How To Make Sure You Get Health Insurance as a Caregiver on Care.com

Anyone working as an independent contractor through Care.com will not qualify for traditional employee benefits like health insurance. However, many caregivers and jobseekers on Care.com are legally classified as employees, not independent contractors — but they still may not receive health insurance benefits with their job. 

If you’re looking for health insurance while working as a caregiver on Care.com, you’ll likely need to find, sign up, and pay for a health insurance plan on your own. Corporate employees of Care.com are an entirely different story, and we won’t be covering them here.

To help facilitate finding health insurance, Care.com has partnered with Stride Health, an official enrollment partner of Healthcare.gov. Stride doesn’t necessarily offer significant differences over individual state marketplaces or the federal marketplace (another option for finding health insurance plans, which we’ll discuss more below), but it can make the sign-up process a bit easier in some cases. 

However, if you qualify for Medicaid, you’ll need to go through your state’s insurance marketplace no matter what — Stride can’t help with enrollment for that (although it will tell you if you qualify and direct you to the proper place for sign-up). 

Can you see yourself as a caregiver on Care.com? Apply now to be a babysitter, senior caregiver, pet sitter, or housekeeper.

Below, we’ll cover health insurance options available to you as a caregiver on Care.com so you can feel confident in making the best decision based on your circumstances and preferences.

Does Care.com offer health insurance? 

Caregivers on Care.com are not offered health insurance directly by Care.com. When working as a caregiver for Care.com, you might be considered an independent contractor or an employee, but either way, you will most likely not receive health care coverage from the families and individuals who hire you. In this case, you're responsible for finding, enrolling, and paying for your own health insurance coverage. 

While Care.com does not offer caregivers health, vision, or dental insurance, it has partnered with Stride since 2018 to help caregivers find affordable health, vision, and dental insurance. 

"I used Stride for insurance back in 2020. They have expert advisers who can help you navigate what plan you need," explains MaryKate Conway, who has been using Care.com to find jobs for over three years. "I utilized Stride's support system and found their insurance guide very helpful. This is a great tool for those just venturing into finding independent insurance for the first time. There is so much jargon that can make this process scary and confusing, but Stride's resources helped take away that fear and get the job done."

How does Health Insurance through Stride work? 

Before enrolling for health insurance through Stride, it’s important to know what kind of services Stride offers. Stride is not a health insurance provider, and it doesn’t offer its own health insurance policies, so you won’t be signing up for “Stride Health Insurance.” 

Instead, Stride is an insurance broker that offers health insurance plans through a marketplace. This means you can use it to find insurance policies from large insurance companies, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Emblem Health, and United Healthcare, as well as from some smaller providers. 

Stride is an official enrollment partner of Healthcare.gov. This essentially means that you would be offered the same health insurance options if you were to look for insurance via your state’s (or the federal) healthcare marketplace. There are rules and regulations related to being an official enrollment partner of Healthcare.gov, so you can feel safe and secure signing up for a health insurance plan via Stride. 

When you sign up with Stride, you’ll be asked to provide some basic information, such as your income, ZIP code, and family size, which Stride will use to give plan recommendations and potentially uncover extra savings. Stride will also allow you to customize plan recommendations by answering questions about what doctors and prescriptions you’d like covered. If you’re looking for family-wide coverage, Stride can provide health, vision, and dental coverage options based on your family’s needs.

Stride aims to make it easier for you to choose the right plan compared to your state health marketplace’s website, which may only show available plans without considering your unique, personal circumstances. In addition, it offers a more user-friendly option and a more streamlined approach to searching for health insurance via your state’s marketplace. 

How much does health insurance through Stride cost? 

Health insurance plans offered by Stride have varying costs. Different coverage levels exist for different plans, so costs vary widely (especially if you choose to cover just yourself versus your entire family). Prices can also vary widely if you opt to receive vision and dental insurance.

Depending on your state of residence, Stride can help you figure out what types of government programs or tax credits you might be eligible for based on your income and family size. These tax credits can lower the premium you’d have to pay each month for health insurance.

"Keep in mind that if you move, you may need to change insurances as well," adds MaryKate. "For example, when I moved to New York for college, I was on my parents' insurance in Pennsylvania, and I had to pay out of pocket to get medical care in New York."

Stride will also inform you if you are eligible for subsidies, which are typically available for earners between 100-400% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL). The FPL of a given year depends on family size. In 2024, the FPL is $15,060 for an individual, and 400% of the FPL is $60,020.  

If your income is below 100% of the FPL, you may qualify for Medicaid. If so, your health insurance may be entirely free. Stride will direct you to the proper site for sign-up. 

Since Stride offers regular marketplace insurance plans, you can refer to the general US health insurance premium costs to get an idea of how much you’ll need to pay. According to Forbes, the average monthly premium for a 30-year-old individual ranges from $466 to $512 depending on the type of plan you choose (EPO, HMO, or PPO, in order from cheapest to most expensive). 

How to sign up for health insurance through Stride Health 

If you are a caregiver on Care.com interested in signing up for health insurance via Stride, you can start by entering your zip code and email address. You will then be asked to provide some basic personal information, including your: 

• Age
• Sex
• Tobacco usage history
• Medicare status 
• Information for spouse and/or dependents (if applicable)
• Anticipated total household income level 

Based on income and household size, Stride will tell you if you likely qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid coverage isn’t offered through Stride, so if it looks like you’re eligible for Medicaid, Stride will direct you to your state’s health marketplace website, where you can learn more about your Medicaid enrollment options. 

Make sure you’re aware of open enrollment periods

When signing up for health insurance plans via Stride or your state’s health insurance marketplace (more on that second option below), there’s a certain period for signing up for health insurance, known as Open Enrollment. This period spans November 1 to January 15 in most states but may vary (for example, in California this range expands to January 30). 

To start health insurance coverage on January 1st in any given year, you must apply by December 15 of the year prior. So, to receive coverage that starts January 1st, 2025, you must apply between November 1, 2024 and December 15, 2024.

If you miss open enrollment, you may still qualify for special enrollment

If you don’t apply for coverage during the open enrollment period, you typically have to wait until the next open enrollment period. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If you experience a special life event called a “qualifying event” at any time of the year, a special enrollment period will open up, during which you can sign up for a new health insurance plan. 

Qualifying events include: 

• Permanently move to a different state (sometimes moving to another county or city within the same state can also qualify you — this will depend on the state) 
• Getting married or divorced
• Losing health insurance you had through another source (for example, you were on your parent’s health insurance and lost coverage after turning 26)
• A death in the family (if you lose health insurance due to the person’s death)
• A change in employment status or income

People who reside in California have additional qualifying events that would allow those who work as caregivers on Care.com to qualify for a special enrollment period: 

• You expect to earn less than $45,000 (for a family of four) in 2024 (this cutoff depends on household size) 
• A national public health emergency or a pandemic has been called, or you have been affected by wildfires or another publicly declared state of emergency
• You paid a penalty for not having health insurance

Alternatives to Stride

If you are a caregiver on Care.com and are not interested in signing up for health insurance through Stride, you have some other options: 

Sign up through your state‘s health insurance marketplace

Every state either has a state health marketplace website where you can search and enroll in health insurance, or they use the federal marketplace. To find your state marketplace’s website, search “[State Name] health insurance marketplace”.

Depending on your income, you may qualify for special programs that provide low- or no-cost insurance. State marketplace websites usually request income information when searching for health insurance and notify you if you are eligible for these services, which might include subsidized health insurance plans and Medicaid.

Get on your spouse’s, partner’s, or parent’s/guardian’s health insurance

If your spouse or partner has health insurance through their employer, you may be eligible to join their plan. Employers have varying eligibility criteria, so you may qualify for your partner’s plan even if you are not legally married.

If you are under a certain age (typically under 26, but it can be higher in some cases), you may be eligible to enroll in health insurance through your parent or guardian’s health insurance plan, even if you have previously been unenrolled.

Purchase insurance directly (only for dental and vision insurance)

Insurance providers offer dental and vision insurance directly, providing another option for accessing these services. 

Can the family that hires me through Care.com contribute to my health insurance costs? 

In short, yes. 

However, the option to do so is entirely at the discretion of the family or individual hiring you for care. This arrangement is more common with long-term, full-time caregiving positions and is much less likely to apply in the case of one-time or short-term Care.com gigs. In such cases, the hiring family or individual often takes care of finding a suitable health plan for the caregiver. 

"If working under a contract, a health insurance stipend section should be included," notes Natalie Dodd, who has been finding work on Care.com for over three years.

Hiring families can also reimburse caregivers for their healthcare premiums. Families who provide reimbursement to caregivers can also benefit from certain tax advantages. It's advisable to discuss this option with the hiring family in advance, as these processes are not facilitated by Care.com.

Mary Kate encourages workers to discuss health insurance with their employers. She notes that “not all families think about health insurance for their babysitter or nanny when hiring, but that doesn't mean they will be opposed to providing it. Don't be afraid to ask about the family's options to provide you with health insurance assistance during the interview process or the contract negotiation. I previously worked for a family who didn't think of needing to provide their nanny with health insurance, but once I raised the question of a stiped for insurance, they quickly agreed, and I received a monthly stipend for $200."

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Can you see yourself as a caregiver on Care.com? Apply now to be a babysitter, senior caregiver, pet sitter, or housekeeper.