nanny health insurance

[Anonymous]

My nanny currently has health insurance through her ex husband but that arrangement is ending and is looking to us to provide insurance going forward. I have no idea how to even start looking into whether or not this is something we can afford, the tax treatment, what companies offer individual policies we could purchase, if it would be better to just offer her a set amount of $$ and tell her to apply it to a policy of her choosing etc. If you provide health insurance or money towards health insurance for your nanny, I would love it if you could tell me about it. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Have you checked with your insurance agent? That person may know your most economical options.

[Anonymous]

You have three options here, depending on your financial circumstances, how much you value this nanny, and what exactly she needs.

You can turn her down and say you can't afford to contribute. She may be able to find another solution or she may need to find another job.

You can offer her a monthly stipend, $150-200, in a separate check, that she can use to purchase her own insurance.

You can offer to cover her insurance plan - whether this means you take the time to sit down with her and pick one together, or if she already has one she wants to continue, this will probably be your most expensive option.

[Anonymous]

OP, your nanny insurance payments are not taxable, FYI.

[Anonymous]

We are helping our nanny obtain health insurance and are contributing towards the cost. But it is her decision and choice - totally. We think she needs the coverage and have been encouraging her to do this for a year, so we've gotten increasingly involved but we are functioning as helpful support, not purchasers or decision makers for her. It will be coverage she can take with her regardless of where she is employed, and coverage/risk levels that she chooses - not ones we're imposing on her. We feel that's important.

We've found ehealthinsurance.com to be very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Who opperates ehealthinsurance? I thought it was just one company.

[Anonymous]

Not sure who's behind it but they offer info/application process for multiple companies. Just go on there and play around a bit and you'll get a sense for the range of offerings.

Certainly not the only option, but it's one that made it easy to do some one stop comparison shopping, and they also have customer service staff who speak Spanish, which is helpful for our nanny with something that can be so complicated.

[Anonymous]

Does your nanny have kids she also needs to cover? This is why we haven't offered; I don't know of any insurance we could afford that would offer her family coverage.