Health insurance for nanny a political, moral imperative

http://www.christophernoxon.com/newsitem/health_insurance_for_nanny_a_political_moral_imperative

For my latest Family Life column, I get up on high horse and rail against hypocritical liberals (who, me?) who criticize the government and corporations for withholding health insurance while allowing their own babysitters and nannies to fend for themselves… It’s time to pay up, people.

For my latest Family Life column, I get up on high horse and rail against hypocritical liberals (who, me?) who criticize the government and corporations for withholding health insurance while allowing their own babysitters and nannies to fend for themselves… It’s time to pay up, people.

Health insurance for nanny a political, moral imperative

http://www.christophernoxon.com/clip/health_insurance_for_nanny_a_political_moral_imperative

Like most of my friends here in the cozy, progressive-minded state of California, I believe American health care is a national disgrace. I believe it’s an outrage that 50 million Americans lack health insurance and that care for the insured is so often refused, or else insufficient or just plain sloppy.

Of course this righteous indignation doesn’t amount to much, beyond feeling jealous of Canadians, justifying my Starbucks habit because I heard they cover their baristas, and cheering through Michael Moore’s “Sicko.”

So I guess that makes me a flaming liberal. But I’m also, I admit, a raging hypocrite.

Why? Because in addition to being a relatively well-off lefty, I’m also an employer; eight years ago, my wife and I hired a devoted, capable and impossibly sweet El Salvadoran immigrant to help with the kids while we’re at work.

And while I’m the first to rail against stingy corporations and slime-ball politicians for their failures to provide decent health care, I’m less likely to admit that my family’s single full-time employee is uninsured. Meaning that when my nanny gets sick or needs a checkup or gets a cavity, she’s on her own.

We’re not breaking any laws—our nanny has a green card and we pay federal and state withholding taxes. Besides, small private employers like us aren’t legally required to provide insurance.

It’s also surprisingly easy to justify something that’s done by so many. According to a 2003 survey by the International Nanny Association, 80 percent of nannies don’t receive health insurance from their employers.

But just because we can get away with it doesn’t mean we should. Any halfway compassionate parent who sees the shoddy and exploitative care available to the uninsured must conclude that they have a moral obligation to do what they can to help. The county hospital in Los Angeles looks more like a Civil War triage tent than a modern medical facility. Patients often wait six or seven hours for a cursory exam with an overworked, underpaid intern.

So it’s not that I don’t want to do the right thing. I do. But it turns out the system makes doing the right thing exceedingly difficult. Premiums are insane, tax laws are antiquated and, despite the hopeful talk from our presidential candidates, reform is unlikely any time soon.

My own insurance provider, Blue Shield, offered a quote of $975-a-month for a basic HMO policy that would cover my nanny and her teenage daughter. Prices are even higher in places like Massachusetts and New Jersey, where policies can run $1500 a month.

The picture gets even uglier when you consider the role government plays. Child care might be essential in two-income working families, but the tax code still looks on it as a luxury. So while businesses are allowed to pay premiums out of pre-tax income, families receive no such benefit. All of which means it costs well-meaning do-gooder families 10-15 percent more to insure their employees than it does business.

“It’s an outrage,” says Wendy Sachs, co-president of the International Nanny Association. “The system makes it harder for good people to act on their generosity. It drives people to pay their nanny under the table and it holds down nanny’s salaries.”

Still, many parents find ways to cover their nannies, paying medical bills out of pocket, listing them on the rosters of family-run businesses or turning to brokers who specialize in covering domestic help. Richard Eisenberg, president of Eisenberg Associates, which has been handling nanny health insurance since the mid-’70s, says his customers are motivated by far more than bleeding-heart liberalism.

“There are plenty of selfish reasons why you want your nanny insured,” he says. “You want a healthy nanny, someone who isn’t worried about themselves and can concentrate entirely on your kids.”

In short, it’s in everyone’s best interest to maintain the health of the person responsible for your kid for up to 70 percent of their waking life. So as difficult as it may be, I’m determined to find a way to get our nanny covered. According to Eisenberg, I can get adequate coverage for a third of the Blue Shield quote.

It’s still expensive, but in the end I know simply complaining about the sorry state of health care won’t make a bit of difference for my nanny or her family. It’s time to pay up.