Berks County Assistance Office: SNAP, Medicaid and Cash Aid

The Berks County Assistance Office handles SNAP (food stamps), Medical Assistance (Pennsylvania's name for Medicaid), cash assistance and LIHEAP for everyone in the county. It is a state office, run by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, not by the county government at 633 Court Street. The office is in the Reading State Office Building, 625 Cherry Street, Reading, PA 19602, open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by the directory, phone 610-736-4211 or toll-free 1-866-215-3912. A notice on COMPASS says county assistance offices, the DHS Customer Service Center and the HelpLine are closed until 11 a.m. on Thursdays, and until 1 p.m. on Thursdays starting Nov. 5, 2026. No DHS form or page lists an application fee, and you do not have to go there: most people apply online at COMPASS, and the office also takes paper applications by mail and in its drop box.

The figures below are DHS's for the 2026-2027 benefit year; SNAP tables change each October and Medicaid income limits each January.

Who to call first

• Questions about any benefit, or help with COMPASS: the DHS HelpLine, 1-800-692-7462, 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday. TDD 1-800-451-5886.
• To apply for Medical Assistance by phone, or to renew it: the Consumer Service Center, 1-866-550-4355.
• To report a change of address, income or work hours on an open case: the DHS Customer Service Center, 1-877-395-8930, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Lost or stolen EBT card, or a balance check: the EBT Recipient Hotline, 1-888-328-7366, 24 hours a day.
• Heating help: the Berks office's LIHEAP line, 610-736-4228 or 866-215-3911.
• Children's health insurance: the CHIP Helpline, 1-800-986-5437.

How to apply

One application, form PA 600, covers cash, health coverage and SNAP at once. There are four ways to file it.

1. Online at COMPASS, the state's benefits website, where you can apply, renew, upload documents and report changes. The myCOMPASS PA app lets you look up your benefits, check application status, upload documents and report changes from a phone, and DHS's EBT page says it shows your EBT balance.
2. On paper. Download the Pennsylvania Application for Benefits, PA 600, fill it out, and mail it or bring it to 625 Cherry Street. The apply page also has a SNAP-only form, PA 600 FS, and a short simple SNAP application, PA 1935, for households where everyone is 60 or older or disabled and nobody has earnings from work.
3. By phone, for Medical Assistance only, at 1-866-550-4355, which since June 16, 2025 also takes long-term care and home-and-community-based services applications.
4. In person at the Berks office, where caseworkers can answer questions and help you fill the form out.

The PA 600 spells out two rights. You may file "at any time before 5 p.m.," and the person who takes the form "should date-stamp your application while you watch," because benefits run from the date the office receives it. A SNAP application counts as filed once it has your name, address and signature (7 CFR 273.2(g)); the rest can follow. Then watch trackmybenefits.pa.gov for status updates.

Interviews and deadlines

SNAP requires an interview, which federal rules let the office do by telephone; you can ask for a face-to-face interview at any time (7 CFR 273.2(e)). The office must decide within 30 days of filing (273.2(g)), and the PA 600 repeats it: "We will tell you within 30 days if you are eligible or not."

If your household has less than $150 in gross monthly income and no more than $100 in cash and bank accounts, or if your income plus savings is less than the month's rent or mortgage plus utilities, you are entitled to expedited SNAP (273.2(i)). Here the official sources differ: the PA 600 says expedited benefits come "within five calendar days of the date you apply," while the federal regulation's outer limit is the seventh calendar day after filing. Pennsylvania's promise is the shorter one, and if the office denies expedited service you have the right to an agency conference with a supervisor "within two working days."

Medical Assistance decisions are due within 45 days, or 90 days when the application is based on a disability (42 CFR 435.912(c)(3)).

SNAP: income limits and benefit amounts

SNAP pays for groceries through an EBT card. For the federal fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2026, DHS lists these maximum gross monthly incomes and maximum monthly benefits:

Household size	Gross monthly income limit	Maximum monthly benefit
1	$2,660	$306
2	$3,608	$562
3	$4,554	$808
4	$5,500	$1,023
Each additional person	+$948	+$225

"Gross" means before taxes and deductions. The benefit column is the most a family can get, and DHS says the income limit "depends on multiple factors," including whether someone in the home is 60 or older or has a disability. A household is "a group of people who usually purchase and prepare meals together," related or not. DHS's advice: "The best way to know what you qualify for is to apply."

Work rules

The federal budget law signed in July 2025 widened SNAP's work requirement, and DHS says Pennsylvania "no longer qualifies for waivers of these rules by county or municipal jurisdiction." Its work-requirements page says that since Nov. 1, 2025 the rule covers anyone 18 to 64 who has no dependent child under 14 and is "considered physically and mentally able to work." Those people must work, volunteer, or be in school or job training at least 20 hours a week (80 hours a month), or earn at least $217.50 a week, and must report it to DHS. Otherwise SNAP is limited to three months in any three-year period. Veterans and former foster youth lost their exemptions on Oct. 31, 2025.

Exemptions remain for pregnancy, a physical or mental condition that prevents work (file the Medical Exemption Form, PA 1921), caring for an ill or disabled person, unemployment compensation, drug or alcohol treatment, homelessness, domestic violence, and a temporary layoff expected to end within 60 days. Report hours or an exemption to your caseworker or the Customer Service Center, 1-877-395-8930; DHS's HR1 FAQ Line for the new law is 1-877-883-6383.

The EBT card

Benefits load onto a Pennsylvania Access Card with a PIN you choose. Cash assistance on the same card comes out of ATMs; DHS keeps a list of surcharge-free ATMs. To guard against skimming, DHS urges everyone to lock the card between purchases through the ConnectEBT app or website.

Medical Assistance (Medicaid)

DHS's eligibility page groups Medical Assistance this way: children 18 and under, pregnant women, parents and caretakers of children under 21, adults 19 to 64 with income at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (the "expansion" group), people 65 and older, people who are blind or disabled, workers with disabilities, and people in long-term care. The first four groups face no asset test; for the older and disabled groups, countable resources are capped at $2,000 for one person and $3,000 for two, not counting the home and one vehicle.

The 133 percent limit comes with a 5 percent income disregard, which DHS's poverty-guidelines table shows as 138 percent. Effective Jan. 13, 2026, the annual limits are $22,025 for one person, $29,864 for two, $37,702 for three and $45,540 for four. Pregnant women and infants under one qualify up to 215 percent of the guidelines ($4,895 a month for a household of three), and pregnancy coverage runs through one year after the birth. DHS counts wages, Social Security, pensions and a live-in spouse's income; it does not count SNAP, TANF, SSI or LIHEAP, or child support for the first four groups.

Picking a HealthChoices plan

Medicaid in Pennsylvania is delivered through managed-care plans under HealthChoices. Berks is in the Lehigh/Capital zone, where DHS's managed-care map lists five physical-health plans: AmeriHealth Caritas Pennsylvania (888-991-7200), Geisinger Health Plan (855-227-1302), Jefferson Health Plans EverWell (800-553-0784), Highmark Wholecare (800-392-1147) and UPMC for You (800-286-4242). Once approved, you compare plans and doctors and enroll through Pennsylvania Enrollment Services. For rides to appointments, see our BARTA shared-ride guide.

Medicare premiums, CHIP and Pennie

If you have Medicare and a low income, Medical Assistance can pay your premiums. DHS's older-adults page lists Healthy Horizons (QMB), which covers Part A and B premiums, deductibles and coinsurance for a single person with income up to $1,350 a month ($1,824 for a couple), with a resource limit of $2,000 for the version that includes full Medical Assistance and $9,950 for the premium-and-cost-sharing version, and SLMB, which pays the Part B premium alone for income under $1,616 a month. That page labels its figures "2025 Federal Poverty Level," but they match the 2026 table DHS published in January; ask the office which it is applying. Our Area Agency on Aging guide covers the county's Medicare counseling, and the Berks Heim guide explains Medicaid for nursing-home care.

Children under 19 whose families earn too much for Medical Assistance go to CHIP. The 2026 CHIP income chart, effective March 1, 2026, shows free CHIP for a family of four with children 6 to 18 earning $43,890 to $68,640 a year; above that, low-cost CHIP charges $65 to $104 a month per child plus co-pays, up to $103,620 for a family of four. Adults over the Medicaid limit are referred to Pennie, the state's insurance marketplace (1-844-844-8040); DHS says the referral is automatic when a renewal finds you no longer eligible.

Changes coming Jan. 1, 2027

The same 2025 federal law reaches Medicaid next. DHS's Medicaid changes page says that from Jan. 1, 2027, adults 19 to 64 without a dependent child under 14 must show 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, training or at least part-time school, or household income of at least $580 a month, or an exemption (pregnancy, disability, caregiving, substance-use treatment, jail in the past four months, former foster care under 26, meeting TANF or SNAP work rules, among others). Some adults 19 to 64 will renew every six months instead of yearly, and retroactive coverage shrinks from three months to one for expansion adults and two for everyone else. Nothing changes automatically on Jan. 1; current recipients report at their next renewal in 2027.

Cash assistance

TANF

DHS's TANF page says Temporary Assistance for Needy Families serves pregnant women and dependent children living with a parent or relative, where a parent has died, is incapacitated, is absent, or has little or no income. Countable resources must be $1,000 or less (bank accounts, bonds, property other than the home). Adults must look for work or join an employment program, sign an Agreement of Mutual Responsibility, and cooperate with child support unless they have good cause; our child support guide explains that side. Cash assistance is limited to 60 months in a lifetime.

The grant depends on where you live. The state's Family Size Allowance table, 55 Pa. Code Chapter 183, Appendix B, Table 3, puts Berks in Schedule 2: $205 a month for one person, $316 for two, $403 for three, $497 for four, and $83 for each additional person. The table was last amended in 1990, and DHS's own TANF infographic describes the average family of three as receiving $403 a month. Cash benefits are paid onto the same EBT card as SNAP.

Diversion

If you expect income to resume within three months, the Diversion program pays a one-time lump sum instead of ongoing TANF, up to three times the Family Size Allowance (for a Berks family of three, up to $1,209). You must qualify for TANF, have had earned income within the past 90 days, and show a short-term need the payment will cover; it is available once in 12 months.

Programs that no longer exist, and one that does

The General Assistance cash program ended on Aug. 1, 2019 under Act 12 of 2019, which says it "shall cease August 1, 2019"; the medical-assistance category tied to it continues. Since TANF serves only pregnant women and families with dependent children, an adult on their own can get SNAP and Medical Assistance but no ongoing cash grant. The State Blind Pension remains for people who meet its vision test.

Keeping benefits: renewals and reporting

Many SNAP and TANF households, and a limited number of Medical Assistance households, are in Semi-Annual Reporting: every six months DHS sends a form with a due date, and you return it with proof of income even if nothing changed. Miss the date and you get a late notice and a new form; miss that and SNAP is suspended, then closed, though you can file the form or reapply within 30 days to restart. Households where everyone is 60 or older or disabled, with no earnings, are excused. SNAP work hours that fall below 20 a week must be reported within 10 days.

Medical Assistance and CHIP renew once a year (every six months for some adults from 2027). The renewals page says renewal information starts about 90 days before the due date and the packet comes in a large pink envelope; answer by mail, in COMPASS, by phone at 1-866-550-4355, or at the Cherry Street office. If coverage closes for a missed renewal, you have 90 days to turn it in and reopen with no gap. Keep your address current with DHS; notices come by mail.

If you are denied or cut off

Every denial, reduction or closure comes with a written notice, and the notice is the clock. Under 55 Pa. Code § 275.3(b), you must appeal within 30 days of the notice date for cash or Medical Assistance, and within 90 days for SNAP; late appeals "will be dismissed without a hearing." The PA 600 restates the same 30 and 90 days.

File the appeal at the county assistance office, in writing except for SNAP, which can be appealed orally (hearing process). The office forwards it within three workdays to the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, which schedules a hearing before an administrative law judge, usually by telephone unless you ask for in person. The bureau's Reading field office is in the same building as the CAO, Room 440, 610-378-4081; headquarters is 717-783-3950. You may be represented at the hearing, and in SNAP cases you may also bring friends or relatives (55 Pa. Code § 275.3). Afterward, a party (in SNAP cases, only you) can ask the Secretary of Human Services for reconsideration within 15 days, and you can petition Commonwealth Court.

Free legal help is available. MidPenn Legal Services takes Medical Assistance, SNAP, LIHEAP, unemployment and WIC cases; its Reading office is at 35 North Sixth Street, Mezzanine Suite 101, Reading, PA 19601, 610-376-8656, and applications go through 800-326-9177. The Pennsylvania Health Law Project runs a statewide helpline for trouble getting or keeping Medicaid, 1-800-274-3258 (no walk-ins).

What the county does instead

Because the CAO is a state office, the county's role sits beside it. Berks County's Mental Health / Developmental Disabilities office, 8th floor of the Services Center, 633 Court Street (610-478-3271, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), lists 610-379-2007 for immediate crisis services, and the county administers the state-funded Homeless Assistance Program through the Berks County Coalition to End Homelessness, 610-372-7222. Older residents can start with the county Area Agency on Aging and our guide to the state's Property Tax/Rent Rebate. If you are leaving an abusive home, the Protection From Abuse guide covers the court side; domestic violence is also an exemption from the SNAP work rules.

Other programs the office runs

• LIHEAP, the heating grant, is open for the 2026-2027 season from Nov. 2, 2026 through April 23, 2027; apply on COMPASS or through the Berks office's LIHEAP line, 610-736-4228. Our separate guide, LIHEAP in Berks County, covers income limits and crisis grants.
• Child Care Works, the child-care subsidy, is handled not by the CAO but by the Early Learning Resource Center for Region 13, serving Berks and Schuylkill, at 1138 Rockland St., Reading, PA 19604, 484-651-8000 or 1-833-229-6927. The program page caps income at 200 percent of poverty ($54,640 a year for a family of three, $66,000 for four, as of May 2026) and requires each parent to work 20 hours a week, or 10 plus 10 of school or training. Helpline: 1-877-472-5437.

FAQ

Is the Berks County Assistance Office run by the county?

No. It is a Pennsylvania Department of Human Services office that serves Berks County, in the Reading State Office Building at 625 Cherry Street. The county's own human-services offices, for aging, mental health and children and youth, are separate and sit at 633 Court Street.

How much can I earn and still get SNAP in Pennsylvania?

For the benefit year that began Oct. 1, 2026, the gross monthly income limit is $2,660 for one person, $3,608 for two, $4,554 for three and $5,500 for four, plus $948 for each additional person. Households with a member who is 60 or older or disabled are judged differently, so DHS recommends applying even if you are near the line.

How long does it take to get SNAP in Berks County?

The office must decide within 30 days of the day it receives your application, and benefits start from that date. If your income is under $150 a month with no more than $100 in the bank, or your income and savings are less than your rent and utilities, you qualify for expedited SNAP, which the state application promises within five calendar days.

What is the income limit for Medicaid in Pennsylvania in 2026?

For adults 19 to 64, the limit is 138 percent of the federal poverty guidelines: $22,025 a year for one person, $29,864 for two, $37,702 for three and $45,540 for four, effective Jan. 13, 2026. Pregnant women qualify up to 215 percent, children get Medicaid or CHIP at higher incomes, and people 65 and older or disabled also face a resource test of $2,000 or $3,000.

How much is TANF cash assistance in Berks County?

The state's Family Size Allowance for Berks (Schedule 2) is $205 a month for one person, $316 for two, $403 for three and $497 for four, with $83 for each additional person, and the family must have $1,000 or less in countable resources. Payments count toward a 60-month lifetime limit.

How do I appeal a denial from the county assistance office?

File a written appeal at the office within 30 days of the notice date (90 days for SNAP, which can also be appealed orally). The Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, which has a Reading office at 625 Cherry Street, Room 440, holds a hearing, usually by phone, and MidPenn Legal Services (800-326-9177) represents benefits cases for free.

Sources

• Pa. Department of Human Services: County Assistance Offices directory, Apply for Benefits, COMPASS and myCOMPASS PA, COMPASS homepage, trackmybenefits.pa.gov and Helpful Phone Numbers.
• Application forms: PA 600, PA 600 FS (SNAP), PA 1935 (simple SNAP, 60+ or disabled) and PA 1921 (medical exemption).
• SNAP: Apply for SNAP, SNAP Income Limits, SNAP Work Requirements, EBT, surcharge-free ATMs and Semi-Annual Reporting; federal rules at 7 CFR 273.2.
• Medical Assistance: General Eligibility, Federal Poverty Income Guidelines, Medicaid for Pregnancy, Physical HealthChoices, Statewide Managed Care Map, Pennsylvania Enrollment Services, Medicaid & CHIP Renewals, Changes Coming to Medicaid in January 2027, Medicaid for Older People and People with Disabilities, CHIP Eligibility and Benefits, the CHIP income chart and Pennie; federal timeliness rule at 42 CFR 435.912.
• Cash assistance: Cash Assistance, TANF, Apply for TANF, 55 Pa. Code Chapter 183, Appendix B, the TANF infographic, Diversion, Act 12 of 2019 and the State Blind Pension.
• Other programs: LIHEAP, Child Care Works and the ELRC directory.
• Appeals: 55 Pa. Code § 275.3, the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals process page and office list.
• Legal help: MidPenn Legal Services locations and What We Do; Pennsylvania Health Law Project.
• Berks County: Mental Health / Developmental Disabilities and Homeless Assistance Program.

Berks County Assistance Office (Pennsylvania Department of Human Services): Reading State Office Building, 625 Cherry Street, Reading, PA 19602-1188; Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Thursdays from 1 p.m. starting Nov. 5, 2026, per a DHS notice); 610-736-4211 or toll-free 1-866-215-3912; LIHEAP 610-736-4228 or 866-215-3911; fax 610-736-4004. DHS HelpLine: 1-800-692-7462. Consumer Service Center for health coverage: 1-866-550-4355. DHS Customer Service Center: 1-877-395-8930 (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). EBT Recipient Hotline: 1-888-328-7366.