-pa-link.
- Medicaid.gov spousal impoverishment standards: medicaid.gov
- Medicare.gov Medicare Savings Programs: medicare.gov
This Pennsylvania medicaid home care guide was checked against the state Medicaid agency, CMS and the statute cited above in September 2026. Figures reset on their own calendars (most on January 1); if a number here disagrees with a notice you received, the notice wins — and please tell us. This page is general information, not legal, financial or medical advice.