offering health insurance to nanny

[Anonymous]

Hi. We had not previously offered health insurance as a benefit to our nanny. Given she is such an integral part of our family, and she is not good at getting on top of things like this (I'm not sure she is getting it on her own and she has been vague about it), I would like to get her coverage. She lives in DC, we live in VA. Can someone please explain to me how this is done? I went on the healthcare.gov website and I am not clear whether I can do this now or I have to wait until open enrollment. Also, I don't know which exchange is the right exchange, etc. And how I go about getting it for her and how that works in with the credits. Please help!

[Anonymous]

You can not sign up for her through the exchange. Don't you see how invasive that would be?

[Anonymous]

She has to sign up. If you are reimbursing her for it and you suspect she isn't using that money for health insurance, you can ask for proof.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't mean that I would ask for her medical history and fill out her forms for her, but as an employer, how do I figure out what options of coverage I can offer and how much that would cost? Or is it better to just reimburse her and hope she can figure it out on her own (which I am not sure she can).

[Anonymous]

This is something she must do on her own. I would simply say starting in 2015 we would like to reimburse you for your health insurance. We can give you up to 250 per month for this. Open enrollment is at such and such a time. Then give her the website info it will go off of where she lives not where she works. Then say you need to see proff that she has it and will start giving her monthly 250 which is a reasonable amount or whatever works for you.

[Anonymous]

We're going through the Small Business Health Options exchange.
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/nanny-forum/posts/list/295940.page#3072640

[Anonymous]

thanks, 17:08. Can anyone who has used the Small Business Health Options Exchange comment on the pricing vs her just getting her own insurance herself? There isn't a lot of information now. It appears I have to wait until mid November to find out about it and price it out?

[Anonymous]

Have you ever think your nanny can't afford it? Some people just don't think

[Anonymous]

I recently looked into this, OP, and I think the answer is that you can't look at pricing options until after Nov 15 when open enrollment starts. I'd suggest maybe jut printing off the list of documents needed for sign up and handing that to your nanny so she can be ready. In terms of cost, I don't have hard info to go on but when I asked around I heard monthly costs of $150 and up for a single person. I think many nanny employers offer to split this cost.

[Anonymous]

"More than smart enough to care for my children, but not smart enough to navigate a simple website to sign up for healthcare. Also not smart enough to take care of her own responsibilities, and not upfront and honest when I ask her questions."

[Anonymous]

SHOP will give you a tax credit. The exchange will not, but for my nanny, the prices on the exchange were enough lower that it outweighed the tax credit. My nanny had never had health insurance, and was intimidated by the site. We sat down and looked at it together. Then, she picked and applied for a plan, and at the point payment was due, I put in my payment info. That way, it is absolutely clear to the IRS that this is not taxable income. She chose a plan under the $200 we offered to reimburse, but if she had chosen a more expensive plan, we would have deducted the additional from her check pre-tax.