Charging double to take care of two people?

You should absolutely be paid a fair wage for the work you are doing. Bluebird Homecare pays our caregivers an extra amount per hour for couples care. We charge the client slightly more per hour. Not double tho. Hope that helps you.
Joanne

I would charge a slightly higher rate.

It sounds like they have had either a health care agency or a provider paid with the long term care policy so know what set up is acceptable and what rate is acceptable. Agency's for instance I believe have differing rates for a single at home patient and a couple, not as much as 2 clients in different homes but recognizing there is more work when caring for 2 clients in one home. My thought is you should be paid the same rate they were paying the previous caregiver/agency, it is probably fair, legal and is covered by the policy. All the taxes & legalities apply the same way and I'm pretty sure that's what the insurance policy will require anyway.

Are you trained in anyway? How old are you? Are you going to be asked to bath and potty. Is so, you need training on how to handle people. Do they have Dementia. There could be challenges.

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.

It depends on your state's labor laws. Talk with a labor law attorney and find out for sure what your rights are. They'll tell you.

If LTC insurance is paying a total of 27 hrs of week, and you are working 27 hrs then you should be paid for 27 hrs of work at a minimum imo.

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.

It has been my experience that home help care charges 2 or 3 rates ,light house keeping , companion with some light house keeping , companion with some assitance with meals personal care ,its always the 1 that does the least gets paid the most .
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

Are you a CNA or LPN or a certified caregiver? The insurance probably requires some sort of training and certification. Payment would be based on requirements of the insurance company.

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.

There are two ways to look at this. One is that you are paid by the hour, and the hours are the same. The other is that you are having to work a lot harder for two people, and that the job would normally have more ‘down time’ and be less tiring. However it is unlikely to be twice as hard, so double the rate isn’t reasonable - that would be like a shop assistant charging double for working on a busy day when they deal with more people. You say that your employers are not ‘double dipping’, so they are doing nothing wrong. As stated already, this may be all the hours that their insurance gives them. It would probably be best to talk to them about how tiring you are finding the work for both people, and ask if there is any chance of increasing the pay. Perhaps they could claim for both people for an hour or two to cover the most tiring tasks.

Also, the LTC policy we used required qualified help--LPNs, for example. Not just household help. The daily rate they paid for home care was less than they paid in a skilled nursing facility.

I think your answer depends on
(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.

Maybe not double but you should receive more than for one person. If they are billing for two people you are entitled to what the insurance company reimburses them.