Crystal: Fighting to Care for Her Son At Home

Crystal Foster had a complicated pregnancy resulting in severe long-term health issues for her son, Tyler. Tyler is now 29 years old, and Crystal has been his caregiver for his entire life. “From the moment he was born, my only goal was to care for him at home. The thought of him being housed in a facility terrified me.” 

California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, has allowed Crystal to take care of Tyler at home without issue. “Thanks to the Medi-Cal program, I was able to provide Tyler with the care he needed right from the moment he came home from the hospital, including specialized equipment for the 16 hours a day that he required it.” Medi-Cal has helped the Foster family to access quality and affordable services that Tyler needs, including therapy, surgeries, preventative care and a day program.  

The Foster family knows that without Medi-Cal, many families like theirs could not afford to care for their loved ones at home. “The impact on families who cannot afford these critical services would be devastating. Most families wouldn’t have the resources to care for their loved ones properly.” Caregivers like Crystal would struggle without Medi-Cal to keep their family members in the comfort of their own home with them instead of in a long-term care facility, a thought that Crystal finds hard to bear. 

“We need to ensure these vital programs continue to exist—because without them, families like mine would lose everything.”