Littman Krooks

By Tom Breedlove, HomePay by Breedlove

Nannies, senior caregivers, housekeepers and other in-home providers are in a unique situation compared to most employees. They don’t work for a large company with a Human Resources department looking out for their best interest. So when it comes to something like purchasing health insurance, it’s not as simple as filling out a form and letting someone else do all the work on the back end. And with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, many household employees have questions about what is required of them.

While millions of people signed up for health insurance policies via the federal and state online exchanges last October, many others did not and will have a decision to make once again in the next few weeks. Open enrollment for health coverage starting in 2015 is scheduled to begin on November 15^th – both for those buying policies for the first time and those whose policies are set to expire at the end of the year.

The most important thing for employees to understand is that the law itself is not changing in 2015 compared to 2014. That means all individuals are still required to have health insurance policy in place or pay a fine. For 2014, the fine is $95 or 1 percent of income for those that remain uninsured, whichever is higher. For 2015, this fine increases to either $325 or 2 percent of income, whichever is greater. For example, someone earning $35,000 per year would face a fine of $700.

However, there is a silver lining to this cloud. There are subsidies that many employees will qualify for based on their income level that will allow them to obtain health insurance at a discounted rate. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a helpful calculator tool that any employee can use to estimate the subsidy they could receive. It takes into account several factors, including income, number of adults enrolling in coverage, number of children, the employee’s resident state, and others.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to qualify for a subsidy, the employee must have documented wages – meaning they have to be paid legally. In most trust situations and many senior care employment arrangements, this is already taken care of, but it warrants a reminder that this subsidy is available for those working so hard to care for a family’s loved one. It’s just another benefit of legal pay to go along with others, such as Social Security income, Medicare health coverage, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, and the ability to secure loans/credit.

To learn more about health insurance coverage, please visit Care.com or go to healthcare.gov.

To learn more about helping seniors and their families plan for the future, visit www.elderlawnewyork.com. If you liked this article, please like it on our Facebook page.