Comfort Keepers Home Care Santa Clarita President Myles McNamara is talking about the potential dangers of choosing to hire a private caregiver versus going through a licensed company like his.

Because home care can be a “pricey” industry without long-term care insurance, McNamara noted that it’s not uncommon for an adult child to hire their “mom’s best friend’s aunt” to take care of their senior loved one under the table.

“What is very scary to me is when folks try to save a few dollars on the front end and it really costs them a lot on the back end,” McNamara said.

Related: How Does Comfort Keepers Home Care Santa Clarita Choose Their Caregivers?

One issue is that when hiring a caregiver privately in the state of California, the IRS requires a W-2 form that withholds payroll taxes, and the person employing them must match those payroll taxes as well, according to McNamara.

“Basically in the eyes of California, if you hire somebody domestically, privately in your home as a caregiver, you’ve just become a small business,” he said.

Perhaps the “biggest” issue, however, is that the person is not covered by worker’s compensation insurance, according to McNamara.

“If the caregiver then comes to you and says, ‘I’ve hurt my back — you’re now responsible for all my medical bills for who knows how long,’ you know what? They’re right,” McNamara said. “It’s like driving without car insurance. First of all, it’s not legal, but second of all, everything is hunky dory … until you have an accident.”

Further, McNamara noted there is no statute of limitations on these types of claims, so the person can come back 10 years later seeking restitution for the incident/s they allege happened during the time period they worked as a private caregiver.

“I just would really caution folks,” McNamara said. “Please contact me at Comfort Keepers if you have more questions, because we have insurance, we have liability insurance, our caregivers are bonded and insured, we do criminal background checks, we supervise them on a daily basis, if she or he calls in sick we have a replacement.”

McNamara concluded, “You want somebody trained, you want somebody supervised — you’re caring for a human being. So just keep that in mind.”

Comfort Keepers Home Care first opened in Santa Clarita in 2001 with the vision of helping seniors age with dignity and independence in their own homes. If you are in search of a trusted and experienced in home caregiver, Santa Clarita seniors and their families need look no further than Comfort Keepers Home Care, Santa Clarita.  With a full range of senior care options that can be tailored to meet each individual’s elder care needs, Comfort Keepers Home Care offers quality home care services Santa Clarita seniors can trust to help them achieve the highest level of quality of life.

Comfort Keepers Home Care Santa Clarita

23900 Lyons Ave

Santa Clarita, CA 91321

(661) 430-6687

Comfort Keepers – Santa Clarita

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