Contributing to health care through the health exchange

[Anonymous]

We are planning to contribute to our nanny's health care and she is signing up through the MD health exchange. Does anyone else do this? How does this work -- do you roll it into her salary, do you just give her the money each month? How does it affect employer taxes if it's done this way versus through a private health policy? Any guidance appreciated. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Tell her she's better off going straight through a company such as anthem, and then you just figure out how much you want to contribute. The plans through the government site are all crap and your nanny would get better coverage going privately and not worrying about subsidiaries

[Anonymous]

We just did this with our nanny. She got an excellent policy through the Maryland exchange with CareFirst BC/BS (much, much better than the one we had found for her last year). She also qualified for significant discounts at her income level.

How we handled our contribution to her health insurance costs has not changed however, regardless of where she obtains the coverage. She is responsible for paying the premiums and maintaining the coverage. We write her a check every month for the amount we contribute. We write on the check that it is for health insurance and she gives us assurance of ongoing coverage. This is per the instructions of our accountant.

This kind of benefit (if documented properly) is not taxable to the employer/employee in the same way that wages are so it can be a way to increase compensation without increasing the tax burden on either side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell her she's better off going straight through a company such as anthem, and then you just figure out how much you want to contribute. The plans through the government site are all crap and your nanny would get better coverage going privately and not worrying about subsidiaries

Why are the gov site plans so bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell her she's better off going straight through a company such as anthem, and then you just figure out how much you want to contribute. The plans through the government site are all crap and your nanny would get better coverage going privately and not worrying about subsidiaries

Um, no. My nanny was offered the same plan by Kaiser without the exchange (and so no subsidy) for $250/mo more. If you don't go through the exchange, you don't get the subsidies.

[Anonymous]

The subsidies aren't worth it $6000 dollar deductible for medical $6000 deductible for meds plus $300 premium no prescription coverage until deductible met I'm no thanks I'll take the BC/bs plan for premium. $377 $750 deductible for meds and medical combined and meds only cost $15-30 don't need to meet deductible to get meds.

I could care less if the government will give me money back their gold plan sucks and I've been paying for my own insurance for years and had a great plan until this stupid aca took effect. It's so great the president didn't even want it and before anyone says he signed up for it, do you really think they offered him the same plans as regular people if you do you're probably one of the idiots that think this insurance is great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The subsidies aren't worth it $6000 dollar deductible for medical $6000 deductible for meds plus $300 premium no prescription coverage until deductible met I'm no thanks I'll take the BC/bs plan for premium. $377 $750 deductible for meds and medical combined and meds only cost $15-30 don't need to meet deductible to get meds.

I could care less if the government will give me money back their gold plan sucks and I've been paying for my own insurance for years and had a great plan until this stupid aca took effect. It's so great the president didn't even want it and before anyone says he signed up for it, do you really think they offered him the same plans as regular people if you do you're probably one of the idiots that think this insurance is great

Charming.

Uninformed, off topic, poorly written and negative.

So helpful OP. Glad you're happy with your coverage, but your rant is useless here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The subsidies aren't worth it $6000 dollar deductible for medical $6000 deductible for meds plus $300 premium no prescription coverage until deductible met I'm no thanks I'll take the BC/bs plan for premium. $377 $750 deductible for meds and medical combined and meds only cost $15-30 don't need to meet deductible to get meds.

I could care less if the government will give me money back their gold plan sucks and I've been paying for my own insurance for years and had a great plan until this stupid aca took effect. It's so great the president didn't even want it and before anyone says he signed up for it, do you really think they offered him the same plans as regular people if you do you're probably one of the idiots that think this insurance is great

That is not a gold plan. You only have one deductible, anyway. Where do you live? Rates are waaaay better than this in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

I make too much money to receive any subsidies.