JACKIE>> Good afternoon and welcome to today’s
Ticket to Work webinar: Understanding Ticket to Work: How to Help Your Clients and the
People You Serve. My name is Jackie Flick, and I am a member
of the Ticket to Work team, and I will be your moderator for today’s webinar. We are so glad you are able to take the time
today to spend with us to learn about how Social Security’s Ticket to Work program
functions and the many ways you can be a part of it. We hope you find some information today that
w
ill help you to spread the word and connect with the Ticket program. Let’s get started by going over some of
the functions of the webinar platform so you can interact and get the most out of the information
presented today. First, you can manage your audio by using
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onference, choose Listen Only which appears at the bottom right in
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ccessibility. This link is also available in the weblinks
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nks pod, which you will find at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. This pod lists all the links and resources
presented during today’s webinar. To access any of these resources, highlight
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W
ork. The email address is webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. Or reference the confirmation email that you
received for today’s webinar for a list of available resources. Also, please note that SSA cannot guarantee
and is not responsible for the accessibility of external websites. Today’s webinar is being recorded and a
copy of it will be available within two weeks on the Choose Work website which can be accessed
at http://bit.ly/WISE_OnDemand. This link, as well as others, can be found
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pod we just talked about in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen
and is titled WISE Webinar Archives. We hope everyone has a great experience on
the webinar today. However, if you run into any technical difficulties,
please use the Q&A pod to send us a message. Or you can send us an email at the Ticket
to Work email address, which is webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. As mentioned earlier, my name is Jackie Flick,
and I am a member of the Ticket to Work team. I am excited to be here with you t
oday as
your moderator. We are delighted to have Ray Cebula and Jayme
Pendergraft joining us today. Ray Cebula received his law degree from the
University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce Law School – or School of Law. He spent 23 years providing legal services
to individuals with disabilities in their interactions with Social Security. He became part of Cornell University’s Work
Incentive Support Center in 2000, and in 2005, he joined the staff of Cornell’s Yan Tan
Institute on Employment and
Disabilities where he now serves as the Program Director of YTI’s
online work incentive practitioner credentialing program. Jayme Pendergraft is the Outreach Manager
for Social Security’s Ticket program. she oversees Ticket program communication
efforts including WISE webinars, social media, the Choose Work blog, and other outreach channels. She has supported the Ticket program for more
than ten years, and she has dedicated her career to improving employment outcomes for
people with disabilitie
s. During today’s webinar, Ray and Jayme will
cover Social Security’s Ticket program and other work incentives, Ticket program service
providers, how to share information about the Ticket program, and how to become a Ticket
program service provider. During today’s webinar, we will not be addressing
questions specific to COVID-19. If you would like more information on Social
Security and the Coronavirus, please visit https://www.ssa.gov/coronavirus/. This link can also be found in the weblinks
po
d. It is my pleasure to introduce Ray to start
us off with an introduction to the Ticket to Work program. Go ahead, Ray. RAY>> Thank you, Jackie. It’s really good to be with everybody today. I’m really happy to be working with my bud
Jayme. Today we’re going to start out with the
Ticket to Work program and how this program can support you on your journey to work. We have to get down to real basics now. And what I want to alert everybody to, if
you are a beneficiary, Social Security or SSI, we ar
e really dealing with a presentation
today that is directed at providers of services. We don’t necessarily want you to leave,
but just know that it’s not going to be beneficiary based. And you’re more than welcome to stay and
listen. So, thanks for that. For those of you who are providers, welcome
today. It’s a great opportunity to get everybody
on the same page. We have two disabilities programs that Social
Security administers. They are the Title II program, or Social Security
Disability Insur
ance (“SSDI”), and the SSI program, Supplemental Security Income,
which is Title XVI of the Social Security Act. They’re very different programs. So, the first thing we need to know from our
consumers is what benefit they receive. The insurance program, SSDI, is just that. It’s an insurance program. As a person works and pays FICA taxes into
the system, they are earning credits for insurance. And once they become insured, they are insured
for both disability and retirement. There are a couple of
, you know, special rules
that come along with that. That insurance status for disability must
also be current. And we all know you can find that out if you
can access one of your consumer’s My Social Security accounts. There are work incentives that may sound like
they apply to both programs, but they apply to each program differently. So in order to have a valuable discussion
with a client, even if it’s the first phone call, you really need to be pretty sure which
benefit they’re receiving. Th
en we turn to the SSI program which is a
needs-based federal welfare program that provides benefits to people who may have expired insurance
status, or may not have worked, or may not have worked enough to become insured. It is very sensitive to unearned and earned
income because of its needs-based nature. And the work incentives that sound the same
are going to apply very differently and there are other work incentives that apply only
to this program. What is the Ticket to Work program? You kno
w, the Ticket to Work program is – I
still believe very much in the Ticket to Work program after the 20, 21 years now it’s
been since it started. It’s a good program. It’s a solid program that actually provides
a lot of help to people. Notice that it’s free and voluntary. Social Security does not want any consumer
or beneficiary to receive notice and believe they have no choice but to begin preparing
for work. That’s not the case. There is no charge to the beneficiary for
the services as we have
Social Security reimbursing the provider for these services. The Ticket can offer career development for
people aged 18 through 64 who receive a Social Security disability benefit and want to work. That’s all it takes. And we can provide them with assistance. The Ticket to Work is going to connect that
disability beneficiary with free employment services through some of you to help them
begin the journey and determine what is best for them. This is very much a consumer-driven process,
and we do
n’t want to build the plan for our consumers, we want to build the plan with
our consumers. The Ticket can help them decide if work’s
right for them. It may be something that they are really anxious
to begin but maybe now is just not the right time. Maybe we need some training. Maybe we need some education. Then we’re going to be able to get a job. We also need to know that they are in the
right mindset to begin this journey. And I like to use the Stages of Change for
that. Meet the client where
they are, and you’re
going to have a client. A good client. Preparation for work. That could be learning how to do your former
job differently because of that disability. It could be, as I said, basic training, whether
that be a vocational program. Whether it be a requirement that somebody
get a certificate. Whether it be an associate’s degree or a
bachelor’s degree. Help finding a job. You know, all of you providers are located
in your communities, which is a really good thing because you are
going to be able to
point. You know the resources locally. And that’s a benefit to our consumers to
help them locate an employer who is hiring. And the most important thing about the Ticket
is getting somebody employed is not the end. It’s actually just the beginning. We’ve provided a lot of services to get
somebody employed, but we want to see them succeed, so the provider is able to offer
on-the-job supports that will ensure that the consumer is ready to work. And will basically allow the cons
umer to say,
okay, guys, I’ve had enough. I can do this by myself. And succeed. That’s the important thing. We want to take each person, each beneficiary
with a disability, and help them transition into a worker with a disability. So, what is this Ticket program? You know, you can – we’re encouraging
you to share the new Facts Sheets with people who might be interested in the Ticket program. And that is, what is Social Security’s Ticket
to Work Program? The website for that is https://bit.ly/ttw
-program. And you can use that during community presentations
or as people come in to you to get basic information about what your program offers. The Help Line is a great way to also get people
involved. And this is certainly a good way to get referrals
as well as to send those clients. If you do talk with a consumer who isn’t
sure yet but thanks you for the information, give them the Help Line. They can call that Help Line back and get
a referral back to you. The Help Line can provide very bas
ic information
about what this Ticket program is and answer some basic questions. You know, it’s always going to be good to
connect with a human, and you are the human in this case. So, you can call the Ticket to Work Help Line,
and share this with your consumers, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time. And the number is 1-866-968-7842. And for TTY users is 1-866-833-2967. So, let’s talk about the work incentives. Social Security also provides really good
work incentives. And
they are just that, incentives to work
that will allow you to basically proceed with health care, you know, possibly with cash
benefits, while you are working and gradually making that transition to financial independence. And the magic is we can help a consumer make
that transition at their own comfort level. More than 20 work incentives out there. Social Security makes it really easy for disabled
beneficiaries to work and still be eligible to receive benefits. And most importantly, I think yo
u’ll find
many consumers are more interested about the healthcare benefits as they explore and transition
to work. To learn more about these work incentives,
you can look at Choose Work’s website. It’s a really good website. I’m on it almost daily. https://bit.ly/work-incentives. Social Security’s Redbook is a good resource
for all of you as well. And that’s available in English or Spanish
at http://www.ssa.gov/redbook. And the Choose Work blog has a bunch of good
information in it. http://bit.l
y/choosework-blog. Let’s talk about some particular work incentives
that are going to be very calming for your client and really make this transition a welcome
event. And the expedited reinstatement is – is
really fantastic. You know, when it was first proposed and the
regulations came out, it’s pretty amazing what Social Security did. Social Security will terminate somebody because
of work activity and earned income. That’s the way the rules work. After they have proceeded through many of
the 2
0 earlier work incentives. They’re successful, they are about to become
independent of benefits, and that termination occurs. Could be based on SGA. Could be based on the amount of money that
it costs to cash out your SSI benefits. But Social Security can say, we’re terminating
you and leaving you alone. And that’s the marvel of EXR. For 60 months, or five years, beginning with
the month of termination, Social Security still has a safety net for our consumers. And if it happens that the work eff
ort is
stopped or their earnings drop below substantial gainful activity, they can be reinstated. And this is a pretty quick process. You know, and the statistics for who is allowed
once they apply for reinstatement are pretty phenomenal. They’re very, very, very high. Social Security will review a reinstatement
request. And what they’re looking at now is whether
or not the person can perform substantial gainful activity. And this stoppage or reduction in income can
really happen for any reason.
We just went through a horrible pandemic,
and we all vividly remember, you know, March of 2020 when everything stopped. People were laid off in droves. Our consumers were laid off. That’s a stoppage or reduction in earnings. As much as is an exacerbation of a medical
condition. If that happens five years from termination,
Social Security is opening their door and offering an easy-on provision. And they will accept an application. And if you will date that request today, it
is very possible that
you could have a check for October 1. Which is a good thing. The first six months are temporary, provisional
checks. And they’re paid while the Disability Determination
Service is determining whether or not the consumer can perform substantial gainful activity. Notice the second bullet here. They’re also eligible for Medicare, Medicaid,
or both if they’re a recipient of both benefits. So there is a very quick easy on. Provisional benefits, you may get two months
because that’s all Social Securi
ty needed. You will only get up to six. But Social Security has been real good at
getting payments reinstated before that six months is over. And honest to god, when I think of all the
public benefits programs that I’ve dealt with in my career, none of them allow a post-termination
connection to the agency. This is unique to Social Security and unique
to work incentives. Whoops, I was talking about all of this, wasn’t
I, and I didn’t change this out. Notice, they have to be determined, again,
un
able to do work. Their medical condition is going to be important,
and their ability to perform substantial gainful activity. Again, all of this is presuming a work stoppage
or a work slowdown. Another one of my favorite things, and I really
do like impairment-related work expense, and we have three basic questions. If a beneficiary, a consumer has to pay out
of pocket and is not reimbursed, certain items or services needed to work, Social Security
reduces their countable income by the cost of t
hat item. When their determining substantial gainful
activity in the Title II world, or SSDI, and it reduces countable income that would otherwise
reduce an SSI check. Three basic questions. Is it related to an impairment? Is the cost, the item, the service, related
to an impairment? Does the item or service allow you to work? And is it paid for by the consumer without
any reimbursement from anywhere? You say yes to those three, you could have
an IRWE on your hands, and we need to run that by So
cial Security. When we need to use that deduction, Social
Security will take a look at it. And these things are really limited by your
own imagination. Examples. Medicine. Okay. What type of medicine is it? Is it related to impairment? Could it be over the counter that’s related
to an impairment? Is it necessary for work? It’s always necessary for work, it’s necessary
for life. And work is still a subset of life, despite
the way some of us work. Yeah, and disposable items. Medical devices. Devic
es as simple as a cane could help you
– to help you walk. A walker. A wheelchair, you know, to more expensive
things. What about assistive technology? Hearing aids? You know, tablets. iPhones. If you’re need – if you need them at work
and they help you communicate more effectively or could be your only means of communication
with coworkers or supervisors, that’s going to count, too. And service animals. I like to say when we’re talking service
animals, they are all properly trained and licensed,
and they’re working animals. And working animals need comfortable beds. And they need toys. And they need food. And they need veterinary services. And they need to be licensed. Lots of good things that we might take for
granted. So, you have a bottle of Advil in the drawer
next to you, that’s an impairment-related work expense, we just have nothing to deduct
from that. And I like to talk to my consumers in terms
of daily activities, what do you do? What medicines might you take as you go throug
h
a day to see if we can find those IRWEs. And you can learn more about IRWEs at https://bit.ly/ticket-irwe. All right. Ticket program service providers. This is all you guys out there. Got lots of service providers. And the wonderful thing about the service
providers that are set up, including the Help Line (inaudible), include those folks, is
there’s no wrong way to start. There is no wrong door into this program. Every one of these agencies and providers,
even the Help Line, can be your consu
mer’s entry into this program. And we’ve got employment networks, workforce
employment networks located at the job centers out there. I’m forgetting right now what they’re
currently called. They used to be One Stop Centers, that kind
of place. State vocational rehabilitation agencies also
provide lots of services to our consumers. The Work Incentive Planning and Assistance,
or WIPA, projects. This is where the benefits planners are located. You know, lots of benefits planners are located
in ENs,
in workforce ENs, and at VR agencies. But the WIPA projects are also independent
benefits planners funded by Social Security. And in my opinion, all of these services may
weave together, and particularly benefits planning. It’s going to be necessary for every consumer
who’s making this transition from benefits to work. The last one is the Protection and Advocacy
for Beneficiaries of Social Security, or PABSS. These are all legal service type agencies. They’re called Protection and Advocacy agen
cies,
who provide services, a variety of services, to people with disabilities. From benefits assistance or benefits planning,
to discrimination in employment situations, to discrimination in housing. Anything that’s going to present a barrier
to work for our consumers and presents a legal issue or the need for legal advice can be
served by PABSS. Everybody could be sitting at a table, three
or four of them could be sitting at a table, two of them could be sitting at a table. It’s all right and
it’s all what your
client needs (inaudible). ENs. Private or public agencies or organizations
that have an agreement with Social Security to provide free employment services to people
who are eligible for that Ticket. Again, the workforce system, the American
Jobs centers, there they are, and workforce ENs are all going to be part of these providers
along with, you know, one-stop shops. I like to call them the one – the one-person
EN providers, to the large ENs. All sizes, all shapes. What servi
ces are we looking for? Just about everything a consumer needs. Career planning or counseling. Does somebody not necessarily want to flip
burgers at McDonald’s but would like to have a franchise at some point in their life? Well, flipping burgers might be the beginning
of that. But we can plan for that job to become a career
for our clients. You know, I like to tell people that, you
know, we’ve all done really nasty jobs that we didn’t want to do before we got where
we are today. And that’s the
best way to start. Job search assistance. State VR agencies are located in the states. Larger states have several offices that are
in the community and know who is hiring right now. ENs also work in the communities. There are national ENs that may not have that
direct connection, but the question is, does the consumer need that type of a connection
or are they looking to apply to a national employer. Workforce. That’s in the community, too. It’s good to know, and it’s good for our
consumers to k
now, that they are not sending resumés out blind. That they are sending resumés out to employers
who want to see them right now. Special programs for veterans and youth in
transition. These two groups are very important groups,
and they’re very special groups and they always are priorities for all of us. Simply because there’s a VA – there’s
a Veterans Administration out there doesn’t mean that folks aren’t receiving Social
Security benefits. Because that group is so important and so
unique, the
y could be receiving both military and civilian benefits. Got to make all of that make sense. They need our services. And youth. You know, that age group from 16 to 24, is
a critical group for us. You know, they’re going through that age
18 determination when they lose child status and become an adult and their benefits are
no longer determined on their development but determined on the ability to work. And I just want every disabled youth to take
a chance to become a worker with a disability be
fore we revert to adult disability benefits. Just give a chance and the work incentives
to this group are amazing – are amazing. It does result in a family counseling situation. Ongoing employment supports. That’s how we make sure people succeed. Those on-the-job supports, whether it be a
job coach, whether it be somebody to talk to on the job or after work to give people
support. How did your day go today, Jayme? What’s working, what isn’t? Can we change something? Can we talk to the employer a
bout an accommodation
you might need? Or can I – moving to this next bullet – coach
you to have that discussion with your employer? If you need me, I’ll be there, but you might
want to give it a shot yourself. And work incentives counseling. You know, this is, again, critical because
we are taking our clients who are used to reacting to notices, from all kinds of agencies,
and putting them in a position where they can be proactive. Because if a benefits plan happens the way
it’s supposed to and
our clients are maintaining contact, they will know when their check is
going to disappear, or when it’s going to reduce. And they will be aware that healthcare is
continuing. They will also be aware that they have more
money. And they don’t need to react because they
are in a proactive situation. And I think we all like to be proactive rather
than reactive. State vocational rehabilitation agencies. May be a must for everybody. If we have somebody that’s going to be very
expensive to rehabilitat
e, then we’re going to want the state involved. If there’s education and training, somebody
needs a four-year degree to do what they want to do, we’re going to be looking to the
state to fund a lot of these things. Every state has a VR agency. Some have two. Some, you know, as my home state of Massachusetts,
has a VR agency and an agency that serves the blind and visually impaired. So, just make sure we’re getting our folks
to the right agency. And the benefits planning services. I think I’ve ta
lked a lot about that. In order to get these services, we’re in
a situation where we have priorities. You have to know how your benefits are going
to be affected. That includes SSDI, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid,
and all those other public benefits. We don’t tell somebody that they’re likely
to lose their SNAP benefits when they reach X dollars in earned income. We’ve missed the boat because we haven’t
told them what to be prepared for. We haven’t already showed them how many
hours a week it’s going
to be necessary for you to work in order for you to replace
all those benefits and allow movies and pizza for Friday night. In order to get services from the WIPA agencies,
we have to be currently working, self-employed, or have a job offer pending. You could be actively interviewing for jobs. That’s defined as have an interview in the
past 30 days or I have a job interview scheduled within the next two weeks. And those youth, the transition age youth. Age 14 to 25. Even at the very early stages
of considering
work. You know, and I mentioned this could turn
into family counseling. If that kid’s SSI helps pay the rent, helps
buy food for that family unit, mom and dad are really, really afraid to lose that money. We can always just show them the money by
doing the math and doing some planning. We pretty much show a family that the kid’s
earnings aren’t going to impact anything. Just going to make it all better. Protection and Advocacy. You know, the PABSS agencies, again, provide
legal a
ssistance or legal advice. They could provide just support. If somebody has a food stamp reduction hearing
coming up, maybe it’s just a matter of coaching somebody. Could be a matter of representing somebody,
in which case they’d be providing advocacy services. This ranges from everything from those other
benefits – or housing. A rental increase from the housing agency. Is it proper? Is it correct? Are there work incentives that we could use
with the housing authorities? So, there’s a lot of stu
ff that goes into
planning. And PABSS can help run interference with those
agencies. I was a PABSS attorney in my last job before
I came to Cornell, and we did everything from overpayments, to evictions, you know, to those
food stamp and TANFF hearings, you know, where work incentives were not applied appropriately. And even if they had concerns with their employers. Some of the concerns were minor and trivial,
but they provided serious barriers to somebody’s ability to get their job done. You k
now, so they became incredibly important. And wouldn’t cost the employer a cent, but
they needed to hear it from somebody other than their employee. So, how do you find these folks? If you are an employment network, you should
know how to find them all. But this choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp website,
again, this another one, almost every day, if I get a caller, you know, who wants to
participate in the Ticket program, I can get on that website. It doesn’t matter where they are in the
country, all
I need is their zip code, and I can find help and give them a couple of
phone numbers that they can contact. All of the state agencies are there. The VR services, as well as those for blind
and visually impaired folks. The employment networks are there. The Work Incentives Planning and Assistance,
the WIPA projects, are there. And the PABSS agencies are all there. And, again, none of them are the wrong door. None of them. Once you open one you pretty much open doors
to all of them for any servic
es that might be relevant to that provider. And how do you choose a provider? Choosing a provider who is willing to work
with you as a consumer is a very important notion here. You know, because the employment networks
are doing the same things. All of these providers are doing the same
things. Are you ready for the service that we offer? You know, can we make a success out of this
consumer? And the consumers are looking for somebody
that they’re comfortable to work with. That they trust. That t
hey feel offers the supports that they
need. Finding an EN, one of the most important things,
you can take a look at what we tell consumers at http://bit.ly/finding-an-EN . Choosing the right EN, at https://bit.ly/choosing-EN. Very good things that you may want to provide
to your prospective consumers as well. And Jackie, that gets us to some questions. JACKIE>> Thank you, Ray. So, we’re going to pause here and take a
few moments to address some of the questions that we’ve received from our audi
ence on
the Ticket program. So, Ray, the first question is, if a client
wants to participate in the Expedited Reinstatement, EXR, program, would they begin with the SSA
office? RAY>> That’s where you would go. You know, it’s a small application process,
but it is informally known as an EXR Request. You make that phone call. You know, you could begin with the Help Line
on that one, the Social Security Help Line, you know, so you can begin with that to make
the connections that you need. But the l
ocal office has to get that information
from you, put it on the appropriate form, and ship it over to the state agency. So, that’s a good place to call. Yeah, and again, no wrong doors here. Call the Help Line, you’re going to get
that done. You call your employment network back, they’re
going to get you connected with the Help Line or the Social Security office. But you want to start with Social Security. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. We have another question on the EXR program. So, is there a deadline
for EXR? RAY>> The deadline is that the work stoppage
or dropping below substantial gainful activity occurs within the 60 months, or five years,
beginning the month of termination. If you haven’t been terminated from Social
Security, you don’t need EXR. If you go beyond month 60 and your income
becomes lower than SGA or your work stops, at that point you have to resort to a new
application. So, you’ve got that five years. And you want to do this as soon as possible
because you don’t want to be
in a position where you’re not working and you have no
benefits coming in. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. The next question is, where can I access support
incentives for youth in transition while they are still connected to a school district? RAY>> You know, more and more school districts
have benefits planners. And if that’s the case, because you’re
involved educationally with a school, you could be involved with rehab services, you
can begin with the school system. If they don’t have a benefits planner
, reach
out and get one. You know, it’s wonderful when those benefits
planners are at the table to help transition-age kids in school because all of the benefits,
you know, all of the family concerns, are nullified right when things are happening. You know, if somebody is graduating, and they’re
moving into school, there’s some transition work to do there, too. No more high school, we’re going to college. There are some transition services that need
to happen. And, again, those tend to be a litt
le more
(inaudible). We need to get in touch with the college disability
office to make those contacts. Make requests for accommodations. But any of the people – you could have an
employment network involved at that point. You could have a benefits planner. Hopefully you don’t need a PABSS person. But, again, no wrong door. And make sure you understand that all of these
kids are priorities. They’re very important to all of us who
do this work incentive work. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. Those are some
great resources. The next question also is around education. Could a beneficiary go to graduate school
and still earn benefits? RAY>> You know, yeah, you can go to graduate
school. You know what I mean. Graduate school is going to be a big nut to
crack because it’s expensive, as well as under grad is very expensive. So, we’re going to be looking probably at
talking to a state agency. And people are looking, you know, when we’re
talking about getting you the job you want, it may not be possible f
or you to walk into
a state agency and say, I want to go to law school because I want to be a lawyer. You know, we need to look, is there something
else you could do? Could we place you as a paralegal and let’s
give you some work experience that’s related to law, you know, and see if you can make
ends meet with that before we’re going to see if we’re going to put you through three
years of law school. We want to make sure that that’s a good
fit for you before a lot of money is spent. So, yes, it
’s possible. There may just be a couple of extra hoops
to go through. Somebody with a severe disability who wants
to work may need more than a BA, may need more than that bachelor’s degree program. Because, you know, the more education we have,
the easier it is to have a sedentary job. And if somebody is severely physically or
mentally disabled but knows they can do a job, you know, we need to get more education
to get one of those jobs. JACKIE>> We have a follow up to that, Ray. Are there other
work incentives available
for students? RAY>> Oh, my god, yes. You know, we have to know who – what Social
Security considers a student. You know, in order to be a student, you have
to be attending regularly. And any level of education or any technical
school. It’s about half time. So, we’re considering people’s disabilities
when we are considering their educational goals. They also have to be under age 22. But the student, you know, what are they called? The student earned income exclusion, SE
IE. I don’t know why that didn’t come out
of my mouth. Is a phenomenal work incentive. This year we’re talking about excluding
up to $7,770. And Jayme, correct me if I’m wrong, but
I think it’s $1,910.00 a month. Or $1,930.00. I’m not sure what the exact total is. But it’s a lot – JACKIE>> That sounds familiar, but, Ray, we’ll
get the right number for you in just a sec. RAY>> All right. Okay. Thank you. It’s a lot of money. And notice that it’s not ten times the 1930,
you know. And that’s becaus
e people have to go to
school. So, if you’re in school, you’re not working
full time. But in June, July, and August, you can go
for broke. You know, you can make a lot of money. If I earn $2,000.00 a month during the summer,
and I can exclude $1,930.00, I have $70.00 in countable income. This is an SSI benefit. It’s an SSI only work incentive. So, I’m not going – I’m worried about
$70.00 in earned income? Well, if you subtract the first $65.00 of
that, we have $5.00 left. And then divide by two.
My SSI check is going to go down $2.50 (audio
break). It also, in order to keep within that $2,000.00
resource limit that an SSI recipient has, allows you to consider things like an Able
account so that you can actually save money. It’s much better than just paying your tuition
ahead of time. You can put it into an account, earn a little
interest, and then take the money out as you need to pay your tuition. It opens a lot of doors, not only for education,
but even for financial literacy and jus
t money handling. So, that was a great question. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. Jayme was able to find that information for
us, so for 2021, the student earned income exclusion amount increased by 1.3% to $1,930.00
per month but no more than $7,770.00 in 2021. RAY>> Thank you for finding that, Jayme. JACKIE>> Okay. The next question we received, does the SCA
change with the cost-of-living adjustment? RAY>> It does. It changes every year as do trial work periods
and some of the other – student earned inco
me exclusions. A lot of the work incentives do increase every
year. And there are rumors that this year’s increase
could be six percent, so this is going to be a big jump in that area. But every year we get the news from Social
Security as early as October for what will happen January 1 of 2022. It’s always a calendar year increase. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. The next question, which I think is going
to be our last question for this session. I work in family housing in Massachusetts. Can I partner wi
th one of the mentioned agencies
to work to help residents possibly choose work? RAY>> Oh, absolutely. You know, and hi to my Massachusetts buds. Family housing is a marvelous place. It’s almost a captive audience, you know. So, little outreach sessions, you know, and
bring in a benefits planner, bring in a representative from the state agency, or even some private
ENs who are out there. We used to do that. The last one I remember doing was in Rhode
Island, and we did that with the PABSS agency,
with the benefits planners, with the state
agency. And get everybody in there just to make your
consumers aware of these work incentives and aware of the protections. You know, again, I’m going to repeat this. Oftentimes an SSI recipient is not concerned
about $794.00. But they are concerned about their healthcare. And when you make it clear in a very informal
and noncommittal manner that your healthcare is going to be protected for a very long time. And Massachusetts is a great example of wher
e
it’s very hard to lose your healthcare. You know, people are more comfortable making
that first connection. And you’ll probably end up with four or
five people who stop you before you go out of that presentation. So, I need phone numbers. I need to make contact. Can you talk to me now? Yeah, you can partner with all – and the
more partners, the better, I think. So, joining forces to make contact is a wonderful
thing. JAYME>> And this is Jayme Pendergraft. I will just second what Ray said and r
eiterate
how important all those partnerships are. And we’re actually about to give you a bunch
of tools that will help you provide information about the Ticket program and providers in
your area to – to your clients. So, I’m going to go ahead and take over
the presentation now. I know there are still a few more questions,
and we will do our best to get to them before the end of the presentation. But today I’m going to be talking about
how you can help spread the word about the Ticket program to
the people that you serve. I’d like to thank everybody for joining
this afternoon. And I do want to reiterate, if you’re someone
who receives Social Security benefits, a Ticket holder or beneficiary, and you’re attending
today, welcome, we’re very happy you’re here. You may have noticed this may not be the best
webinar for you as we’re talking to people who serve people with disabilities, but I
hope you’re learning a lot. And I do just want to say that our WISE webinars
are archived on the Choo
se Work website in WISE On Demand. And we’ll be back to what we’ll call our
regular programming next month. So, to get started, I’m going to talk a
little bit about our website. This is where lots and lots of information
lives, and if you’re looking for a new event or a new resource, it’s – it’s right
there. A lot of it is on the home page, and any time
we publish new content, we’ll likely have it featured either in that Events Spotlight
that’s pictured in this image or this new blog post we hav
e a little scroll with all
of the new blog posts on the right-hand side. And, of course, we also have a big featured
article right on that home page every month. This is where you will – you come to find
information on what we’re doing, and what’s going on, and also what has happened. Like I mentioned, that WISE Webinar Archive. We also have a lot of very useful fact sheets
and resources in our library to include success stories and fact sheets and tutorials. And I’m going to get a little more i
n detail
on some of those tools for you. Before I do that, though, we are going to
ask that if you have a website and you think that this might be a good fit for you, we
invite you to share the Choose Work website on your website. A lot of organizations feature us on their
– under their employment category on their website and provide a link to either just
the home page or also include some additional information about the Help Line. And we appreciate that very much and invite
you to continue to
do that. So, Work Incentive Seminar Events, or WISE
webinars. You’re in one right now. And these happen every single month. They are free, as you know, and they’re
educational online sessions for beneficiaries, service providers, community partners, beneficiaries’
families and friends. Basically anyone who wants to learn about
the Ticket to Work program. As I mentioned, this – today’s webinar
is kind of a special webinar as our audience is not our typical beneficiary audience but
we’re talking
with you as service providers. So, most months we do simply talk about the
Ticket to Work program. We have a variety of different themes to recognize
national observances such as National Mental Health Month, or we’ll focus in on a specific
topic like Ticket to Work for young adults where we would talk about all of those great
work incentives that Ray mentioned earlier. You’re always invited to attend the webinars. We often share resources and information and
anything new that we published will
be mentioned in the webinar. So, if we have a new success story this month,
we would talk about it during the webinar. And we do encourage you to subscribe to get
webinar updates, and that’s at http://bit.ly/WISEsubscribe. As I mentioned a little while ago, we do have
a webinar archive. All of our webinars are archived within two
weeks. And you can see all of those in our WISE on
Demand page. We do provide a full recording and a transcript
of every webinar on that page. So, go check it out if yo
u want to get more
information on what we’ve covered in the last year or so. The Choose Work blog. So, we have a very active blog. And we publish posts at least weekly, sometimes
twice a week. And we share a variety of information for
people looking for work. We share info about Social Security work incentives,
the transition to work, financial independence. Again, anything that mentions or aligns with
a national observance. So, we do try to share timely content and
content that is of interest t
o our audience, which includes all of you. And what we encourage you to do for the blog
is to share them with people, get them out. If you have an email newsletter, put a link
in there if it’s applicable and you think that your recipients would be eager to read
that information. We also encourage you to volunteer to be a
guest blogger if you think that you have a topic that may be new for our audience or
that our audience would like to hear about and learn more about. And you can send an email t
o socialmedia@choosework.ssa.gov. And there are quite a few links in my presentation. They are all available in the weblinks pod. If you’re not able to access that, you can
send an email to webinars@choosework.ssa.gov to get a list of all of these links because
there are a lot coming up. I mentioned success stories a little while
ago. So, these are stories about real people who
have actually used the Ticket to Work program and have achieved financial independence through
work. We always encourag
e people to share these
stories on their social media or in your newsletter. We find that first-hand experiences really
go a long way to encourage others to try the program out or try to go back to work. If you have worked with a Social Security
beneficiary who has achieved financial independence through work and they want to share their
story, we’d love to hear about it. Basically, all you’d need to do is send
an email to stories@choosework.ssa.gov and let us know kind of what the story looks l
ike. A little bit of background about the person. I would ask you not to send any of their private
information like their address or anything like that, so don’t include any what we
call PII in there. And we would need to make sure that the person
gave you their permission to share their story as well. But we do encourage you to reach out if you
have a story that you would like to share with us. And all of our success stories are viewed
and approved by Social Security. And if they’re selected, w
e would work with
you to – to develop the story for publication. We would encourage you to try and get some
photos of the person, potentially the person at work. So, we will work with you on the additional
details for the success stories. I do just want to add to the success stories,
I’ll go back a second. So, while I have mentioned that the stories
are about people who have achieved financial independence through work, I do want to add
that we also have success stories that we call stepping sto
nes. And these are people who have taken some sort
of action to further their career. So, maybe they’ve gone back to school, like
Ray talked about earlier. Or maybe they’re doing really well at a
part-time job and they’re just about to make the jump to full time. Those are our stepping stones success stories. They’re also available on our success stories
page on the website. And if you have a story like that, feel free
to send it along as well. Our Frequently Asked Questions and Fact Sheets,
Ray
mentioned one earlier. We just published What is the Ticket to Work
Program? We also have several fact sheets about a variety
of different work incentives. We also have information out there about benefits
counseling, how to present your best self to employers, and a variety of other topics. I do encourage you to check those out, and
the way that you all could use them is printing them or emailing them to the people you serve
if they have questions about a particular topic. So, if somebody come
s in and says, I’m not
real sure about the interview process, what should I do, maybe you give them Presenting
Your Best Self to Employers. Or if you have somebody who wants to know
about the work incentive called the Pass Plan, we actually have two fact sheets about that. So, right there you could have that ready
for them if you got that type of question to help steer them in the right direction. Social media. We are very active on all of our social media
accounts. And our next slide here talks
about how to
connect with us on social media. We’re on Facebook at choosework. We’re on Twitter at chooseworkssa. YouTube at choosework. And LinkedIn, our company page, is ticket-to-work. And this brings me to the end of my section
of the slides, but I do want to encourage you all. The purpose of this presentation today was
to get the answers out to a lot of – or get information out to a lot of people about
the Ticket program and give you the tools and resources you need to share information
wi
th the people you serve. We encourage you to check out all of our resources
and also, as Ray mentioned, to start building those partnerships with the organizations
in your community. So, I hope that you have become more familiar
with who they may be. If you’re still not sure where to find them,
you can go to our Find Help tool on the website, put in your zip code, and that’s where you
can see who all of those partners in the audience – where all those partners are. So, it looks like Ray’s audio
has dropped. Can I just do a quick test? Ray, are you out there? Okay, so I guess I will cover these slides. But, again, let me just reiterate, we do encourage
you, like I said, to start sharing this information. If you would like to sign up for our email
updates, you can go to the home page, and on the top right-hand corner there’s a Contacts
section. And you can sign up for gov delivery updates
from us. And that’s basically our email server, so
you’ll get information as you choose, but you wou
ld get notifications about new blog
posts, new resources, or these WISE webinars. So, now I’m going to check again. Ray, are you back? RAY>> I think I am. JAYME>> I can hear you. And we are up to slide 48 for you to talk
about Join the Team. RAY>> All right. I am – I think I’m connected twice, unfortunately. Let’s see if I can turn my computer – all
right. I think that will do it. Can you hear me now, Jayme? JAYME>> I sure can. Go ahead, Ray. RAY>> Okay. (Inaudible) better. I’m just trying to le
arn how to use my computer. Okay. So, let’s talk about Join the Team: Become
an Employment Network. And I gotta tell you again, employment networks
are very important to this whole system. And we have some really good ones out there
who can help you join the team. An EN is an organization or group of organizations
that provides, coordinates, and delivers employment, VR information, and other support services
to assist our beneficiaries to enter, maintain, and advance in employment. That one bull
et encompasses a lot of what
we talk about here. Encompasses everything from getting a job,
to on-the-job supports to make sure you can maintain the job, as well as advancing, which
could relate back to, okay, now I’m at the point where I do need that advanced degree
in order to improve my situation and advance in this company. ENs can be for profit or not for profit. You know, the state VR agency is a good one. It’s a not-for-profit agency. You know, a lot of ENs are for profit. They are workin
g with clients who they believe
will progress and make progress so that they can be reimbursed by Social Security for their
services. All kinds of state and local agencies serve
as providers. You know when I was, again, at the law center
in Boston, I was encouraging my own director to become an EN. We were providing all of these services already,
let’s just participate with the Ticket to Work. Or a group of all of these people. You know, you’ll see lots of ENs, the bigger
ones, that serve severa
l states, you know, the Mid-Atlantic area. You know, people who have smaller ENs that
are now reaching out nationwide and serve many states. They may be the same agency; they may be subsidiaries
of an agency. You know, what you can create, even if you
are a one-person shop today, is pretty much only limited by, again, your imagination and
the regulations Social Security has in place. The benefits of becoming an employment network. You know, the Ticket program is an outcome-based
program. So, it
can very easily be integrated into
your existing business model, which is what I was trying to convince my director of. You know, we already provide these services. We already achieve outcomes for our clients. We help them achieve their own outcomes. And we help. Let’s get reimbursed for some of this. If you’re a nonprofit, it’s nice to have
some money coming in on a regular basis. The payments are based on a beneficiary achieving
milestones and outcomes. That could be when a beneficiary has com
pleted
a rehabilitation or educational program. That could be that my consumer has begun earning
at one-half of the trial work level this year. $420.00, something like that. $430.00, where you could be getting outcome
payments to support working with that client. Associated with work, of course, and earnings
a beneficiary achieves after working with the EN. Yeah. It’s not – it’s not a lot of thinking
to see how your individual business right now could adopt this as a model and fit it
in and prov
ide a stream of income to provide one consumer, which turns into providing services
to another, and then you have an ongoing process of helping many. The program is going to help beneficiaries
reduce reliance on Social Security benefits. And eventually to become financially independent
through work. And notice that might be two different groups
of people. Reducing your reliance on Social Security
benefits is a good thing. We have to understand that what we have going
on is these people are all s
everely disabled. And they may not have capacity to become completely
independent of benefits. But they’re still a success if they work
to their best and highest capacity. But financial independence is the one thing
that benefits everybody. It benefits us as taxpayers. It benefits the consumers because they are
going to have more money and a job. And jobs come with more benefits than just
the money. An EN can use Ticket payment revenue at its
discretion, too. The EN can choose to accept a Ticket
and assign
it, you know, which is going to be a marvelous thing because a Ticket brings a lot of other
things to it. And, you know, it’s at your discretion. If I’m interviewing with you and saying
I want a job, am I sincere? Am I likely to make the progress that’s
going to allow you to be reimbursed? You know, you’re making a business decision. And that’s important to remember. You’re not required to help everybody that
knocks on the door. And that’s going – and that’s a benefit
to everybody as
well, frankly. Let’s learn more about this stuff. Frequently Asked Questions are found at http://bit.ly/become-an-en. And as Jayme said, they’re all in the weblinks
pod under their non-technical names. Qualifications for becoming an EN. Are you all set up? Do you have the licenses that you need? You know, by the state that you live in. Download an application. Downloading an application isn’t a scary
thing. We have lots of people said, my god, it’s
a hundred pages long. Well, it’s not. There’s
lots of instructions, suggestions,
things like that to fill out a standard application. And questions about becoming an EN. You know, Social Security wants you to become
an EN. They’re going to encourage and help. So, if you contact ENOperations@yourtickettowork.ssa.gov,
those people are going to be there to provide you with some assistance. Kind of like no wrong door for employment
networks that want to join the team. Okay, Jackie and Jayme, you’re up. JACKIE>> All right. Thank you, Ray and Jay
me. So, we are going to go ahead and break for
some more questions. The first question, Jayme, is for you. How do we request that our agency be recommended
as an employment network? JAYME>> That one’s actually sort of for
Ray, but as Ray just discussed, I’d encourage you to talk with – if you’re talking about
speaking with your boss or something like that, I’d encourage you to reach out to
provide some of the information we gave today about becoming an employment network or some
of those website
s that Ray mentioned will provide information about that. And you just have to apply, so there’s really
no request process but all you have to do is apply. Ray, did I miss anything? RAY>> No, I think you got it. I think you got it, you know. I mean, you know, when I did it with my director,
I just explained, we’re doing this already. The only thing we’re missing is the reimbursement. And in our nonprofit world, that reimbursement
could be used to help the next client. JACKIE>> Okay. Ray, the nex
t question is for you. What is the referral process for VR and the
age range? RAY>> Well, you know, VR, state VR, is going
to provide assistance to, you know, everybody on benefits from Social Security is a priority. So, they’re going to provide assistance
to a lot of folks. You can begin working with VR early as a transition-age
youth because we have great programs for those folks. And if you’re an adult over 18, you’re
going to go 18, again, up to 64. You know, you’re not going to be a priorit
y
when you’re 64. I’m 64 now. I am going to be 65 in a couple of weeks. At 65, I’m considered retired by these systems. So, they’re not going to spend a lot of
money on rehabbing me for three weeks. So, we got to be reasonable about that, but,
you know, I’m going to say up to 64, you know, because – or I should say through
64 because that’s what the law says. I’m going to say we’ve got to be practical
and reasonable about this. If I’m in my fifties, that group between
35 and 55 are ripe for reha
b services because there’s still a long time to work. But after that, we’ve just got to understand
that after we’re 65 we are considered retired. So, with a, you know, with a little bit of
hesitation I’m going to say all the way up to age 65. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. The next question is for Ray. Can an individual who has applied for SSI
but has not been approved yet receive assistance from the Ticket to Work program? RAY>> No, you can’t. Once you are approved for SSI, and you have
that disability
decision, the favorable disability decision and know your amount of benefits,
you could before payment starts. But you have to be eligible for a cash payment
before you can participate in the Ticket to Work. You know, that’s not to say that there aren’t
providers out there that we’re not involved with who won’t help you before. You know, it’s usually – you’re going
to pay for those services though. But anybody who receives SSI benefits, who
receives SSDI benefits, will be eligible for these prog
rams. JACKIE>> Thank you, Ray, for clearing that
up. Jayme, this question is for you. If we know someone who might be eligible for
a Ticket to Work success story, how do we submit their information for consideration? JAYME>> Just send us an email at stories@choosework.ssa.gov. Just give us a little bit of information about
what the story looks like, and we will contact you. As I said earlier, please don’t include
any of that person’s personal information and also make sure you have their permiss
ion
to share their story with us. JACKIE>> Thanks, Jayme. Ray, I’ve got another question for you. If the six provisional payments are paid and
there is still no decision of SSA on EXR, does SSA pay benefits retro to months after
sixth provisional payment? RAY>> No, they don’t. The way the law reads is Social Security can
provide up to six months of provisional benefits. And that gives the Disability Determination
Services in your state six months to determine whether you’re eligible for reinstat
ement. And, you know, because benefits will stop
in month six, this doesn’t happen very often, but, you know, if you get to month seven,
there’s not going to be a payment. And there won’t be a payment until that
eligibility decision is made. So, you gotta watch that. If you have a benefits planner, if you have
an EN, and you’re going through this process, that provider can help you reach out to Social
Security in month four if you don’t have a favorable decision. You know, if you – if you’re doi
ng this
on your own, because beneficiaries do find work, just reach out to the Social Security
office and see what’s going on and give a little nudge so that everybody gets that
decision before six months is over. JACKIE>> Thanks, Ray. The next question is for you. When trying to help 18+ young adults, they
required someone to prompt them through work tasks. Is there a resource for finding this kind
of help for on-the-job success? RAY>> Absolutely. I would start with making contact with your
oth
er partner, the state VR agencies. They’re going to know who these providers
are because they’re in the pro – you know, they’re in the process of doing that for
a lot of people. And it’s not necessarily services that are
provided by the VR counselor. You know, so there are lots of people out
there who provide vendor services to state VR agencies. You know, other employment networks are going
to be able to help you locate jobs – job coaches, people like that, who can prompt. Shadow workers, you k
now, you could have a
job coach that’s shadowing a worker to make sure things are done appropriately until that
worker gets up to speed. But, yeah, I would start with the VR agency
because they are the big – the big kid on the block. You know, there aren’t many providers that
are that big and have that many resources. And it’s not a problem for an EN to say,
hey, we can get you these services, but we need to reach out to the state agency. You know, smaller ENs are not going to have
funding to pr
ovide on-the-job supports that are going to be very comprehensive. We can work and partner with other people
at the table, and VR – and state VR is the way to do that. JACKIE>> Ray, a follow up to that is can you
talk a little bit about the work incentives specifically for that age group? RAY>> Yeah. You know, all of the work incentives that
we talk about are actually available for that group. You know, the Ticket program, to get a Ticket
to Work, requires that somebody be a disabled adult, so t
here is this event called the Age
18 Redetermination which moves somebody from a disabled child into disabled adult status. So, they need to go through that review before
they get their ticket. But they are eligible for a ticket after that. We have the student earned income exclusion
that we spent time on. IRWEs are available. So, let’s say – let’s just say I’m
a precocious kid, and I earn $2,500.00 in June, my first month out of school. I get $1,930.00. That leaves me with $570.00 that count. W
hat about impairment-related work expenses? Do I have anything, any copays for medications,
any over the counter things – items or medications that I need for my disability and need to
work and I’m paying for without reimbursement. You know, that could be used when we tally
those up. How about assistance, getting ready for work,
getting cleaned up, to eating, and assistance getting ready from work? We can reduce that $570.00 by more money. You know, and then if, in fact, we have somebody
– I’m g
oing to use that young adult who needs prompts – is that adult performing
for the employer to the same capacity that every other employee is? If they’re not, on the disabled adult child
benefit now called childhood disability benefit, you might have an employer subsidy. And if they’re performing at 75%, 25% of
the income doesn’t count. So, there are lots of just regular adult work
incentives for adults who are not students that also are going to apply. It’s just that that student earned income
e
xclusion is the first deduction when you take earned income into consideration. So, if I’m a kid that earned $1,200.00 in
the month of June, none of it counts. You can deduct up to $1,930.00, so I don’t
need any of the other work incentives. But if I’m precocious and earn a lot of
money, I will then have the rest of the work incentives to fall back on. Remember, we said that there were 20 – at
least 20 – of them out there that you can use. That Redbook – (Inaudible.) Yeah, I’m going to give anot
her plug for
the Redbook. If you go online when we’re done and download
that Redbook, all of those work incentives are going to be there. JACKIE>> Thank you, Ray, that was a great
plug. So, unfortunately, we are out of time. We hope you – we hope you have received
some answers to your questions on the Ticket program. And thank you so much to Ray and Jayme for
being with us today and sharing your knowledge of the Ticket to Work program. RAY>> Any time. And always great to work with Jayme. JAYME>>
Thanks, Ray, I’m happy to be here,
too, and I encourage you all to take some of the next steps we’ve identified in this
webinar. Thank you for attending. Go ahead, Jackie. JACKIE>> Thanks. Before we wrap up today, here are a few ways
to connect with Ticket to Work. You can contact the Ticket to Work Help Line
at 1-866-968-7842. Or for TTY, 1-866-833-2967. They are available Monday through Friday from
8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Or you can visit the Ticket to Work website
at choosework.
ssa.gov any time. You can also find us on social media or subscribe
to the blog and email updates by visiting choosework.ssa.gov/contact/index.html. This link appears in the weblinks pod under
the Ticket to Work Contact Information. Get advice and encouragement and read success
stories from people who have had success with help from the Ticket to Work program. To receive messages from the Ticket to Work
program, text “ticket” to 474747. Standard messaging rates may apply. You may opt out at any
time. Please join us for our next WISE webinar:
Ticket to Work: Support on Your Journey to Employment which will be held on Wednesday,
September 22, 2021, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Registration is open, and we look forward
to having you attend. To register online, go to choosework.ssa.gov/WISE. Or you can call 1-866-968-7842. Or for TTY, 1-866-833-2967. Your feedback is very important to us and
helps us plan for future webinars. Please provide your feedback and tell us what
you think
about today’s webinar by taking our survey. To take the survey, you can follow the link
that will pop up after the webinar or visit the Ticket to Work website to complete the
survey. This survey can also be found in the weblinks
pod. Thank you again for attending today to learn
about the Ticket program. Please take the opportunity to reach out to
any of the great resources we discussed today. This concludes today’s webinar. Have a wonderful evening.
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