What is the waiver from Regional Center for?

When people talk about the "Regional Center waiver," they are referring to the Medi-Cal institutional deeming waiver for Regional Center clients. Since Medi-Cal is income-based, the application looks at parents' income for children under the age of 18. The waiver makes it so that Medi-Cal only looks at the child's income.

Medi-Cal is beneficial even if you have private insurance because 1.) it lets you apply for IHSS and 2.) anytime you go for clinic-based care, labs, X-ray, hospital stays, etc., Medi-Cal will pay for your co-pays and deductibles at those places if they accept Medi-Cal. See our article about Medi-Cal as secondary insurance.

If the Regional Center says the child doesn’t need the waiver because they are 18, push back because they are required to do so until the child’s 22nd birthday.