As our population ages, and supportive communities continue to disappear, a new industry seeks to fill the void.
Home health care does more than offer needed services. It makes money beyond the dreams of avarice for some who administer it. For example, one online service claims to oversee more than 2200 caregivers in Delaware County, PA. The average hourly wage for these individuals, almost all women, is $14.50. Yet an invoice for about 30 hours effort by one of these folks totaled nearly $600.00. Of that, 20% was simply a processing fee, charged by the business entity in question. We're talking close to $100.00. That's some fee.
Most folks who do this kind of work - the real, certainly stressful,, sometimes gritty work of caring for those with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities - are independent contractors. That means that whomever employs them is liable for payroll and taxes, as much as if the employer was U S Steel or Google. Many families rely on online services to do such bookkeeping. Therein lies the problem, and the source for fees like the one noted above. What makes these umbrella outfits seem even more greedy is this - there's not even paper involved. Nothing is printed or mailed. Taxes for home health aides most frequently are filed electronically, with format, forms, and user interface supplied by the governmental agency in question.
Nice work if you can get it, at least as far as the administering entity is concerned ...
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