Thursday, April 19, 2007

Question of the Day

To insure or not to insure....

How does everyone feel about the issue of insurance? As an employee, does your employer cover any insurance costs? As an employer, do you offer employees any assistance? Some will say that its an obligation of a good employer to offer employees insurance...and others will say that's absolutely not true- if the law doesn't require it, why do it? What do you guys think?

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I get paid cash, and I am a live-in. That being said I don't think the people I nanny for have any obligation to provide insurance for me, nor do they. It would be nice, but it is quite an extra expense and usually goes along with a more legitimate pay schedule, which is not something I am willing to compromise at the moment.

Anonymous said...

I don't think its an obligation, per se, from a business standpoint. It would be nice, though...I mean, my employers always tell me that I'm part of their family, but I doubt they'd like to see one of their actual siblings or children without insurance. I had mono last year, no insurance and a nanny's salary. Not good!

Anonymous said...

I look at it this way -

You are very lucky these days to find even a company that offers you insurance. Just like with anything else in "nanny-dom" this should be negotiated up front and put into a contract. This is also something that you can provide yourself (at a considerable cost of course) if your employers absolutely will not and you are for whatever reason committed to the family/position. However, I find in my own life I can afford many more things then I realize I just happen to blow a lot of money on silly things! Which is more affordable anyway - spending in between $75 - $200 (depending on your health/weight/etc.) a month in order to get yourself some health insurance or landing yourself in a hospital in an emergency without it and having your financial future ruined because of the lack of it. We're talking about ten's or maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars for one bought of hospitalization. Just try going into a hospital without insurance - if they even let you in the door you might as well immediately bend over and grab your ankles. It would be much cheaper for you (and your relatives if you die waiting for that $700 asprin that they are giving you in lieu of an appendectomy) if you just die on the side walk instead. By the way, did you know that there is a completely different pricing system for individuals who don't have insurance? They will charge you many multiple times what they charge an insurance company. Anyway! I digress! If you have it you are very lucky, if you don't please be good to yourself and find a way to get it - it's just not worth the risk!

-Schreck Nanny

Anonymous said...

I have had my own insurance for several years now and pay out of my pocket. The only time I had any other benefits was when I worked in a child care facility. The second family I nannied for paid a certain amount each month towards my health insurance. My current family does the same. I think it's an incentive for employers to offer to pay at least a certain amount of the nanny's insurance. The only thing they pay towards is my health insurance but my car insurance is all on my own of course. But then I usually drive the employer's car when I'm on duty. The agency I work for even mentions to parents that it's a plus if they will offer to pay towards insurance. I'm sure the parents aren't obligated to do so but the agency lets them know that in order to place a highly qualified nanny with them, they need to offer to at least pay towards insurance. I won't work for any family now without going through an agency and having them pay towards my insurance.

Anonymous said...

I agree! It would be hard for a family to find a highly qualified and experienced nanny if they weren't offering at the very least to contribute towards insurance costs. My bosses have always been great to me about such things, 6 months after I started with the family the were writing me an extra check every other month to pay my insurance. Now I have it under my husband and they figured out what it would be every week instead of every two months and I ending up getting an extra $20 every week. Anyway, can we stress enough the importance of the contract? If real estate is to location, location, location as in home childcare is to CONTRACT CONTRACT CONTRACT.

Anonymous said...

In case anyone is curious about getting health insurance, www.gtmassociates.com has information for health insurance. I use to have the Celtic they have listed but did switch. This is a great site anyway for employers and nannies to use for various reasons!

gnarly nanny said...

my employers pay 100% of my health insurance costs, even though, since i file taxes as an 'independent contractor', they cannot claim me as an 'employee' (also an employer is required to have more than 1 employee before they can offer insurance) that means they give me an extra $60-some dollars a week to cover the monthly $190 health insurance premium.
anyway, this is the first time i've been given health insurance, though my previous employers offered it when i gave them my month's notice of leaving.
providing h.i. is definitely something an employer needs to think long and hard about, because it's not fair to a nanny not to be granted benefits that a full time employee of almost anywhere else would be.

Anonymous said...

I refuse to take a position with a family who denies me compensation for health insurance. I don't care what other people do, say or think; this is what I want and need as a nanny with 9 years experience. Bottom line is if they want me they will pay otherwise I don't take the job.

Anonymous said...

these employers would never take a job that didn't offer health insurance...why do they expect us to?

Anonymous said...

It is true that to offer insurance you have to have more than one employee. So any way you look at it the nanny is going to have to chose what level of deductible s/he wants and based on her age, height and weight, along with prior health history, will determine the monthly amount. That is if she's even qualified - small things can make her uninsurable.

I believe like most things, if all nanny's required health insurance before they chose to work then the culture of nannydome would change and all employers would offer it. But then life isn't that simple!

Anonymous said...

Insurance is not legally required by employers, but think it's the right thing to do...shouldn't they want us taken care of if something terrible were to happen?

Anonymous said...

My employer covers half. I think that's fair.

Anonymous said...

A nanny with ten years experience says . . . In my opinion, you pay for what you get. If you want a nanny to stick around long term, treat her well. Or leave it up to the nanny . . . Insurance or 1 or 2 weeks paid vacation.

My last employer paid 100% of my insurance, as well as one week vacation and paid holidays. No sick time. I was laid off in April, and I'm currently employed as a babysitter with no insurance. I'm currently registered with domestic staffing agencies and will only accept a position with medical benefits.

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Anonymous said...

I just hired a nanny, and when I found out she didn't have health insurance, I offered to pay for it. As a physician, I feel it is an obligation. The reality is that those who can least afford to be without health insurance rarely have it. It's an extra $200 per month which is well worth it! I agree with one poster who made the point that the employer would not go without health insurance, why should the nanny.

LizzieBean said...

I work as a part time nanny for a local physician. I hadn't ever given thought to working for a family that paid my insurance until a couple months ago, and I'm wondering how I can tactfully approach the subject now? I've been with this family for 15 months.

Any ideas?!? THANKS!

Anonymous said...

I have been working as a nanny for 1 year. I love the family I work for! I am young and lived at home until I moved in with my nanny family. I have never before needed a job with insurance because I have been on my dad's. However, this January I was taken off because I am too old to be on my dad's. My fiance and I were planning to get married in June. (He has an amazing job with wonderful insurance.) Because of the lapse I would have gone through without insurance and because I have several health problems, we got "married" in February. It's a secret marriage and we are still planning our wedding for June. I am lucky to have my fiance/ husband. With that said, I think it is very nice to be provided with insurance from your employer, but they don't have to.

Kevin said...

I also don't think that we should call it an obligation from employer's side because I feel that it's just like a basic right of an employee according to me. Employers who provides their workers' compensation insurance provides benefits to both parties like it allows workers to quickly access benefits required to pay for necessary medical care and on the other hand it benefits employers to require their employees to be agree that they will not sue them due to any job related injuries or illness.


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Susie said...

In the U.S., parents have a legal obligation to pay federal unemployment tax for their nanny and, depending on the state, might also be required to pay state unemployment and workers' compensation insurance. That said, those really don't provide very much, so many parents provide or help pay for other insurance, too. Because insurance costs so much nowadays, it's a great employment perk.

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Unknown said...

Insurance is certainly important. Most people who are hiring a nanny can't afford to pay their wages and insurance. If you can find a job with it that's great, if not any job is better than unemployment.

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