Social Security Work Incentives

1. Social Security Work Incentives Stacey Sparks, Community Work Incentive Coordinator Imagine Enterprises

2. Work Incentive Planning and Assistance Funded through a grant with Social Security Community Work Incentive Coordinators travel throughout their assigned region to provide FREE information on Social Security work incentives and provide benefits planning to individuals who have SSDI or SSI benefits and want to work.

3. Community Work Incentive Coordinators Help SSI/SSDI beneficiaries understand how wages from employment will effect cash and medical benefits. Help beneficiaries keep track and submit work incentives. Help beneficiaries report wages to the local Social Security office. Make referrals to agencies that can help find employment.

4. Community Work Incentive Coordinators do not: Help people apply for benefits Help with overpayments Work with people over age 65 or under age 14 Find people jobs (we will refer you to an agency or organization who will assist you with your job search).

5. How Will Work Effect SSI or SSDI Benefits?

6. What is Title XVI - SSI? The Supplemental Security Income(SSI) program makes cash assistance payments to aged, blind and disabled people(including children under 18) who have limited income and resources. The federal Government funds SSI from general tax revenues. Individuals who receive SSI cash payments also receive Medicaid coverage in the State of Texas.

7. SSI-Eligibility Requirements You must have limited income and resources You must be a U.S. Citizen or meet the requirements for non-citizens You must be medically disabled or blind You must be a resident of the 50 states, District of Columbia or Northern Mariana Islands. When you apply you must not be earning over SGA $940 in 2008 You must file an application

8. In-Kind Support In-Kind Support is unearned income in the form of food,clothing, or shelter that is given or received because someone else besides the benefit recipient is is paying for it. In-kind support will effect the amount of the SSI cash benefit.

9. SSI Work Incentives 1619 (a) & (b) Student-Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE) Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS) Blind Work Expense (BWE) Impairment- Related Work Expenses (IRWE) Section 301

10. How Earnings are Calculated $985.00 Gross earned income $-20.00 General Income exclusion $-65.00 Earned income exclusion $ 900.00 Remainder $450.00 Divided by 2 $637.00 Base SSI check (2008) -$450.00 TCI $187.00 Adjusted SSI payment = $1172.00 Total monthly income

11. What is 1619(b)?1619B Your Medicaid coverage can continue even if your earnings become too high for a SSI cash payment as long as you need Medicaid in order to work and meet other eligibility requirements.

12. Student Earned Income Exclusion If you are under age 22, Regularly attending school. SSA does not count up to $ 1,550 of earned income per month. (2008) The maximum yearly exclusion is $6,240 (2008)

13. Impairment Related Work Expense( IRWE) An IRWE is an out of pocket expense, related to a disability, that is not reimbursed any anyone, that you purchased so that you could continue working.

14. Examples of an IRWE Prosthesis Wheelchair Specialized transportation Attendant care services when performed in a work setting Pacemaker an exterior ramp that permits access to the street or to transportation Work-Related equipment and assistants.

15. Blind Work Expense A documented expense a person, who has statutory blindness, incurs because the item is needed for work. These expenses do not have to be related to blindness.

16. Examples of Blind Work Expenses Helper animal expenses Transportation to and from work Federal, State and local income taxes Attendant care services Visual and sensory aids Professional association fees and union dues Social Security taxes Uniforms

17. Plan for Achieving Self �Support (PASS) PASS will allow benefit recipients to set-aside income/resources for vocational training, self-employment or educational cost.

18. Title II: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) SSDI provides cash benefits (after a 5-month waiting period) and Medicare (after an additional 24- months) to individuals who have contributed to the Social Security trust fund.

19. SSDI (con) There are multiple ways to become eligible for Title II benefits, we focus on: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Childhood Disability Beneficiary (CDB) Disabled Widow(er) Benefits (DWB)

20. SSDI Work Incentives Trial Work Period (TWP) Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE) Impairment- Related Work Expenses (IRWE) Special-conditions/ Employer Subsidies Section 301 Medicare continuation

21. Trial Work Period TWP is a nine-month period accumulated over a rolling 60 months during which SSDI beneficiaries can test their ability to work without losing SSDI cash payments and Medicare coverage. An Individual can earn any amount of money - but any earnings over $670 in 2008 will count as a TWP month.

22. Extended Period of Eligibility For 36-months after the Trial Work Period, a SSDI beneficiary who continues to be medically disabled, can receive a SSDI check for each month that they have gross earnings below the $940 ($1550 if blind) SGA threshold level.

23. Medicare Continuation Medicare Part A can continue for up to 93 months following the Trial Work Period if the individual is still medically disabled. Part B may be purchased and billed quarterly.

24. Subsidy Subsidies exist when an employer pays workers with disabilities more in wages than the reasonable value of the actual service performed or assistance is provided by an employment service or enclave type of setting.

25. Section 301 Continue SSI and SSDI payments to individuals whose disability ceased but are participating in an approved VR program.

26. Find a Work Incentive Coordinator In Your Area http://www.socialsecurity.gov/work/ServiceProviders/WIPADirectory.html.

27. For more Information Regarding Work Incentives Contact: Stacey Sparks, Community Work Incentive Coordinator (325) 893-1968 Or Toll free pager Number: (888)635-6688