I'm helping a friend a lot and not getting paid. Can you help me?

I applaud your willingness to help your friend. However, you need to think long-term about your own needs, as well as those of your friend. You need to keep yourself in your own full-time job, which also offers you benefits such as health ins, sick days, 401K, social sec & Medicare taxes paid, and unemployment compensation paid. If you work for your friend, he has to pay your soc sec & Medicare taxes and unemployment, and, morally speaking, he should pay you what other caregivers in your area are paid. In my major metro area the rate is $29/hour with a 3 hour minimum. Dont' just do all the work for free! Don't de-value your Self!

Did you start out knowing you were going to get paid? If so it should be weekly. Sometimes families have so much going on they over look it. Is there a book at the home that you write your hrs in and a note about what the day looks like to the family when they are not there. Did this person serve in the military?

Many times folks come on here asking how to get paid. The simple fact is that Medicaid only pays agencies that contract with them. Even if you get the agency to hire you, they can only pay the hours that Medicaid will approve. My MIL did get hired, but the approval was only for two hours twice a week. That does not even begin to make ends meet. Your only other option is for the patient to pay you themselves.

Everyone needs an income. Sometimes, you are just put in an impossible situation. We often encourage people not to quit their jobs, because you end up giving up so much.

Your friend really needs to realize that you need an income.

babyjane, so much depends on which type of income he is receiving. Is he on SSI or SSDI? Is he receiving Medicaid or Medicare? If he is receiving Medicaid and not Medicare, he may qualify for a small amount of money to be paid for home care. It is the only way I know that you could receive any payment at all. HIV resources are handled through the county health departments, so check with them to see what is available. In the 1980-90s we had what we call the "buddy system" where people with HIV and other volunteers helped each other. It made things so much easier if someone had "buddies," who were a bit like family. Now that people can live indefinitely with HIV, though, I doubt that such a system still exists. Your health department should be able to help you find what is available to you, so be sure to check with them. The person to talk to will probably be a social worker who works with people with HIV.

If you don't want to help your "friend" unless you are getting paid then my suggestion would be to just walk away from him.

Sometimes people help their sick friends when there is no money involved.

If he is on Medicaid, talk to his caseworker. They will not pay you, but they will see to his care. He would have to pay you himself.