Waiver Services (PCA)
Waiver Services (PCA)
Waivers are Medicaid-funded services administered by the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) that allow people who need nursing home level care to get care in their own homes instead of having to enter a nursing home. Pennsylvania has eleven different waiver programs, each of which serves a different population, including older adults with functional impairments and younger people with disabilities.
The Aging Waiver provides in-home services to people who are 60 or older and are assessed as needing the level of care provided by a nursing home. In Philadelphia, the Aging Waiver is administered by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA).
The services available from the Aging Waiver include:
Personal assistance services (help at home with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, toileting, medication reminders, meal preparation and some cleaning)
Home delivered meals
Home health services
Personal Emergency Response System
Accessibility Adaptations, Equipment, Technology and Medical Supplies
Adult Day Care
Applicants must meet both financial and functional need eligibility requirements.
Medical Assistance Estate Recovery (a program through which DPW tries to collect the costs of Medicaid long term care after the recipient’s death) applies to Medicaid-funded waiver programs.
People who participate in the waiver program can either receive their personal assistance services from an attendant sent by an agency or they can select and hire their own attendant, who may be a family member (except that parents cannot be paid attendants for their minor children, nor can spouses be paid attendants for each other).
What we can do:
CLS provides advice and representation to people whose eligibility for Aging Waiver or other waiver programs is denied or terminated. In some cases, CLS can also represent people who have been denied particular services or who are not getting enough hours of care through a waiver program. CLS also provides advice concerning Medical Assistance Estate Recovery.
How to get help:
Community Legal Services
North Philadelphia Law Center
1410 West Erie Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19140
Monday & Wednesday
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
For Homebound seniors ONLY
CLS’ Aging and Disabilities Unit is supported in part by funding provided by PCA and the Pennsylvania Department of Aging.