Health insurance for our nanny--help!

[Anonymous]

MB here, trying to figure out where to start with helping our nanny find health insurance. She seems to think it will be expensive but as far as I know she is a very healthy young woman. Neither she nor I have ever done this (she has been a nanny for a long time but has never had health insurance through her work before). Can anyone direct me to where to start? One of the health insurance exchanges?

Also, if you pay for your nanny's health insurance, what's a ballpark figure we might expect to cover? I would be happy to split it with her or cover the whole cost, depending on how much we're talking about.

Thanks for any guidance!

[Anonymous]

I'm a healthy 32 year-old woman and basic insurance through the exchange for me costs $200/month. This is the most basic plan I could find. The platinum plan was $388/month.

[Anonymous]

I pay for my own insurance, but I pay less than $150 per month. It doesn't cover much beyond the necessities, but it's all I need for now.

[Anonymous]

Expect to pay around $250. Also, There are income based subsidies for low income people on the exchange so it's not always clear why one person pays a certain rate vs another.

[Anonymous]

I pay $237 a month, with a $1,600 deductible.

[Anonymous]

PP here, and I forgot to add that I would beware of plans offering extremely high deductibles. I was a very healthy young woman at the age of 21 when, in the span of 6 months, I suffered from appendicitis, had to have a breast lump removed and biopsied, and finally ended up with an emergency laparotomy resulting in a not so great diagnosis. Things can go bad quickly, and a ridiculously high deductible would have tanked me financially.

[Anonymous]

OP again, thanks to all who have responded. We live in Va and DH tells me there is no exchange in Va. Does this mean she'd still be able to buy through some other exchange? I couldn't figure that out from looking at the website.

[Anonymous]

I'm a nanny in Arlington... and I pay about 250.00 a month for a basic plan with a 3,000 deductible.... I make too much for a subsidy.... around 40k a year.

[Anonymous]

I'm going through this right now with our new nanny who is 24 and does not smoke.

She can buy on the federal exchange (healthcare.gov), but unless she has a qualifying reason, she won't be eligible for 2014 anymore. She can do open enrollment in November for January.

Another option is to go through SHOP. This is a small-business health insurance exchange. In addition to your premiums being tax-free, you would get a tax credit of about 35% of the premium for offering her insurance through SHOP. I found their prices to be about 35% higher than the Obamacare exchange, and there were fewer options, BUT it might be a good choice for you.

What we are going to do is she is going to get a short-term policy through ehealthinsurance.com, and then do the exchange for next year. These are not great policies, but they at least provide some coverage in the meantime.

Finally, I went to the exchange and looked at the plans (we are not in the DC area anymore). They all bounced around $200 for her age, so that is what I am giving her. If she wants the Platinum Plan, she can kick in another $100 for that on her own. I think a lot of employers do some kind of cost-share like most businesses do, though you'll want to talk to her about whether she'll take the insurance at all if her part of the premium is too high.

[Anonymous]

Go to healthcare.gov and start plugging info in. You'll see a whole range of options.