LIFE Program in Berks County: Who Qualifies, What It Covers

LIFE is Pennsylvania's version of the national PACE program: one local team of doctors, nurses, aides and social workers takes over all of your parent's medical care and daily help so they can keep living at home instead of moving into a nursing home. Senior LIFE Reading runs the LIFE program in Berks County. Your parent has to be 55 or older and need the daily help a nursing home gives. The call that starts an assessment goes to the center at 610-404-3200 or to the state's enrollment broker at 1-877-550-4227; the broker is the state's phone line that starts a long-term care application.

The care test is the state's in-home assessment of how much help your parent needs, and the state decides it. The money test is the County Assistance Office's check of income and assets, and that office decides it. Nothing on this page decides either; this is general information, and the broker's line is where the specific question goes. If staying home stops being possible, the communities on our county senior living page are the other direction; LIFE is for a parent who wants to stay home instead.

What is the LIFE program in Pennsylvania?

LIFE stands for Living Independence for the Elderly, and it's the name Pennsylvania gives to the program the rest of the country calls PACE, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. Every PACE provider in the state has LIFE in its name. It's a managed care program paid for jointly by Medicare and Medicaid, and the state treats it as an alternative to a nursing facility.

One confusion to clear up early. Pennsylvania also runs a prescription program called PACE, with a sister program called PACENET, for people 65 and older. That one is a drug benefit, not this program; our page on PACE and PACENET prescription help covers it.

When your parent joins, the program's care team, the doctors, nurses, aides and social workers who plan and provide the care, starts by talking with your parent's current doctors and your family, then builds a personal care plan.

Who qualifies for LIFE in Berks County?

The state publishes five tests, and your parent has to meet all of them.

• Be age 55 or older.
• Meet the level of care needs for a skilled nursing facility or a special rehabilitation facility. Level of care is the state's test of whether someone needs the daily help a nursing home gives, and an in-home assessment decides it.
• Meet the financial requirements as determined by your local County Assistance Office or be able to privately pay. This is the money test, and a parent who doesn't pass it can still join by paying for the program themselves.
• Reside in an area served by a LIFE provider. For Berks, that's one of the two Senior LIFE centers the state lists for the county, by zip code.
• Be able to be safely served in the community as determined by a LIFE provider. The program makes this call with its own visit to the home.

The service area is set by zip code, and the state lists two Senior LIFE centers for Berks County. Senior LIFE Reading's list runs across the county and reaches a few places just over the county line; Senior LIFE's Lehigh Valley center in Bethlehem (610-954-5433) lists some zip codes in the county's northeast corner, Kutztown's among them. Confirm your parent's zip with either center or the enrollment broker.

What does LIFE cost, and who pays for it?

What your parent pays depends on which of three groups they're in.

• On Medicaid, or on both Medicare and Medicaid. Your parent may pay nothing for LIFE services, with no monthly premium.
• On Medicare but not Medicaid. The program charges a monthly premium to cover the long-term care part of the benefit, plus a premium for the Medicare Part D drug part. The amount is set per program and written into the enrollment agreement, so the program quotes it when you call.
• On neither. Your parent can pay the program's premium themselves.

Whatever the group, there's no deductible, copayment or co-insurance for any drug, service or care the care team approves. A parent on Medicare and Medicaid gets prescriptions through the program and needs no separate Part D plan.

Whether your parent qualifies for Medicaid is the money test, and the Berks County Assistance Office decides it: Reading State Office Building, 625 Cherry Street, Reading, 610-736-4211 or toll-free 1-866-215-3912, weekdays 8 to 5, with a drop box at the office or an online application through COMPASS at compass.dhs.pa.gov.

The office applies the long-term care rules of Medical Assistance, Pennsylvania's Medicaid, which cover care at home as well as in a facility. The headline number is income: as of 2026, the individual income limit is $2,982 a month. If your parent already has a Medicaid card, ask the broker what the office still needs from you. Assets are counted under limits of their own, the state looks at money or property given away in the 60 months before applying, and a spouse still at home keeps a protected share; the office walks through those, and a post of its own on nursing homes and Medical Assistance is coming.

What does the LIFE program cover?

The program is built to be all-inclusive, and in plain groups it covers:

• The doctor. Primary medical care, medical specialists, lab and X-ray, dental, audiology, optometry and eyeglasses, and nursing and medical coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• The day center. Adult day health services, meals, recreational and socialization activities, and social services.
• Help at home. In-home supportive care, personal care and nursing care.
• The rides. Medical and non-medical transportation, and the Berks program provides rides to all approved appointments and locations at no cost.
• The drugs and the therapies. Pharmaceuticals, physical, speech and occupational therapies, and specialized medical equipment.
• The hospital or nursing home, if it comes to that. Emergency care, hospital and nursing facility services, and end-of-life services.

The Reading center's LIFE Health and Wellness Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 to 4:30, and LIFE services are available to members 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

What changes when your parent joins LIFE?

It's a trade. Once enrolled, the program becomes your parent's sole service provider: the care team is now the doctor's office, the pharmacy and the home care agency, and those choices move to the program. Your parent's current doctor may or may not be on the LIFE care team. Your parent must use providers within the program's network, and the program provides access to necessary services but can't guarantee access to a specific provider. Your parent may have to pay for any care the care team didn't approve ahead of time, except emergencies, which are covered in and out of network.

LIFE takes the place of a Medicare Advantage plan and of a Part D drug plan, so a parent who has either leaves it when they join. A parent also can't be in a Medicaid program that pays for care at home, such as Community HealthChoices, or on the Medicare hospice benefit at the same time. If you're sorting out plan choices, read how Medicare plans work in Berks first. And enrollment is voluntary: a participant may disenroll at any time, without cause.

The other door for a parent on Medicaid who wants care at home is Community HealthChoices, the state's other Medicaid long-term care program, and the difference between the two is a post of its own. For what Medicare alone pays for at home, see the Medicare home health post.

Who runs LIFE in Berks County, and how do you apply?

The Berks provider is Senior LIFE Reading at 20 Shelbourne Road, Reading, PA 19606: local 610-404-3200, toll-free 1-877-998-LIFE (5433), TTY 711.

To apply, you call a LIFE provider in your area or the enrollment broker at 1-877-550-4227. There's no wrong door; the two work together on the application, and the broker is the fastest start. Four people then decide four things. Your parent's doctor fills out a physician certification form. The state's assessor, through the Berks County Area Agency on Aging, does the in-home level-of-care assessment. The LIFE program visits the home to confirm it can serve your parent safely. And the County Assistance Office checks whether your parent qualifies financially.

If you aren't ready for that yet, there's a first call to make. The aging office answers 610-478-6500 weekdays 8 to 5, lists a 24-hour emergency service, and does an in-home needs assessment that a family member can request. For a parent 60 or older who doesn't qualify for Medicaid, its OPTIONS program pays for some help at home, with the cost shared by income. The aging office runs more than the assessment, and our guide to the Area Agency on Aging walks through the rest.

If the assessment says home can't be made safe, the county senior living page is where the next search starts. Either way, the job tonight is to read the five tests back against your parent and write down the zip code. In the morning, call the center or the broker to start an application, or call the aging office first if you want the needs assessment before anything else. Everything else the county offers an older parent is in our senior services guide.

Frequently asked questions.

Is LIFE the same as PACE?

Yes. LIFE is Pennsylvania's name for the national PACE program. The prescription program for people 65 and older that's also called PACE is a drug benefit and a separate thing.

Does your parent have to be on Medicaid to join LIFE?

No. On Medicaid, or on Medicare and Medicaid together, your parent may pay nothing. On Medicare alone, the program charges a monthly premium it quotes to you. On neither, your parent can pay the premium privately.

Can your parent keep their own doctor?

Maybe. The care plan is built in consultation with your parent's current doctors, but that doctor may or may not be on the LIFE care team, and once enrolled your parent uses providers within the program's network. Ask the center on the first call.

Can your parent leave LIFE later?

Yes. Enrollment is voluntary, and a participant may disenroll from the program without cause at any time.

Sources

• Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, "Enroll in the Living Independence for the Elderly Program (LIFE)": what LIFE is, the eligibility requirements, what it covers, the cost for Medicaid members, how to apply and the Independent Enrollment Broker's number.
• Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, "LIFE (Living Independence for the Elderly)" with its LIFE Providers by County table (revised August 2026): the program's history and the two Senior LIFE centers listed for Berks, Lehigh and Northampton.
• Medicare.gov, "PACE": the eligibility tests as Medicare words them, what members pay with Medicaid, with Medicare only, or with neither, and the no-deductible, no-copayment rule for care the team approves.
• 42 CFR Part 460, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly: the premium rule for members with Medicare but not Medicaid (§ 460.186) and voluntary disenrollment at any time (§ 460.162).
• Senior LIFE, "Reading", its eligibility page and its services page and its transportation page (read November 2026): the center's address, phones and hours and the zip codes it serves (Reading page), the three payer cases and the no-other-plan rule (eligibility page), the program's own terms on approved services and leaving (services page), and rides at no cost (transportation page).
• Pennsylvania Independent Enrollment Broker, "Apply": the application steps, including the doctor's certification form, the in-home level-of-care assessment through the Area Agency on Aging, and the County Assistance Office's financial decision.
• Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, "Medicaid and Payment of Long-Term Services": the 2026 income limit for long-term care Medical Assistance, the look-back and the spousal protections.
• Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, County Assistance Office locations: the Berks County Assistance Office's address, phones and hours.
• Berks County Area Agency on Aging: the office's address, phone and hours, and its in-home needs assessment.
• Pennsylvania LIFE Provider Alliance, "Locate a LIFE Program": the zip-code search for a LIFE program.