Act 150 attendant care

“You make too much for Medicaid.” A lot of families hear that sentence and stop there, because nobody tells them what comes next. Act 150 is what comes next.

What it is

Act 150 is a Pennsylvania state-funded program. It is not Medicaid and it is not a Medicaid waiver — it is separate, and it exists specifically for people with a physical disability who need attendant care but do not financially qualify for Medicaid.

It is administered by the Office of Long-Term Living, and services are billed directly to the Commonwealth. There is no insurance company and no managed care plan in the middle.

Who qualifies

• Age 18 through 59. Participants already enrolled when they turn 60 may choose to stay in the program; new applicants aged 60 or over are directed elsewhere.
• A physical disability diagnosed by a physician, expected to last at least twelve continuous months or to result in death.
• A need for help with daily activities — bathing, dressing, mobility, meals, and similar.
• Pennsylvania residency.

Eligibility is decided by the Commonwealth after an assessment. No agency can promise it, and you should be wary of one that does.

What it costs

Act 150 has income-based cost sharing. There is a weekly fee, calculated on a sliding scale from your household income, household size, and your medical and disability expenses.

Two things worth knowing about that fee. It slides — lower income means a lower fee. And it is capped by the cost of your own services: the weekly fee can never be more than what the care actually costs, so you are never paying the state more than the value of what you receive.

For most families the number lands far below what private-pay care would cost for the same hours.

What it covers

• Personal Assistance Services — hands-on help with bathing, dressing, toileting, transfers and mobility, meal preparation, and related daily tasks
• Service coordination — someone to help you arrange and manage services
• Personal Emergency Response System
• Financial Management Services, if you choose to direct your own care

How to enroll

1. Call Pennsylvania's Independent Enrollment Broker at 1-877-550-4227.
2. An assessment establishes the level of care needed, alongside a financial review.
3. If you are found eligible, you are given a list of service coordination entities and you choose one.
4. Your service coordinator helps you choose the provider agency. You have the right to choose any qualified provider — and you can name one.

You may be able to hire your own family member

Under Act 150, a licensed agency can employ the participant's own family member or friend as the paid caregiver — not a spouse, legal guardian or Power of Attorney, but an adult child, parent, sibling, niece, nephew, friend or neighbour.

If someone in your family is already doing this work unpaid, that is worth a phone call on its own. Here is how that works.

Working with us

Bright Future Home Care is an enrolled Act 150 provider serving Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties, and we are accepting new participants now. Our caregivers speak English, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian and Farsi.

Call 610-466-5715 and we will walk you through where you fit — including the honest answer if Act 150 is not the right program for your situation.