Derek >> Thank you, Jayme. Good afternoon and welcome to today's Ticket to Work webinar: How Will Work Affect my Social Security Disability Benefits?

As Jayme said, my name is Derek Shields, and I will serve as the moderator for today. I am part of The Ticket to Work Program Manager team. Thank you for joining us to learn about Social Security disability benefits, the Ticket to Work Program and how work will affect Social Security disability benefits. Today's topics can help you as you start or expand your path to financial Independence through work. Let's get started by reviewing some of the functions of the webinar platform so you can interact and get the most out of today's presentation.
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Next, as Jayme mentioned, due to circumstances beyond our control captioning is not available today. We apologize for this inconvenience, and as Jayme also mentioned in the Notes Pod we offer a couple alternatives. You could access a recording that's available in our WISE On Demand at choosework.ssa.gov and that URL for the WISE On Demand could be accessed through the Web Links Pod as well. The second option to access as an alternative to captioning is available. If you're fluent in American Sign Language, and would like to access support for today's webinar you could use the ASL User Guide that's in the web links pod, and this provides instructions to connect with an interpreter through the Federal Communications Commission Video Relay Service. Again, the ASL User Guide can be found in the Web Links Pod, and we encourage you to access that, and that is item number five. If you select number five in the Web Links Pod, you can get more instructions and to connect in through the FCC's Video Relay Service today.

Now, we are here today to answer your questions that you're going to have about the Ticket Program and how working can affect your benefits. Please send your questions to us anytime throughout the webinar by typing them into the Q and A Pod. We'll then direct the questions to our speaker who's with us today during the Q and A portions, of which we have three set aside today. We'll be addressing the questions at those three different points, so please keep them coming in. Please do submit questions that are more general. If you have a very personal situation, we need to direct you to our Helpline for further service. We'll give you that number a few times today. 

Now, if you are listening by phone and not logged into the webinar, you may ask questions by sending an email to Ticket to Work and that email address is webinars@choosework.ssa.gov.

Another available resource that we think is very useful is the Web Links Pod. I've mentioned this several times. You will find that part in the bottom right of the screen, and this pod has the links to resources covered in today's webinar. To access the resources, select your topic of interest and then click or select that and open it to learn more. You can download those files directly from the Web Links Pod. If you happen to be listening by phone and are not logged into the Adobe Connect platform, you may email us at webinars@choosework.ssa.gov for a list of available resources. You may also reference your confirmation email for the webinar to access a list of those available resources. Also, please note that Social Security cannot guarantee and is not responsible for the accessibility of external websites.

Today's webinar is being recorded, and a captioned copy of it will be available within two weeks of today on the choose work website at http://bit.ly/wise_ondemand. You can go there now and access the September 22 captioned version, or this updated webinar. Again, it will be available within two weeks’ time on the Choose Work website. This link as well as others are in the Web Links Pod, excuse me, and will be entitled WISE Webinar Archives. So go ahead and look in the WISE. I see item number six, is WISE On Demand, so you can go in there to access those archived files. 

All right, next onto technical assistance. We hope that everyone has a great experience today. However, if you have technical difficulties, please use the Q and A pod to send us a message. Our team's going to be ready to assist. If you need to, you can also email webinars@ choosework.ssa.gov.

As I mentioned, my name is Derek Shields, and I'm a member of The Ticket to Work team. We are also delighted to have Ray Cebula with us today. Ray will be our presenter. Ray received his law degree from the University of New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce School of Law. He has spent 23 years providing legal services to individuals with disabilities and their interactions with Social Security. He then became part of Cornell University's Work Incentives Support Center and in 2005 joined the staff of Cornell's Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability. He now serves as the Program Director of YTI Online, Cornell's Work Incentive Practitioner Credentialing Program. It is now my pleasure to welcome Ray to review our agenda and objectives. And with that over to you, Ray!

Ray >> Thank you so much Derek, good to be with you again. Um, today, what we're going to talk about is the Ticket to Work and what happens to your benefits when they beat, when you begin to work. We'll go through the Ticket details. Um, will I lose my benefits if I start working? Well, I'm going to tell you that the answer to that is no. Will I lose my Medicare or Medicaid if I start working? I'm going to tell you no, again. And we'll talk about why. And who can help me on my path to employment? You've got a whole Ticket to Work team that is ready to help when you decide that you want to try work. And we'll talk about all those folks as well. 

Have to start off as we normally do with the two Social Security Disability programs. Uh the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, which is just what it says. It's Insurance, um, you pay into FICA while you're working and these, the, that tax that you're paying in FICA pretty much is buying insurance plan and once you work long enough and have enough wages paid into the Social Security System you become insured for disability benefits.

The other program is Supplemental Security Income, otherwise known as SSI. And this is, notice this is not an insurance program. This is a needs-based Federal benefit that's administered by SSA. You don't need to have the work history that you need for the disability insurance program, uh, or you may be a little bit short of that insurance status for SSDI. SSI would be there if your SSDI benefit is low. SSI might be there to help supplement. Why am I telling you that? Because when you start looking to go to work, the Work Incentives for each program are very different, and it would make sense to me that you would contact Social Security or use some of the tools we're going to talk about, uh, to find out what type of benefit you're on so that we can both hit the ground running at the same time. 

So, starting this journey to work. You know this is your decision. We're not here to tell you, you have to do anything. We are here to tell you what would happen if you decided to go to work. So, this is completely your decision, and the decision to work might not be the right one for everybody. But remember only you can decide.

Why choose work? There are lots of reasons why to choose work, and we recognize that earning a living through employment is not something everyone can do, but it may be right for you. Yeah, it's even if you're not able to work and exclude your benefits, working could still be right for you. So, think about it, that's all we're asking, and get the information and understand the free services and supports that are available to you. And you just may be with the majority of folks when they find out what the rewards of work are, they far outweigh any risk you may think you're taking. And we will make sure you understand both sides. Where the working is right, whether work's going to be a detriment. We're here to give you information so you can make an informed choice.

So, let's move into the Ticket to Work. What is this Ticket to Work? Um this is a program that's part of the Ticket to Work Act that was signed by President Clinton in December of 1999. Notice it's a free and voluntary Social Security program. You do not have to participate. Once again, all we want you to do is discover what this program could bring to you and how it may better your life and then you again make that decision. So, once again, The Ticket to Work Program is free and voluntary. The program offers career development for people aged 18 through 64 who receive a disability benefit either disability insurance or SSI and want to work. 

Those are the qualifications, 18 through 64, receive SSI or SSDI, and want to work. The Ticket Program is going to connect you with free Employment Services to help you with deciding if working right, is right, for you. You know, I mean I would want to know if I were taking a chance in returning to work how my SSI benefits, my SSDI, my health care benefits, my SNAP benefits, my housing benefits, how would they all be affected by earned income and does it work out that I will have earned income, some wages to replace some of those benefits that might be reduced? 

How to prepare for work. You know there's lots that goes into work preparation. Do I need education? Do I need training? Do I have skills that are just a little bit rusty and need to be tuned up so that I can catch up with today's work life? 

How about finding a job? You know, we can point you in that direction. You know, we most know at least one person on your employment team is going to know what jobs exist in your area, who are the companies that are hiring, you know, and get you set up with a resume and some interview practice to get that job. 

And then succeeding at work. This is a very important thing. We're not going to find you a job and say bye bye have fun. We're going to say okay, now what do you need? What do you need now? Is there any on-the-job supports that you might feel comfortable with that will help you maintain this job? We want you to become a worker with a disability. It's as simple as that. And we're going to hang out until you're ready to say that's enough, right, I got this now and then we'll call you a success story. 

The Ticket to Work Helpline, um, Derek mentioned that. If you have a personal issue that you're looking for answers for the Ticket to Work Helpline is available to you. If you want to know which one of these team players to contact first or you just want some information about returning to work without any obligation whatsoever give the Helpline a call. They are open Monday through Friday 8 A.M to 8 P.M eastern time and that phone number is 1-866-968-7842 and the TTY number is 1-866-833-2967.

All right so here's that first question. Will I lose my disability benefits if I start working? I gave you a preview. Uh, you know, Social Security has many, many safety nets in place that keep you from losing your benefits and their work incentives, they're in plans that encourage you to work without the risk of losing everything all at once. So, no, you're not going to lose your benefits if you start working today. Those Work Incentives will help you enter the workforce, re-enter, or continue your employment if you're returning to the same job after incurring a disability by protecting your eligibility for benefits and health coverage until you are able to survive without Social Security benefits, without Medicare or Medicaid. Whether you're looking for a job for the first time or returning to work after an injury, Work Incentives can help you make this transition towards financial independence and make it at your own pace whatever is comfortable for you. You remember you're leading your employment team. 

So, the first thing we have to talk about by way of Work Incentives is the Trial Work Period or TWP. This is available to SSDI recipients. Remember I told you that the Work Incentives for SSI and SSDI are very different. So, we're talking about SSDI recipients right now. If the Ticket uh the Ticket to Work, the Trial Work Period, will allow you to test your ability to work for at least nine months. And when I say test your inability to work, I need to decide what type of work you want to do. Decide how many hours a week you might be able to work and test that for your capacity and do it without any risk. 

You can earn as much as you want during one of these trial work months and it will not affect your SSDI cash benefit or your Medicare, you know. So, if I were lucky enough to find a job that would pay me five thousand dollars a month I could take that job, make sure it's a good fit for me, and still receive my Medicare and SSDI check. 
You need to report your work activity. This is a very critical part of this, when you are working and earning money you need to make a report to Social Security every month. Yeah, and that should be done by using my Social Security account, which Derek's going to talk about later. It could be by using a phone app, it could be by calling the local office. You do need to do that; you need to do it by the 10th of the month following the month in which you earn the income. So, we're coming up on the end of March pretty soon. I have to report my March income to Social Security by April 10th. You know, I like telling people April 6th, but I just want to give somebody an extra shot at doing it if they miss that sixth day, so do it soon as soon as you know what your monthly wage was.

This Ticket, I'm sorry again, the Trial Work Period, is going to allow you to accumulate these nine service months. Nine months where you're providing services to an employer and earning money within a five-year or 60-month rolling period. And all that means is if I had worked six years ago for three months and earned more than the Trial Work Level, those years are not within the current five-year period, and they've lost their shelf life. And just like, you know, a can of soup does, at some point it expires, and it just falls off the map. So, they need to be within a five-year period. 

Social Security in 2023 uses the figure of $1,050. If you earn $1,050 in gross wages in the month of March 2023, you have used one trial work month. Now there's a little caveat to that and it's in this second bullet. If you're self-employed and working more than 80 hours at this job, despite how much your business or your sole proprietorship may be earning, that will be considered a service month and I'm, one month will be used. So again, in March, if I'm not making a whole lot of money because my business just opened but I've worked in the business for 120 hours in March, I have used one Trial Work Period month.

How can you get more information on this? You can go into the Web Links Pod and look at the Trial Work Period Fact Sheet. Um, yeah, and it's going to give you all of this information that I've been talking about in a little bit more detail so that you really understand that. But this period, the Trial Work Period is very, very important to people who are trying to get back into the work game. 

Yeah, and what, what are we going to do now your Trial Work Period's over? We enter yet another protective period called the Extended Period of Eligibility or the EPE. And we'll talk about that as soon as we have a break for questions.

Derek >> This is Derek speaking, thank you Ray for getting us going with this first section. Um, we do have our first Q and A session and I'm going to ask Ray a couple questions. Before I do, I'm going to just repeat the Helpline information as a couple folks asked for that, um, so if you're interested in that I'm going to repeat it now. You can call the Ticket to Work Helpline for all of your personal questions, the things that are really not general, where we can answer them today but bring in your personal factors. That Helpline is available for you at 1-866 968-7842 or via TTY at 1-866-833-2967. We will repeat that a couple more times as well. 
Ray, question one.  A couple, you know, normal questions that we get almost every webinar. What's the cost for participating in the Ticket Program?

Ray >> You know, there's no cost whatsoever, uh, it doesn't cost you a cent. Uh, and what we will be providing you with our services as I said to get your resume put together, good to get you some training, to get you a certificate, uh, or a license that you might need and to give you some benefits planning, it's all available at no cost because you are age 60 -- age 18 through 64, uh, have a disability benefit paid by Social Security and want to work, that's it.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thank you, Ray, appreciate that. Next question, and I know we're getting into this, but there's some concerns, some, maybe you'll describe it, but I've heard that I'll lose my benefits right away if I go back to work. I'm afraid that I can't work full-time. Can the Ticket Program help me?

Ray >> Absolutely uh and you know will I lose my benefits if I return to work? And people do believe that and that's the street talking, that's not Social Security or anybody on your Ticket to Work team; it's just not true. Um you'll be in cash payment for potentially a long while and when we get into the health care benefits even a longer while so you will not have the rug pulled out from under you; this is going to be a gradual change from benefits to work in financial Independence.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks, Ray. 
So, let's stay with that theme. You went through “What is Ticket to Work” and then you got into the section, with, you know, “Will I lose my disability benefits if I start working?” and then it got a little bit more complicated, Trial Work Period and, you know, Extended Period of Eligibility. So, there's some questions around the Trial Work Period. You mentioned it can last at least nine months. Can you explain that a little bit more? Is that consecutive? How does that work? Do I lose it if those nine months pass or is there more flexibility there?

Ray >> Yeah, now you know the Trial Work Period won't even start until you go to work, and again I'm using 2023 numbers here, and earn more than $1,050 in a month. So, if you're working at $750 to get your toes wet in the work world, fine, you have not used a Trial Work Period month yet. When you do earn that $1,050, you've used one month. They do not have to be consecutive. Uh, you know, you could use one in March, you might not use another one in July. But they have to fall within a five-year period. Yeah, I'm, I'm going to tell you what I think. 
Now, if you're using a Trial Work Period you really need to make it count, so I would rather that you earn and use trial work months nine months in a row, that's giving you the ability to really test your ability to work. If you're not sure of your capacity, nine months you have to figure that out how much can you work each week, how much can you work each month? And that's what I want you to test. So, if you spread them out over five years and you have one month here and two months next year and three months the year after that, are you really taking advantage of that test? And I don't think you really are. So, um, use these months very wisely and your Ticket team is going to be able to help you do that.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks, Ray. That, so that rolling six-month period, that's, that five years you're talking about to use the, those nine months, when we think about the Ticket and, you know, deciding to assign your Ticket, there's a question here “do I still get my Trial Work Period if I haven't assigned my Ticket yet?” So, can you talk to us a little bit about the connection between Ticket assignment and Trial Work Period?

Ray >> I sure can. You know, and I mean I hear that a lot, if I assign my Ticket, I get a TWP and that's not the case at all. Trial work is going to be there. Trial work was there before the Ticket to Work happened. What the Ticket to Work does is look at all the work incentives that we're going to talk about and put an umbrella over that, gives you extra services. If you're not, you know, the whole notion of nine months in a 60-month rolling period, but with the Ticket to Work you pull in Employment Networks and that could be something, it could be somebody on your team that will be able to help you understand this better and map it out for you. You know, we have great tracking sheets where we can put down which trial, where your trial work months fit, how many you've used already, and then start. You've got four months left. Let's see what it's going to look like if you start working and make twelve hundred dollars every month. This can all be personalized to you to make this transition easier. That's what the Ticket's providing. You know, if you want to get your skills, I'm going to use computer skills because they seem to change every day. If you were working in the computer industry five years ago and you want to get back into that, you may need to go back to school and take a few courses because things with computers change so fast. That's what the Ticket to Work is going to get you. Yeah, along with the resume prep along with the interview prep, yeah, along with pointing to those places where you could possibly get a job.

Derek >> Ray, thanks a lot for that, that's helpful. Assign your Ticket, get those services that you need, and then when you're ready you can begin work and use the TWP over that rolling period of time. Very helpful description and explanation. Well, that's, that's the time we have for this first question set. It's important now that we move on because I know you're going to get into some of the details of Medicare and Medicaid, and these are some of the most important questions people have. So back to you Ray for the next segment.

Ray >> All right, thank you Derek. 
And let's talk about the second question, “Will I lose my Medicare or Medicaid if I start working?” The answer is no. Yeah, you might, but it's going to be a long time coming. Uh, and I think this, some of this information might surprise you. Um, will I lose my Medicare or Medicaid when I start working? As long as you're receiving a cash benefit from either the SSDI program or the SSI program you keep your health plan. Bingo, that's the answer. It could take a long time, yeah, before you are going to look at the possibility of losing the Medicare Program or the Medicaid Program. And we've got all kinds of Work Incentives to help you hang on to those benefits because we realize that many people come to us and say I don't care about the cash. You know, I'm going to be earning twice as much. I care about the healthcare. 

Yeah, and these healthcare programs are very, very important and then we move in and talk about the buy-in programs; the Medicare buy-in programs we have 40 four states and the District of Columbia, I think 45 states all together, I think. I'll just leave it at that. We have these programs and these are fantastic programs, they really are. If you're getting to the point where you might have an employer plan but still need your Medicaid because some of those Medicaid services are necessary to support your work, all you got to do is register for your state buy-in plan and those benefits will continue. Buy-in means there is going to be a premium. The premiums are very minimal, they're generally based on income, and they are incredibly important and worth your investment. We'll talk more about that soon.

So here are the Medicaid and Medicare programs. We're going to start with Medicaid. Now SSI beneficiaries receive Medicaid as their health care. Some SSDI folks might have Medicaid as well if their cash benefits are low enough to qualify for that program. 

So, Medicaid while working. 1619 B, we call it 1619 B all the time. It's just the section of the law and it was shorter than the regular title. So these are 1619b benefits. If I'm on SSI as my earnings increase, my SSI benefits decrease. Great system because it's a gradual transition from earnings, from benefits to earnings. But what happens when I earn enough that I am eligible for zero dollars in SSI? You might think you terminated but you're really not. You become a 1619b SSI beneficiary. You're still eligible for SSI but you don't have a cash benefit and what does that bring? Medicaid. You still get Medicaid. Every state has a different earnings threshold. Thirty-five thousand dollars, forty-five thousand dollars, depending on the state you're in and you can earn up to forty-five thousand dollars and still keep your Medicaid. That's a pretty good thing because when you're talking about income at that level, there's generally an employer provided health plan. But remember, Medicaid patient, some services, private health plans, don't pay for. So you're going to get the benefit of that as well and along with the deductibles and the co-pays that your private plan may have, Medicaid picks those up. It's a great deal at no cost because you're an SSI recipient.
What happens if I go over $45,000? And we talk about that buy-in program for those states that do have them, I'm going to lose my Medicaid because the rules tell me if I exceed $45,000 in earnings I can provide my own health care. Well, maybe I can't. Yeah I can't provide my own health care, the premiums may be too high. Or, as I said, I need those Medicaid services. So I apply in my state at the State Medicaid office for that buy-in and they will tell me what my premium will be every month. And, again, they're very, very reasonable and they'll switch my category to 16, oh and I'm sorry, to the Medicaid buy-in. So I have gone from an SSI recipient receiving Medicaid to 161(b) and my earnings continue to increase and if I need to, the Medicaid Buy-in is available. You know, that's a really good thing, that's a really, really good thing. 

So that's how it works in, for, SSI. Folks, remember these work incentives are different and the programs are different. So we're going to switch to the SSDI folks who receive Medicare. Now here is an extended period of Medicare coverage, so when like we talked about that Trial Work Period, I didn't say anything about Medicare. So I'm earning as much as I possibly can and it's not affecting my cash or my health care and when we get into the next period, that extended period of eligibility, that's going to, Medicare is still going to be effective. Then the general rule is your Medicare coverage will be available to you for at least 93 months after you finish your Trial Work Period. That's close to seven and a half years; that's a long time. And we also have after that Medicare for people with disabilities who work, and what is that? That's pretty much a Medicare Buy-in. You can pay premiums for this Medicare coverage and the decisions for both types of buy-in programs are: Do I need services for Medicare or from Medicaid that are allowing me to continue to work or not? If I don't, maybe that private plan that I have through my employer will meet my needs. And you make that decision. Are we going to pay that extra premium for a service I really do need? Yeah, I think I'm gonna do that. You know, or no I don't need that service anymore. I've been working long enough so it's a long, long time. Guys, it's a very long time. 

And here we have some slides with the details. You know how do you get into 1619b? You had to have been eligible for an SSI cash payment in at least one month. You continue to meet Social Security's definition of disability, and you still meet all the other non-disability SSI requirements. Now, we said this was a needs-based program. In the resource level, right now is two thousand dollars for a single individual and three thousand dollars for a married couple. So you may be working but you can't save a whole lot of money unless you do it with a protected savings plan. That's what your benefits planners can tell you about. But you're not going to keep that money in your checkbook, you have to need Medicaid benefits in order to work. Now everybody knows you need some kind of health insurance to work and if you don't have any other plan available to you, you're gonna need that. You know, it's not a tough test to pass and remember this is all based on earnings. So you're going to look at your state limit for earnings eligibility for 1619B and there's the link continued Medicaid Eligibility section 1619B.
The buy-in programs I told you, these were fantastic programs. They're varying in each state that has them. Um, the majority of states do. I told you there's only five that don't. Yeah, but remember this is meant this is administered by your state not by Social Security. But Social Security does process your income and realize that, hey, you know, you're earning 1619B levels of income, no cash payment as you go up and hit that state threshold, they're going to tell you your Medicaid is going to terminate. 

Now that notice could be coming from the State Medicaid office because they're in communication with Social Security all the time. When that notice comes as you're no longer 1619B eligible. Do you go back to the state administering agency and say now I want to participate in the buy-in and they will process that application if you want to find that out. Yeah you could talk to your local Medicaid agency, see what is available in your state or talk to a benefits planner in your state. Lots of ways to find this information. 

And here's the Medicare Plan. I mean this is pretty great. You finish your Trial Work Period, those nine months. You are then, you will then see Medicare being available to you for at least 93 consecutive months. That's just a long time. You know if I think about what could happen between today and seven and a half years from now, yeah that's a long, long time. 
Hospital Insurance part A of Medicare, supplemental medical insurance Part B if you're enrolled, and then the prescription drug plan Part D if you're enrolled will all be available. Now what you need to remember here is that if you're no longer receiving an SSDI benefit you'll be billed for these premiums by the centers to Medicare and Medicaid services on a quarterly basis. So there's a little budgeting trick that you need to be ready for but so long as you're earning enough to pay these premiums you know you're good to go.

How do you qualify for this? You have to have had Medicare you have to be working with Social Security considers Substantial Gainful Activity. I will talk a little bit more about that later yeah that's the test that Social Security use to determine if you are working is Substantial Gainful Activity and it's a countable income kind of, kind of. It's not based on gross wages yeah we're going to look at the amount of earnings considered depending upon the nature of your disability if you're disabled I think I think it's 14.75 this year if you are blind it's 21.65 every month, um, so remember those two different things and blindness is blind according to Social Security. You can learn more about Substantial Gainful Activity at Substantial Gainful Activity SGA Link in your web links pod. And notice this last one very importantly you cannot have medically improved. Social Security reviews your disability status every few years, it might be more than seven or eight years depending on your disability, and if you have medically improved and that improvement relates to your ability to work Social Security can say you are no longer disabled. And that would make this Medicare extended period Medicare coverage period expire.

So benefits for people who are working, as I said, once you pass that seven and a half year period you can buy coverage. You can't be 65 yet because what happens when you turn 65 you're eligible for Medicare based on age so this is all pre-age 65. You have to continue to have that disabling impairment according to Social Security and your Medicare stopped because of your work earnings. That's how you fit into that category. 

For more information on the enrollment periods for Medicare or to make an appointment to enroll please call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or for TTY users 1-800-325-0778. Gonna let you know where your local office is, um, and you know you can apply for that online too. I was able to enroll in part A online and it took me about 10 minutes, and I had my Medicare card for part A in a week, um, so for help paying premiums if you're still even with that SSDI and potentially with earnings on top of that still feeling a pinch of those Medicare premiums give a call to Medicare at 1-800 Medicare or for TTY users 1-877-486-2048. You'll need your Medicare claim number, which is right on your card and be prepared to tell the representative the state that you're in and they will help get that going for you. Alright Derek time to take a break for questions.

Derek >> This is Derek speaking, thank you, Ray. You know you've covered a lot of details get a sip of water I got a few questions that came in. We're going to go back to the beginning points that you were making in this section around losing Medicare/Medicaid if someone starts working. And you know these are questions of it might appear obvious to some but there's a lot of concern out there. But one question has come in “I'm nervous that I'll lose my health care if I get and take the job is there someone I can talk to who can help me understand all this information because it's very complicated?” That's a great question, it is very complicated; there's no way I could tell you otherwise. But there are people who can help you. Employment networks out there can talk to you if you assign a ticket to the Employment Network, they'll, they could have somebody on staff who does benefits planning as well but they will be able to talk to you about this it is a very important consideration, and you need to know what's going to happen. Also the benefits planners who are located in every state you know will be able to talk to you, and nowadays can sit down in person with you if you're close enough to the office and talk to you and make a plan: this is what will happen if you earn fifteen hundred dollars a month, this is what will happen if you earn two thousand dollars, uh, and you will know and this is key to everything you will know what's going to happen before it happens. During that period of time in between when you know and when that happens you have time to get ready for that adjustment. Yeah, the game here is for you to start collecting information yeah and you can do that it's all free too. Contact the benefits planner and see what they can tell you about your benefits. Have as much information about this as possible because remember you make the decision, and we want to give you enough information so that you can make that decision for yourself.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks Ray, and I know in the next section you're going to go into more details about this employment team and these ends and planners that you're just describing so if you're interested stay tuned Ray's going to go into more detail there shortly. Ray another question we've received it's basically you're saying that if I work and keep my SSDI I'll also be able to keep my Medicare. Is that what I heard? 

Ray >> That's what you heard and that's the truth, and this goes for either benefit, if you have a cash payment from SSDI you will continue to receive Medicare. If you have a cash payment from SSI you will continue to receive Medicaid. Remember when I talked about 1619b and the buy-ins and that Medicare buy-in and the Medicaid buy-in. You're talking about when you're leaving the cash eligibility threshold that some of those more complex rules apply. You get a check direct deposited into your account every month from one of those benefits you will have health care.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks Ray for that, it's important to hear that message and I think stay on that and if it is confusing then we're going to talk to you about who you can work with because we can't keep Ray with us all the time so we want you to have some other partners with this. Another question came in right “If my earnings are higher than the threshold amount that you talked about are there any other ways that I can qualify?

Ray >> Absolutely we talked about that 1619 B threshold for SSI recipients; if you do exceed the income level in your state hopefully you're not in one of those five states that don't have a Medicare/Medicaid buy-in plan if your state has a Medicaid buy-in plan you will be able to pay a very reasonable premium to keep those benefits. Yeah and again as your income increases to some of those threshold levels, it's just expected that you're going to have an employer-provided plan um yeah and if that plan does not meet all of your needs and you need some of those Medicaid services the buy-in is there to help you keep those plans that will allow you to keep working. Yeah in the Medicare situation, um, after those uh seven and a half years go by uh if you still are working and earning above the Substantial Gainful Activity level um you will be able to purchase Medicare by paying your premium as well. Again it's important to keep in touch with your benefits planner because I know seven and a half years is a long time in the future. And you might be able to reach back out to that person and say “hey it's seven years now I've only got a couple more months what's going to happen now can we talk about that again?” and that's certainly something you can do.

Derek>> Excellent, thank you. This is Derek speaking. So I just want to be clear there, you talked about you know being able to access, you know, if you start working you have some employers Insurance you could also use the buy-in to get some other coverage. What happens though if I took the employer's insurance and then I stopped working basically, you know, if I've stopped Medicare Part B and or D can I get it back. There's this hesitation if I if I start working, I'm going to lose it all and I can't get it back. What's the story there?

Ray>> Yeah you know they're the key part of that, Derek, is when you said I had to stop working and yeah that's potential for all of us. We could have to stop working because we have a exacerbation, we could stop working you know because we had an accident today, and the good thing is there's another plan for you even after even after you've been terminated. You know we've not talked about termination yet but if you're succeeding to the extent that you have you're terminated from benefits there's a plan called EXR: Expedited Reinstatement and that doesn't even start until you're terminated. 

You know there isn't another benefit out there that starts when you're terminated from the program and EXR will allow you to get back on to benefit SSI or SSDI really quickly and easily without filing a new application within five years of the date of your termination. So it could be four and a half years after Social Security terminated you and you have an exacerbation and have to stop working or your income drops below SGA, so you might be working a little you can go back to Social Security and say I had to stop working or my income is below SGA and file for expedited reinstatement. You'll get six months of provisional benefits real quick and that is a six-month period that allows Social Security see if you're eligible for Expedited Reinstatement and you lead medical standards in the financial standards. The vast majority of people who apply for Expedited Reinstatement are reinstated to the program. No need to file a new application, we start from where you are at the time of your work, stop at your Slowdown. It's a great program. You'll look at any other public benefits program, you know, look at snap for instance, food stamps. If you're terminated from Food Stamps, you're terminated, if you want them back again because your income drops you go back in and you file a new application and start over. Yeah, that was a work disincentive for recipients of Social Security benefits and we fixed that, and now five years after you've been terminated for benefits Social Security still has an eye on you, and you can still walk in and get back onto benefits quickly.

Derek>> This is Derek speaking. Thank you, Ray, for going through Expedited Reinstatement and really talking about so many of the flexibilities that are built in with the Work Incentives in the Ticket program that allows people to more confidently explore work with that we need to stay on time and on schedule, so I appreciate this ends our second q a portion. We're going to now turn it back to you, Ray, to dig into who can help folks achieve their work goals so back to you.

Ray>> Right. Alright. Thank you again, Derek, and let's talk about that who can help me achieve my work goals. We've been talking about this employment team through the entire session and now we're going to get into who are these people, yeah, who can help me understand how work will affect my benefits. You know we talked about some of these Work Incentives, and I've already mentioned that both SSI and SSDI have rules that will allow you to work without worrying about losing your benefits, but remember each program has a separate set of rules connecting with the benefits planner can help get you more information about your situation because the questions Derek has asked me during the Q & A breaks have been about a certain circumstance, and you know there are lots of people in here today whose circumstances may be different, so the benefits planners are there to tweak how your facts impact these Work Incentive plans and make sure that it is your benefits being plan that’s being put together. 

What is benefits counseling? It's another free service that came out of the Ticket to Work program and there are planners all across this country, you know, who are talking to people who receive benefits and other benefits. Yes we mentioned SNAP, we've mentioned housing, all of these benefits that might be in your benefits portfolio, and figuring out how earnings will impact those benefits. And it also lets you know, you may be saying I think I can work 15 hours a week I think that's good, and your benefits planner may come back to you and say okay but your reduction in benefits might not be enough. It may not be offset by your earnings so what we need to do is really look at 20 hours a week, that 20 hours a week you'll be able to replace whatever you have lost because of your earnings, uh, and still give you some money to go to the movies and get a pizza on Friday. Yeah because that's what we want for you to do what everybody else does, and that is what you'll learn from a benefits planner along with when are my staff benefits going to be affected, when will I lose my cash supplement, how much do I need to earn to do that? Yeah, and importantly, what will happen to my health care?

Benefits counselors are going to help you understand what all of your benefits are going to see when you apply wages to it, federal and state. You know that's the good thing about benefits planning they're all over the country but they may focus on Ohio, they may Focus on Florida and they're going to be able to tell you how SNAP works in Florida and how your income is affecting as opposed to generally across the Federal playing field. They're going to talk about health care, most importantly, that's one of the biggest questions people have: What's going to happen to my health care? Medicare/Medicaid? How about those little supplements you have? You know the help with paying for a Medicare premium, how much do you earn before that's affected because if that's affected your out-of-pocket cost for those premiums is going to go up and have you enough wages to make up the difference along with keeping the pizza and the movie. How is your SSDI going to be affected, how is your SSI going to be affected, housing, you know, what will happen if I'm in public housing and I go to work and start making fifteen hundred dollars a month? Will my rent go up immediately, how much will that be? Yeah so the benefits planner can talk to you about the earned income disregard that won't count some of your income for a year and then won't count a little bit less for the next year. There are all kinds of Work Incentive plans and all of these benefits and SNAP. You know with the food stamp program you know you are going to see an impact on that benefit because of your wages. Well when will that happen, how much will it be? So you need to know these things before they happen to you and the benefits counselor can make sure you do know that. 

So three types of service providers can offer benefits counseling, they have a Work Incentive planning and assistance projects are directly funded by Social Security, you know they're very well trained and they know their business. Um, you can look at that little icon in the bottom that says WIPA. You know if you go into the Find Help website on Social Security Site you click on that you're going to find out exactly what WIPA programs serve your area. Yeah, you don't have to hit it without any information because you don't want somebody who's in California if you're living in New Hampshire. You put your ZIP code in there and you'll find out who helps people in my zip code. 

It's a great finder tool if you want to talk about the state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies or state VR. They also have benefits planners available; at least a lot of them do, I can't tell you that every state VR has benefits planners but most of them do. You can get benefits planning done while you're working with your state VR. And how about employment networks? These are private agencies or individuals who have an agreement with Social Security to provide you with free services while you're attempting to return to work. Many of those employment networks have benefits planners on staff, um, you know there's there's going to be one out there for you you just need to dig, and if you can't find a benefits planner by all means get in touch with us and we'll make sure you get that information.

Benefits planning and the path to employment, yeah this there's always a way to find information. We have all these links for you to learn more about benefits Counseling in the fact sheet, benefits counseling and the path to work, you can find that link in your website. Again, we've been telling you about that Helpline. If you want to get a little more information or if you want to find out who serves your area by making a phone call, do that. They'll get you connected with the benefits planning agency that covers your area, yeah, it's a good plan you have here there's no wrong way to start because whoever you contact if it's not the proper person at that point they will get you information to get to somebody else.

So with this Ticket to Work program you'll have an option to have all of these service providers on your employment team you don't need them all but you might. Yeah, Employment Networks we've talked about them a little bit, Workforce Employment you know those are the, uh, American job centers, uh yeah, and they have some of them have planners on their staff but it's also a great service if you're not sure what you want to do or you have some jobs in mind and you want to know how much the pay levels are you can go to an American Job Center and they can set you up with a computer, yeah, and you can start doing research, yeah, and along with that if you need to build a resume and you want to start that by yourself that's a great place to do it. They've got all kinds of programs and they've got some of the most recent resume styles. You can go in and start building your resume. 

State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. If you need education, I need a two-year degree, you know, to get my certificate or be able to get a license so that I can work at my chosen profession, VR might be able to help you set that up. I need a four-year degree; that's possible too. No, I don't need any degrees, I just need my electrician's license. I want to be an electrician Yep; we can do that for you too. Never forget those trades out there. Some of those, you know, I cringe when the electrician comes into my house because I assume he's making a whole lot more money than I am and I'm not going to like you, so become an electrician, guys. 

Work Incentive planning and assistance projects; those are the benefits planners and this last one here, the protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security benefits: the PABSS organizations. Every state has a protection and advocacy agency. You know in California with disability rights California in Massachusetts is the Disability Law Center, but if you look disability rights in your state's name. Just use that as a Google search and it will come up, or get on the help finder tool and it will give you that button to push the tabs. 

That's the legal Wing, you know, let's say you might not have any legal issues coming up. But if you do, somebody an employer a potential employer, asks you an improper question you know I see you're using a wheelchair, how are you going to do some of the job duties? That's not really a great question. That's not a great question. You know if you're denied that job you want to know what might be available to you. How about you request a reasonable accommodation? Then the employer says, no, you do the job the way it's supposed to be done or you don't do it. You may have legal recourse or the protection and advocacy paralegal or attorney might be able to work with you to explain to that employer exactly what their duty is, yeah, so this is the legal way in case those problems pop up.

We talked about a lot of this we got a lot of time, uh, or a lot quite not a lot of time to go through but remember the Employment Networks and the Workforce Employment Networks, free employment services to people who are eligible for that Ticket to Work. And remember the eligibility is really easy: 18 through 64, you have a cash benefit and you want to work. That's all it takes. Yeah, many state public Workforce systems such as the American job centers, we talked about those places are Workforce ENs. It's along with providing everything else those American job Centers do if they're a Workforce EN, you can assign your ticket to them and get further job support services. 

What do these ENs help you do? Identify your work goals. Well, I don't know what I want to do. What do you enjoy, um, what kind of skills do you have? And we might be able to put some suggestions together for you. Write your resume, review it, Resumes don't look like they did when I got my last job 23 years ago, they just don't. I would need assistance to put my resume in order so that it meets today's standards. 

Prepare for interviews. Fabulous help, you know, let's set up some interviews, some play interviews where you're going to be interviewed by me, yeah, and remember it's very important to have those questions. Interviews usually end with do you have any questions for us? And if you don't, it's not a good sign, and so we can help you put some questions together. You're like well I understand that your business does The X Y and Z? How would that impact me as an employee in your system? How do I help customers enjoy X Y and Z services? Just something simple like that. 

Request reasonable accommodations. It's not necessarily a comfortable thing to do, yeah, and if you want help the Employment Networks can help you with that. You might have practice discussion with somebody at the Employment Network how to ask for this, you know, being calm cool and collected and what happens if your employer responds well or not so well. You know and the ENs have benefits planners on staff at least a majority I really say the majority do.

State Vocational Rehabilitation: that is where you're going to get training and education and any physical or mental rehabilitation you need to get back into the workforce. Every state has one, some states have two. States may have a different agency for people who are blind and visually impaired. You know once again if you call the wrong one, they didn't refer you to the other one, you know, so you're not going to be left for somebody, we don't do that, and hang up. They're going to get you to where you need to be.

You know we talked about Work Incentive planners as well: free in-depth counseling about working, about earning money, and how your earnings are going to affect the benefits. Yeah and like again I got to reinforce the best thing about benefits planning is you will know what's going to happen to your benefits before it happens so that you can prepare for what's about to happen. There will be enough money if you lose your food stamps to make up for that food stamp value.

Eligibility of the WIPA services. You have to be actively working, so if you just got a job and you started on Monday, you're eligible. You have to have a job offer pending. So, somebody said well Derek we have a job for you let's start on the first of the month, April 1st. Derek is then eligible to get some planning services done because he has a job offer pending. And that's a good time, he's got a couple of weeks here to get his, uh, plan together and get that knowledge he needs. 

Be actively interviewing for jobs. That means you've had an interview in the past 30 days or you have an interview scheduled within the next two weeks. And there are special categories for veterans and transition age youth youth who are 14 through 25, they don't have to be actively pursuing work. A 14-year-old kid may not be able to work, right, it's just not legal in most states. So, if that 14-year-old wants to talk about work and the parents want to talk about what will happen to SSI benefits when that kid goes to work, let's do it now, and let them let that Mom and Dad and let that kid know that it's possible to work. And work is only going to make things better.

And the PABSS, you know this was my last job before I joined Cornell, uh, free legal services to Social Security beneficiaries who get benefits based on disability and have employment related issues. That's a barn door for eligibility; lots of different issues might come into play. And it could be legal support. You know, our office had an intake team that knew a lot, let me tell you, and they could provide you with support. How about that reasonable accommodation? Talk about what it means. Let's talk about if what you're asking for might be reasonable and meet the qualifications and how are you going to ask for it and could support you through that process or advocacy a paralegal and return…

Derek>> Hi this is Derek the moderator intervening. I think we may have lost Ray. Jayme, can I get confirmation from you? 

Jayme>> This is Jayme. Yes, Derek, it looks like Ray may have dropped. We'll work on getting him back on.

Derek>> Thank you very much. This is Derek speaking again. Our apologies for that everybody. We're nearing the end of our content in the third section, and it looks like Ray's had some, uh, technical Interruption. So where he was speaking about the protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security or the PABSS, this is the legal wing, as Ray had referred to before where you get legal support for advocacy and really answering the questions about what are your rights and how you can get assistance. So, reach out to the PABSS in order to find information about resolving employment related concerns. And that could be with employers Social Security and Employment Networks, the state VR agencies, or those, the, the, counselors in the WIPA projects themselves. 

So I'm going to continue as we have just a couple more slides before we go to our wrap-up section. Further with PABSS, the services are specifically around protecting your rights, so navigating organizations and services to support your effort to work, so really understanding your rights and they can assist you in knowing when they there may have been some discrimination involved. Ray had mentioned requesting reasonable accommodations, that was right before we lost the connection to Ray, really understanding, um, how to request reasonable accommodations in things like official education like college classes or training courses or in a licensing program and importantly in the workplace too. You may not have as much confidence in this area or you could experience some pushback from an employer or one of those training or education opportunities and this would be a chance for you to get some guidance from the PABSS as well as the final item addressing other disability-based legal issues that could create a barrier to employment. We certainly want you to have that legal wing as Ray described it to navigate those challenging legal issues so you could have more confidence.

So I believe Ray is back. Ray, I just kind of wrapped up the PABSS, um, slide here if you had any other comment that you wanted to add and then move forward to the final slide in the section but I just confirm can you, um, yeah I can hear you so welcome back.

Ray >> Good. Thank you Derek, I think the windstorm we're having might have done some damage. I was rudely thrown out of the room but I'm back, um, yeah the, uh, PABSS offices you know across the country um tend to do different things. So you want to talk to them as to what types of services they can make let you uh or help you with, um, you know but you they are there if you have a work related issue, uh, to provide you with advice to provide you with information or to provide you with legal representation. Again, free of charge. And thanks for covering Derek.

Right. Finding a service provider. I talked to you about that Find Help tool, um, and it's in the web links pod under Find Help. It's part of the Social Security website and it is really good, um, yeah I don't say really good things about computers very often but this finder tool I'm on several times a week trying to help folks like you find out where the service providers are and you can make server searches by your ZIP code by the service that you want so typing in your zip code and VR is going to get you the state agency that covers your area. So, if you need an Employment Network click on EN. You don't need to click on everything and get overwhelmed with information. How about the disability type, you know, if I'm looking for an Employment Network and I'm blind I don't necessarily want to go to an Employment Network that focuses on mental health issues, so check to see what types of folks those Employment Networks work with.
Languages spoken. Many of the Employment Networks where I am have Spanish language availability, you know, it's a necessity to do business here in New Mexico. If you're anywhere else and you need services in a different language you can find out who's available to do that, you know, and it might be an Employment Network that covers a larger territory, you know, because they can cover a small little area, they can cover a state, they can cover several states or the entire country, uh, and that's your decision. Do you want to work with somebody who's in Seattle if you are in Ohio? Maybe it doesn't matter because everything can be done by a distance now if you're comfortable with that, again, or provider type. All I want to do is find out who the benefits planners, are so you get onto that Find Help page, type in your ZIP, code hit WIPA, and they'll all come up for you. this is available to you at no obligation if you just want to find out what and where services are before you make that final decision about trying to return to work. Or you can call that Ticket to Work Helpline for a list of providers 1-866-968-7842 or 1-866-833-2967 for TTY users and they are available Monday through Friday 8 A.M to 8 P.M Eastern Time.

Alright Derek I'll answer most of the questions, and you can answer the ones of the slides you covered. 

Derek>> Ah this is Derek. Thanks Ray, glad to have you back and appreciate you wrapping up the section. We have time for maybe one, two questions and then we have to go to close up, so brief brief answers on both of these please. There's a question that's come a couple different forms but basically can I work with a VR or state Vocational Rehabilitation agency and an Employment Network?

Ray>> That's a great question. You can't work with them together at the same time but you can work with both of them in tandem. So if you need rehabilitation services that would be provided by state VR go to state VR they're going to want to see your ticket but they're not going to assign it, it will be considered in use, yeah. After you get that Rehabilitation completed and you've worked a couple of months at substantial gainful levels your VR case will be closed. At that point if you need more on-the-job services, and you'll know what you need then because you've been working for three months, let's talk to an Employment Network. The Employment Network will then assign your ticket and work with you to make sure those supports are there. It's really the best of both worlds, um, it's called Partnership Plus. So that's a buzzword you might want to remember. And if you do a search for Partnership Plus on the Social Security website you'll come up with the states that have it in more and more states I'm going to venture to say the vast majority of states are doing this now because it's really good.

Derek>> Thanks Ray, this is Derek again. Last question. The response has to be a little bit shorter but it's an important question. What are the differences in Work Incentives for SSI versus SSDI? Are there differences, and if there are how do I know which ones are for me? 

Ray>> Yeah yeah there are differences, um, what you need to do is know what type of benefit you have, so if there's any doubt you might want to establish a my Social Security account on the Social Security website or take a look at some of the notices you get. If it says Supplemental Security Income, you know, it says SSDI you know what you're getting, so that you can talk to one of those planners and get only the information about how those Work Incentives work. Quick quick example: if you're an SSI recipient you don't get a Trial Work Period, it's just a matter of numbers. If you're an SSI recipient you're going to find out that there are Work Incentives such as blind Work Incentives that are not available to SSDI receivees and in order to not be confused know what type of benefit you have.

Derek>> Ray thank you very much. I know that was a big question with a short amount of time, uh, we appreciate all of your information today. I just want to repeat one thing that Ray said. You could go to the Social Security website to create what he called an my SSA account that's m y s s a account and he encourages you to do that if you haven't done that yet. 
Well right we're at time. I want to thank you for covering the benefits programs, the Ticket program, and then answering these two important questions today: will I lose my disability benefits if I start working? and will I lose my Medicare or or Medicaid if I start start working? Really appreciate your time as always and your expertise. Thanks Ray.

We've learned a lot during today's webinar so you know how work will affect your Social Security benefits, and as you've learned today the Ticket program is a variety of service providers, what we call your employment team, and other resources ready to answer your questions. And one more time we're going to provide you the Ticket to Work Helpline number that we want you to reach out to with those personal questions to get more support. That's 1-866-968-7842 or via TTY at 1-866-833-2967. The Helpline is available Monday through Friday 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time. Second you can also choose to contact us or visit us at The Ticket to Work website at any time. That's choosework.ssa.gov. You'll find more details regarding all the topics covered in today's webinar and we'll also be able to discover that find an EN tool that Ray was talking about, and we suggest you check out. You can also find us on social media or subscribe to the Ticket to Work blog or email updates by visiting choosework.ssa.gov/contact/index.html. Importantly that web link and all the others are in the web links pod under the Ticket to Work contact information. Just go through there you can also find a number 12 that find help tool if you're interested in that, so you choose how to connect with us the important part is to reach out and make the connection you prefer.

Next to get advice and encouragement and read stories about people who achieved financial independence with help from The Ticket to Work Program, you can opt in to receive text messages. If you're interested in receiving text messages from the Ticket program please text ticket t-i-c-k-e-t to 474747 standard messaging rates may apply.
Important to note if you need to contact Social Security's Ticket to Work Program managed by the Social Security administration's office of employment support, we ask that you do so electronically instead of by postal mail our email address is support@choosework.ssa.gov. Remember do not include personally identifiable information in your email. Personally identifiable information or what we call PII is any data that could potentially be used to identify a particular person. Examples of PII include a full name, social security number or an email address. So remember do not include those items in your emails. You may also contact the Helpline that we've mentioned at 1-866-968-7842 or via TTY at 1-866-833-2967 and again those representatives are available Monday through Friday 8 A.M to 8 P.M Eastern Time.

We also invite you to join our next wise webinar which will be held on Wednesday April 26th from 3 to 4:30 PM eastern time. The topic next month will be how will work affect my Medicaid or Medicare? Registration is now open and available at choosework.ssa.gov/wise or you can reach out to The Ticket to Work Helpline and they will help you register. 
And last it's very important to receive your feedback in planning for future webinars. Please provide your feedback and tell us what you think by taking our survey. To take the survey you can follow the link that will pop up after the webinar or you can find the survey Link in the web links pod or visit the website at choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/wise. 
Thank you for attending to learn about the Ticket to Work program and how work will affect Social Security disability benefits. Please know there are supports and people ready to help and we encourage you to reach out to begin your journey. 

This concludes today's webinar.