I’m new to being an in home caregiver. I was asked by a family to temporarily help take care of their parents until they find someone new.
My question is this: their long term care insurance has approved both of them for care reimbursement at a certain rate, but the family only wants to pay me the rate of one person (they are not double billing, they bill a certain number of hours for one person and a certain number for the other one’s policy). Should I be charging double or at least a slightly increased rate to take care of two people in the same home? One is around stage 6 dementia/Lewy Body Disease the other has Parkinson’s.
(1) what you are willing to work for, given what your time is worth to you, and
(2) their willingness & ability to pay, given what they would have to pay for other help.
Market forces, in other words.
The LTC insurance that I dealt with was limited in how much they would pay per day, regardless of whether the care cost more. It was also limited in duration spread over both spouses--they had only so many days that would be paid regardless of which one needed care.
I think it's unreasonable to expect the insurance company to set a care rate. The insured picked and paid for the amount they expected to collect. If that's not enough to hire help, then they have to expect to pay part of it out of pocket.
But double for two people is too much. Maybe a couple of extra dollars per hour. Is the family withholding taxes, social security etc or will they be issuing a 1099 making you responsible for required deductions? That would be another consideration for hourly pay. If the deductions are being made and they plan to provide you a W-2 then a couple dollars. If not, then double may be appropriate.
You need to have this discussion with them. It must be done legally.
I've been paying for in home care for over 5 years and the person doing the personal care and such is paid the most and does the least , she comes for 4 hrs twice a ,helps my wife with her shower gives aid in helping her to her potty at the foot of the bed , is a companion with having conversation ( much needed), and sits with her for most of her 4 hrs , they watch her favorite shows ( let's make a deal ,and price is right ) I'm not complaining about paying her I'm just saying she does less than the person I have that comes in to clean 1 day a week who spends 4 hrs and don't get to sit down,
My point being ,
If you don't want to do the job find another you'd be better at
You sound young and probably not suited ,
Sorry for venting , I've been caregiving for 22yrs 24/7
But I see a couple of bigger issues, and it echos what GladImHere posted:
- LTC insurance usually requires care to be done by someone with some sort of training or certification. It’s why LTC insurers have the care paid to an agency as the agency can get caregivers with training. Most polices are strict about this. If your not a CNA, LVN or other care professional, I’d be concerned that the family may not be compliance with policy terms. And when it surfaces, your going to be blamed.
- how they are paying you? Under IRS rules you as a caregiver are a household employee; you do a W-9 and they need to be doing FICA on your wages and it’s being properly reported & paid by them. They cannot 1099-C you as contract labor.
Your really not gonna be happy next January if you get a huge 1099-C from them and find you owe IRS a hefty sum. Like 30+% of what you’ve been paid. You can try to go back and get yourself reclassified and force them to do retro FICA, but they’ll just ignore you unless you get a labor rights atty.
I’m getting a their taking advantage of you & the insurer vibe.
If you not being paid right now with FICA done, I’d quit. You now have experience and can go work for an home health agency and get benefits and be paid properly.
Everyone is correct. You need a contract in place that says what you will make and what hours you will be working. Anything over 40 a week is slave labor in my book. You need downtime. I would think, too, that the LTC policy requires they deduct taxes and SS. They will have to send the withholdings to SS and IRS every quarter. State too if ur state has an income tax.
If you have never done this kind of work, I wouldn't want to start with two people and work for friends. Believe me working for or with friends is not a good idea. There wil, be no friendship afterwards.
Joanne