Jayme >> Good afternoon. I would like to welcome you to today's WISE webinar, Ticket to Work for America's Veterans. My name is Jayme Pendergraft, and I am the Director of Communications and Outreach for Social Security’s Ticket to Work Program. Thank you for joining us today. It's my pleasure to introduce today's moderator and presenter, Derek Shields. Derek is a member of the Ticket Program Manager with 29 years of experience in disability inclusion and employment support services. Derek's spent 18 years working with military health system, including supporting wounded service members in their transition process and also works with the Department of Veteran's Affairs in their Independent Living Services. Derek, over to you.

Derek >> Thank you so much Jayme. And welcome everyone to today's Ticket to Work webinar. We are delighted to focus today on Ticket to Work for America's veterans. As Jayme said, I'm Derek Shields and I'll be serving as the moderator today. And in a little while I'll introduce, and be joined, by Debora Wagner, from Cornell University's Yang-Tan Institute. And she will be serving as our feature speaker today. Thank you so much for joining us to learn about Social Security's Ticket to Work program, Work Incentives and about benefits and services and supports available for disabled veterans. Having just honored our nation’s veterans this past weekend, our team is so pleased to bring valuable information and resources to assist disabled veterans who are interested in returning to work. We thank those of you who are veterans and attending today, for your service. And we hope you find our content helpful as you start, or choose, to expand your path to financial independence through work. 

Now if you aren't part of this specific audience, please know you are certainly welcome to be with us today. And you should also know that next month we'll be focusing on content that might be more of interest to you with our WISE webinar, “How Will Work Affect My Social Security Disability Benefits?” With that, let's get started by reviewing some of the functions of this audio - excuse me, Adobe Connect Platform. And then we'll get into today's presentation. 

First, you can manage your audio using the audio option at the top of your screen. The audio option is an icon that looks like a microphone or telephone. Choose "select speaker" from the menu options, as noted in the device speaker image on the screen now. Next, please note that all attendees are muted today. When asked “how do you want to join the meeting's audio?” please select the device speaker option. This will enable the sound to be broadcast through your computer. Make sure your speakers are turned on or your headphones are plugged in to access the sound. If you do not have sound capabilities on your computer or prefer to listen by telephone, please dial 1-800-832-0736 and then you can enter the access code, 4189148#. You can also use the join the meeting audio via receive a phone call, as depicted in the image on the screen and entering the same number and access code. 

Now let's review the webinar platform on the Adobe Connect platform. You'll notice different boxes on the screen. These boxes are called pods. We have the presentation pod where the slides appear. That's the largest portion of the screen. Below that is an open space, this is for the placement of the closed captioning pod, if you like. And the top right corner is the Q & A pod and below that is the Web Links pod. We'll talk about these pods in more detail in just a little bit. If you do need assistance navigating the Adobe Connect platform, we do have an Accessibility User Guide. This has a list of controls, and is available through a link. You can find this link in the Web Links pod in the bottom right corner at item number four entitled Adobe Accessibility User Guide. It's also available at http>>//bit.ly/adobe-accessibility. Two options to access that Adobe Accessibility User Guide. 

Next, real-time captioning is available and is displayed in the captioning pod. And this can be placed below the slides as I mentioned. You're able to show or hide the captioning display and can also choose the text size and text color combinations to best meet your vision preferences. You can open the closed captioning by selecting the cc option from the top menu bar. Captioning link can also be accessed in the Web Links pod under the title "web captioning". You can also access captioning online in that separate viewing window. The choice is really up to you and your preference. If you're fluent in American Sign Language and would like support during today's webinar, please follow the link that provides instructions on how to connect with an interpreter through the Federal Communications Commission video relay service. The ASL user guide can be found in the Web Links pod at number six under the title of ASL user guide. 

We are here today to answer questions. And we'll do that in a little bit. So please collect those and send your questions to us any time throughout the webinar by typing them into the Q & A pod in the upper right. We'll then direct those questions to our speaker during the Q & A portion. So please send us those questions. If you are listening by telephone and are not logged into the webinar, you can send us your questions through our email address that's on the screen at webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. Another resource that I've been mentioning that we think you'll find very useful today is the Web Links pod. That's in the bottom right of your screen, and this pod lists the links to the resources that we'll be covering throughout today's webinar. To access the resources, select the topic of interest and you can access that resource through a web browser to learn more. We also share these in the follow-up that comes to those who registered for the event. 

Next, today's webinar is being recorded. And a copy of it will be available within two weeks on the Choose Work website. That's at http>>//bit.ly/WISE_ondemand. This link, as well as others are in the Web Links pod that's at number seven. And it's entitled WISE webinar archives. We hope everyone has a great experience today. However, if you have any technical difficulties please use the Q & A pod. Our team will be able to assist or if you prefer email us at webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. Okay, with that we'll now begin our content today. As I mentioned, I'm Derek and with the Ticket Program team. And I'll serve as a moderator. I'm going to cover some program information as well. I'm delighted to be joined by Debora Wagner who has Juris Doctor Degree from Cornell University at Yang-Tan Institute, as her employer will be our special guest today. Now I'll introduce her in a little bit. But for now, we'd like to start out as we commonly do with the first segment. Our content today will cover Social Security's Ticket to Work Program of course, and we'll also focus on benefits for veterans. In our third segment is who can help you achieve your employment goals. And as I mentioned, we'll end up with a robust Q & A with our guest speaker. 

So for that, let's cover first Social Security Disability benefits. So we'll begin by reviewing both, and the first one is Social Security Disability Insurance, also known as SSDI. This is the disability insurance program, which is a program that people have paid into while working. So the keyword there is "insurance.” If you have worked and you've had FICA taxes withheld from your paycheck that's really what's being used to fund these disability insurance benefits. And the amount of this benefit is going to depend on how long you've worked, and how much you've earned. And in that case, how much you've put into the insurance program. There is a maximum amount and we should all know that everybody's amount is going to be different. Sometimes you can have up to 10 years to become insured, and this can vary. So recalling that it's an insurance program and you have to work in the past, pay into the program. With SSDI it's also important to note we don't really focus on your resources. We're not looking at any unearned income. That's why it's just an insurance program. Now the second program listed here, the Supplemental Security Income or SSI, notice it doesn't say "insurance.” This is a needs-based program provided by Social Security to people who have not worked enough to be insured for SSDI or do not have a work history at all. So that's going to be very different than the insurance program. It's also going to look to see if you have very low resource amounts and income amounts. Social Security administers both of these programs and pays monthly benefits to people for SSI with limited income and resources. They could be either blind or have a qualifying disability. It's also important to note the SSI Program is available to people over 65 and older and children with disabilities who are either blind or have a disability too. So two programs, both important because when we get into talking about Ticket, you're going to see that eligibility starts by having to be a recipient of one of these disability benefits programs. So how do you find out which benefit, or if you're on both benefits? We recommend that you can look up that information on a my Social Security account, or we call these my SSA accounts. These accounts have to be set up on the Social Security website. And they're going to ask you for some personal information. And you can be assured that this is safe and it is being controlled by the Social Security Administration. What will happen is that they're going to be able to give you through an online view your work history. And it's going to tell you if you're eligible for SSDI, how much you would receive. And it will tell you also how much your family members will receive if you have dependents, through survivor benefits. On the SSI side, this my SSA account will also clarify that your benefits are SSI and how much those benefits would be. So all this information would be very helpful if you're going to seek a path to work. Because people are going to ask you "Well are you on SSDI and/or SSI" and if you don't have an account, well this is one way that you can access that information to be prepared. So I have a recommended sign-up for a my Social Security account. You can do that at SSA.gov/myaccount. You could also go into the Web Links pod. It is listed at item number eight. 

All right, with the Social Security Disability Benefits in mind, and knowing how you can figure out if you have those, next up we want to talk for a moment about the Ticket to Work Program. The Ticket to Work Program is both free and voluntary. It's serving people ages 18 through 64 who receive one of those disability benefits from Social Security and want to work. Those are the only requirements. You want to work, you're age 18 through 64, and you're receiving SSDI and/or SSI. And you're interested in working. So if that sounds like you, we have some great services and supports and they're going to help you on your planning and implementation for your journey to self-sufficiency. So keep that in mind. When we think about Ticket to Work and connecting you with these employment services and supports we like to break it down into these four areas. Deciding if work is right. You know work might not be the right option for everybody. But we really want you to contemplate it because work is a pathway to contribution. And for many veterans a return to a mission. Next, once you decide to work you can consider preparation for work. What do you need to put in place? Do you need training or do we need to refresh the resume? Or translate the resume into a competitive tool for the positions you're seeking. Third, help in finding a job. We have providers that are connected to employers and they'll know where your interests will match up with employers. And fourth, once you're on the job, how to succeed at work. That's a lot that I just covered in four bullets. If you're interested in exploring this further, we have two links that are in the Web Links pod for you to check out. The bottom one, the self-guided tutorial is a great tool. It takes you through those four phases that's in the Web Links pod and we also have a FAQ sheet to learn more about Social Security's Ticket Program itself. So check those out if those are of interest to you. 

Now if you're thinking about this and I heard a little bit about it, but I really want to talk to a specialist. We also have the Ticket to Work help line, so you can verify your eligibility. You can talk to beneficiary support specialists around your questions about how the program works and to see if it's maybe the right thing for you to explore. You can reach out to the Ticket to Work help line Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. We have two numbers for you here. The first one is 1-866-968-7842. And the second one is for TTY callers. It's 1-866-833-2967. So you can reach out to the Ticket to Work help line. Talk to a beneficiary support specialist or if you prefer, you know you can check into the my Social Security account, check on your stat - your SSDI and SSI benefits, or do both. That's really your choice and you can explore your benefits coverage and the Ticket Program eligibility. So that's the setup we wanted to provide for you today. It gives you a little bit of understanding of the Ticket Program. 

And now we're lucky to turn to our focus on benefits for veterans. And with that, I'm now going to more formally introduce our guest speaker Debora L. Wagner. Debora has spent 25 years working with legal services and law school clinical programs. Throughout her career she has presented on benefits issues including post entitlement and return to work issues for attorneys, Vocational Rehabilitation professionals, agency staff, individuals with disabilities and their families too. She is frequently invited to present on the intersection of VA Benefits and Social Security Benefits with a focus on how work impacts benefits for veterans. From 2016 to 2022, she held the statewide network of Work Incentives training and technical assistance for benefits planners in the state of Ohio. In December of 2021 Debora joined the Cornell University staff where she continues to provide Work Incentives training and technical assistance. She also designed and teaches a credential course on Work Incentive planning for veterans. Debora, we so appreciate you being with us today. It's now time for you to dive into benefits for veterans.

Debora >> Thank you so much, Derek, I appreciate the kind introduction. And I'm thrilled to see so many people here today. This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart. When I started practicing law in 1996 I was tasked with learning two things first. One of those was Work Incentive planning and the other was VA benefits. And so these two have always gone together in my mind. And I'm thrilled today to get to share that information with you. As you can imagine November is a very busy time of year for me. I get a lot of requests to present on this topic and I'm thrilled to do so because it's one of my favorite things to talk about. So here's a little bit of information about the Work Incentive support center where I work. It's part of the Yang-Tan Institute at Cornell University. We focus on employment and disability. At the Work Incentive support center, we provide training and technical assistance on Work Incentive issues, including a specialized course on Work Incentive planning for veterans. So in my section today I'm going to talk about VA disability benefits, specifically. It's possible that veterans may be getting benefits from the Department of Defense. Whether those are retirement benefits or disability benefits. But today we're going to really focus on benefits offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. We're also going to talk about Social Security Disability benefits, and how those benefits apply for veterans, how they intersect with benefits offered through the VA, and some special Social Security rules and VA rules for veterans who are getting both benefits. And I'm also going to talk to you about how to find additional health with your VA benefits, if that's something that you would be interested in doing. 

So let's start by talking about the Department of Veterans Affairs itself; it is a cabinet level organization, has a secretary, reports directly to the president. Headquarters are in Washington, D.C. and they have regional offices throughout the country and every state. And somebody has already asked this question, I saw in the Q & A box. Am I a veteran? And so let's talk about who qualifies as a veteran, specifically for VA purposes. And it's both much broader than you might think. And it's also more narrow than you might think. So veteran is, for the VA purposes includes people who served in the Army and the Air Force and the Navy and the Marines. That all makes sense. It also includes cadets at the military academies, they would be veterans. Reserviced and members of the National Guard can qualify, but usually they have to have had active duty in order to be eligible for VA benefits. And we'll talk about that a little bit as we go through this discussion. And also includes commissioned officers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, who knew, the weather people. And also commissioned members of the US Public Health Service. So the definition is what you normally think of, but it's also broader. So that's one way it's very broad. Is this looking at all the organizations that can provide that status. Now to get VA benefits you have to have served on active duty. And that means not an active duty for training, but active duty. So you've been called up for some sort of active duty, and you have to have what they call good paper. And this means that you are discharged under other than dishonorable conditions. And for many veterans this is a real narrowing effect on the definition of veteran. They don't quality because of the character of their discharge. For those veterans there are two options. One is they can go back to the Department of Defense and go to the branch where they served and ask for a discharge upgrade if they're within 15 years of the date of their discharge. If they miss that deadline or they get a bad decision, they could also request a correction in military records. So that's one way you can deal with a bad discharge. The other way is actually a process through the VA, where you can ask the VA to do a character of discharge determination. They'll look at a number of factors that surround the bad discharge and see whether or not you qualify for VA benefits despite that discharge. 

So for example, I had a veteran once who had engaged in some fights while they were in the service. They had threatened some other service members with a knife and eventually went AWOL. Well it later turned out they were diagnosed with Schizophrenia. And because it was symptoms of their service-connected schizophrenia that led to the behaviors that resulted in a bad discharge, we got the VA to ignore that bad discharge and provide that veteran with VA benefits for that schizophrenia. And for most benefits that the VA offers, there's a minimum period of service and the common denominator for most of them is two years for most benefit programs. There are some exceptions, but that is the general rule when looking at VA benefits. So I'm going to talk about two cash benefits that the VA pays for veterans with disabilities. And the first of those that I'm going to talk about is called disability compensation. And this program is specifically for veterans with a service-connected disability. Now when people hear that they think “oh someone was shot in combat.” Yeah that will be a service-connected disability, absolutely. But it includes any illness or injury that started while the veteran was on active duty. It does not have to be related to combat. It does not have to be related to them doing their job or military occupational specialty while they were in the service. It just has to happen while they're on active duty. So for example I worked with a veteran years ago who had been on some rec time. Hanging out on base with his buddies and they were playing softball and he slid into home plate and broke his arm. But he was safe. He was safe. But he broke his arm and that was a service-connected disability. There's also a number of conditions that are presumed to be service connected. These include conditions related to exposures to different toxins, like Agent Orange or the water at Camp Lejeune or burn pits or ionizing radiation. There's a long list and then there are conditions that are presumed to be related to exposure to those toxins. There are also certain conditions related to tropical diseases that are presumed to be service connected. So if a veteran lives in the United States but served in a tropical area and was later diagnosed with a tropical disease, they're going to presume that that is from their time in the service, and would be service connected. 

There are also some conditions that could be diagnosed after you leave the service, but if they start within a certain period of time after discharge, they can also be service connected. So for example, if you have a mental health condition that's diagnosed within one year from your discharge from the service, that can be a service-connected disability. Now disabilities for the VA purposes for compensation are rated in 10% increments from zero percent, which offers you no cash benefit but it gives you healthcare. We'll talk about that in a little bit. All the way up to 100%. And depending on your rating determines how much you're going to be paid by the VA. So a 10% disability pays $169 a month. And 100% disability for a single veteran with no dependents would pay over $3,600 a month. So wide range there. All of the benefits paid through the VA are tax free, so you will not be taxed on any of these benefits. As I said, the amount that you're paid in compensation is based on that disability rating. But if a veteran has a disability or a combination of disabilities that are rated 30% or higher, they can get additional benefits for family members. This includes the spouse, dependent children and even dependent parents. For children the VA is going to require that they be under age 18, or up to age 23 if they're still in school full time. Or it could be an adult child over age 23 who has a disability that started before age 18, and has made them incapable of self-support. So any of those dependents could increase the payment amount for compensation for a veteran. So in most cases veterans who get compensation benefits see very little impact when they go to work. But there are some exceptions, and I want to mention those exceptions. 

So if a veteran has got what's called Individual Unemployability, the VA is going to pay them at 100% even though their disability rating is less than 100%. So maybe their schedule rating is 60% or 70%. The VA will still pay them at the 100% rate. If the VA finds that they're unemployable, as a result of those service-connected disabilities. So for those veterans who have Individual Unemployability; if they go to work and they work at what the VA calls the Substantial 
Gainful occupation level, which is currently 100% of the federal poverty level, and they can sustain work at that level for 12 months, then the VA will continue to pay them compensation. But they won't pay them at the 100% based on employability. They'll go back down to their schedule rating. So whatever it was before; 60%, 70%, whatever their rating was before they got Individual Unemployability. That will be the amount they get paid if they lose Individual Unemployability. 

There are also some conditions that the VA will not rate at 100% disabling if the veteran is able to work. So for example, mental health conditions cannot be rated at 100% if the veteran with the mental health condition is able to work. Again at that substantial gainful occupation level on a sustained basis. But normally for most veterans who don't have Individual Unemployability are one of those special exceptions. They're able to work and keep the full amount of their compensation benefits. Other income and other resources are not going to impact compensation benefits. So this is a wonderful program for veterans with service-connected disabilities. It provides them with income, and it also helps them with healthcare. And we'll talk about that a little bit in just a few minutes. Now there's another cash disability benefit that the VA offers, and it's called Disability Pension. This is like the SSI program that Derek told you about. This is a needs-based program. It is for veterans who live in households with low income and limited resources. It also requires that the veteran must have served during a period of war. That doesn't mean that the veteran served in combat. It doesn't mean the veteran even left the United States. It just means that at least one day of their service had to overlap with a period of war. And just because you know American History, doesn't mean you know the periods of war as defined by Congress, which is what VA uses. If you go to their website at VA.gov you can actually find a list of periods of war and it's very precise to be eligible for pension. A veteran’s service must overlap by at least one day with a period of war. In addition, the veteran has to be disabled or age 65 or older. And for that disability determination the VA can use the Social Security finding of disability. They also will consider someone who resides in a long-term care facility to be disabled. Or the VA can do their own disability determination process using the same schedule that they use for compensation benefits, but the veteran has to be rated at least 100% disabled. Okay? Pension also will pay extra money for family members. So if you have dependent spouse or dependent children they will include those family members in calculating the pension payment. Now it's really important to know that wages reduce the amount of pension payments. The way the VA calculates pension is they look at the household’s annual projected income for the coming year, and they subtract that income from the maximum annual pension rate for the coming year for that household size. And the difference is the amount that will be the pension amount for the year for that household. And we normally divide it into 12 equal monthly payments. So if the veteran goes to work and has wages that they didn't anticipate having when that projection was made, they're being overpaid pension. They're going to have their pension reduced and they may have an overpayment that they have to repay to the VA. So it's very important when a veteran is on pension that they talk with a Work Incentive planner and get complete information so that they fully understand the impact of work on VA pension. And they can make an informed choice about whether to work and how much they'd like to work. So let's talk a little bit about VA healthcare. I think we have this misconception that anybody who served in the military can walk into any VA Health Medical Center in the country or community-based outpatient clinic and get any kind of healthcare they need. And that's not really how VA healthcare works. First of all, veterans who think that they're eligible must register for VA healthcare. And again, they're going to have to have good paper. They have to have served for at least two years on active duty. They have to meet those requirements to get VA benefits. Now there's one exception that I want to let you guys know about. And that is that veterans can get mental healthcare through the VA for up to one year, even if they have a bad discharge. And that's because the VA recognizes there's been a mental health crisis among some veterans. And that the VA should be providing healthcare to help and address that problem. And during those 12 months the ideas that that veteran could take steps to deal with their bad discharge, either by requesting that discharge upgrade through the Department of Defense, or asking the VA for a character of discharge determination. So that is a wonderful opportunity for veterans who may have been told in the past that they were not eligible for VA healthcare. To be able to at least get mental healthcare treatment through the VA for at least 12 months. 

Once a veteran registers for healthcare through the VA they are going to be assigned to one of eight priority groups. One being the highest priority, and that's for veterans who have a service connected disability, rated at least 50% or higher, a combination of disabilities at least 50% or higher. And then for each priority group there are a number of factors that the VA will accept. They're going to look to see whether the veteran receives Medicaid or pension. Whether they serve during certain periods of war. Whether they were ever a prisoner of war or received certain combat related medals. So they're going to look at a number of factors to assign veterans to those priority groups. And the two lowest priority groups, priority group seven and eight currently do have co-payments. They're small, very small copayments associated with their care. For most types of care veterans who are in priority groups one through six will not have co-payments or will have extremely low co-payments for their care. So it's important to know that the veteran must register and must be assigned to a priority group before they'll get any care through the VA healthcare system. If a veteran qualifies for multiple priority groups, they will be assigned to the highest priority group for which they qualify. So it's a wonderful way for veterans to be able to get healthcare. If a veteran has a service-connected disability, the VA is going to provide free comprehensive healthcare for those service connected conditions. Even if they're rated at only zero percent. So sometimes I would spend years fighting to establish service connection for a condition. And the people I worked with would say “why are you spending so much time when you know it's going to be rated at zero percent?” And I would explain that the reason I was fighting for that veteran was I wanted them to have access to healthcare for that condition. Please know that the VA can also pay for healthcare in the community, so they can pay private providers. They may do this if you need a type of care that's not offered through your local VA healthcare facility. They may also offer it if the VA healthcare is not convenient for you to get to in your geographic area. 

So for example, when I practiced in Colorado, I had veterans who could get to their VA community based outreach clinic easily by driving over a mountain pass. But oftentimes those passes would be closed from October through April or May of the year because of snow and weather conditions. And in those cases the VA would pay for those months for the veteran to go and get care in the community. If a veteran wants to get care from a non-VA provider, they do need to request prior authorization. Unless it's a medical emergency or they need urgent care. And please know that the VA is now contracting with a number of urgent care providers across the country. And it allows veterans to go and get urgent care without having to go to the VA and wait in the emergency department. They can use an urgent care facility. And they normally will pay nothing or up to a $30.00 copayment for those visits. So very affordable for urgent care. If you have private insurance, be sure to provide that information to the VA. The VA will bill private insurance companies for the care they provide. However, the VA will never bill Medicare or Medicaid. If you have a Medicare supplement plan, the VA will bill your Medicare supplement plan. And this is really important. Sometimes when people become eligible for Medicare they may delay enrollment in parts B or parts D, which are optional. And the VA healthcare system is not credible coverage for Part B. So if you want to delay enrollment in part B, do not think that you're going - not going to pay a higher premium by delaying. Most people will unless you have credible coverage. And VA healthcare is not going to count as credible coverage. However, if you are delaying enrollment in part D of Medicare, VA healthcare is credible coverage and you can delay enrollment without paying a premium penalty if you're getting healthcare through the VA. 

All right let's move on. So the VA also offers Vocational Rehabilitation programs and they have some really wonderful services for veterans. There are two programs that I work with primarily. The first one is VR&E or Veteran Readiness and Employment. And this is specifically for veterans who have a service-connected disability that is rated at least 10% disabling or more. And they offer five pathways to employment. One is re-employment. Where you go back to the job you had before you went in the service. So maybe you were working as a nurse before you joined the service. And now that you're bad, you have to take some steps to get your license back in your state. The VA will help you with that process. Any education you need. Any fees associated with that. So that you can get back to doing the job you had before you entered the service. There's also a track called rapid access to employment. And that recognizes that veterans have been serving their country, they've had purpose, they've had mission. And sometimes they don't do well when they come back to civilian life. And they don't have something to do right away. And so rapid access to employment helps veterans find quick employment and gets them working immediately so that they have mission and purpose like they're used to. I have to say that VR&E also offers phenomenal self-employment services. They will help analyze a business idea. They will prepare a business plan with you; help you prepare the business plan. They will also help you find the resources you need for your business plan including potentially loans through the Small Business Administration that are designed to help veterans start their own businesses. And they offer you training on how to run a small business. So things like marketing and accounting. The VR&E program for self-employment is pretty amazing. They also offer employment through long term services. So if a veteran needs some vocational training or additional education, the VA can help pay for that through the VR&E program. That can include not only the tuition and the books associated with those services, but it can also include a subsistence allowance to help you pay your monthly bills while you're in school or an education program. And the last thing the VR&E can offer is independent living services. And the VA has some phenomenal independent living services. My uncle is a veteran. He actually went to the US Naval Academy and served in the Navy for many years. While he was in the Navy he was diagnosed with degenerative vision condition. And over time he's progressively lost his sight until he is now totally blind. And as he's lost his vision, they have offered the most amazing independent living services for him. And then again it included things like helping him design his home in a way that he would be able to be independent. Including lighting options, transitions between flooring, picking out countertops that would be easier for him to see, installing under cabinet lighting, all kinds of things. And then as he progressively lost his vision, they offered help with assistive technology. Mobility training with a cane and recently I visited him and I haven't seen him in his new home. And when I was visiting him, he said "Oh you haven't seen my workshop." And I thought oh no, he was a woodworker for years. I'm like he's not still woodworking is he? Well he is. And he showed me his shop full of amazing tools that the VA had helped provide him that allow him to safely continue to wood work. And he was in the process of making jewelry boxes for all the grandkids. And he was just happy as could be, because he was still out puttering in his workshop. So independent living services that they offer through the VA are really amazing. 

Now there's a different Vocational Rehabilitation program offered through the VA and it's called compensated work therapy. And you'll notice it has the word "therapy" in the name. And this is for veterans who have a mental health condition. And they have to be eligible for VA healthcare for that mental health condition. And they can offer them all kinds of supports. And it can include things like working in a paid position at the VA while you're learning skills and testing your ability to work. And this program really focuses on the therapeutic benefits of work. And using work as a tool to help people through the recovery process. I worked with a veteran years ago who was diagnosed with major depression while he was in the army. He got a disability discharge. He applied for VA benefits. He was approved for compensation and assigned 100% disability rating. And he came back to me and he said, "Well can I go to work? I want to work. My psychiatrist thinks it would be good for me. I'm not good sitting at home. I'm a soldier. That's not what we do." And I recommended compensated work therapy for him. Because if he'd gone and worked in competitive employment, depending on how much he earned, he might have lost that 100% rating, right? Mental health conditions can't be rated 100% if the veteran can work at that substantial gainful level. But because he could do compensated work therapy, that wasn't considered Substantial Gainful Employment. So he was able to get paid. He was able to work and serve. He actually was a greeter at a VA medical facility, directing people to radiology and records and greeting the veterans. And he knew everybody. And he just loved his job. And he really felt much better because he was working and actively involved in his community. Please note that veterans can get these services through the VA and Vocational Rehabilitation while also using state Vocational Rehabilitation services and their Ticket to Work if they have a Social Security benefit. So they can combine these different vocational systems to provide pretty comprehensive vocational services for themselves. 

Let's talk now about the intersection of Social Security benefits for veterans. How do these intersect with VA benefits? Veterans can absolutely get SSDI and SSI. I always call the combination of compensation and SSDI the golden ticket. Because I've had veterans who are making $4,000, $5,000, $6,000 a year with their VA compensation and Social Security disability combined. They don't have any kind of resource limits. Other income doesn't impact these benefits. And they have some pretty good Work Incentives too. So those veterans are sitting pretty. If a veteran has VA pension it is going to be reduced dollar for dollar by other benefits. So if a veteran has SSDI, and a VA pension they're only going to get a combination that brings them up to their pension rate for the year. That's all they're going to get. So the VA pension will be reduced dollar for dollar by their SSDI benefit amount. Now you won't see veterans getting SSI and VA pension because VA pension counts as unearned income for SSI. And it's always more money than SSI. You don't even get a $20.00 general income exclusion. And so if you've got a VA pension it would reduce your SSI eligibility to zero. But I do see veterans who get compensation and SSI together. And the compensation is unearned income. It may reduce their SSI payment a little bit. But it is possible for them to receive that combination of benefits. 

Now there's some special rules for veterans. I love special rules for veterans. So first of all, Social Security will offer faster claims handling for some veterans. And this includes veterans who've already been found eligible for compensation thorough the VA. And they have 100% permanent and total disability rating. Those veterans get an expedited process for the handling of their Social Security claims. In addition, Wounded Warriors, those who were injured while on active duty after October 1, 2001, are also eligible for a more rapid decision-making process from Social Security. And I have to say in my experience, the veterans I've worked with have gotten very quick decisions from Social Security; in part, because they have really great medical evidence already developed. Because they've been getting treatment usually through the VA for their conditions. As I mentioned with VA pension, if Social Security finds that a veteran is eligible for SSDI or SSI the VA can adopt that disability decision. They don't have to do their own disability decision. And that means that for veterans who have pension, who are applying for pension, if they're already getting a benefit from Social Security based on disability, their VA pension application can be found - decided very quickly. Because they don't have to prove that disability. It's already been established by Social Security, and they made that determination. So if you would like to learn more and you need help with VA benefits; if you want to apply for VA benefits or talk to somebody about whether you're eligible for VA benefits, I've given you a link to a website that you can use to find an accredited representative. And in order for somebody to represent you in a claim before the VA, they would have to go through an accreditation process. It requires specialized training and a screening by the VA. And then they monitor it and they cap the fees that those attorneys can collect. So the website for finding accredited attorneys is https>>//www.va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation/index.asp. And you can use that website to find accredited representatives. You can search based on where you live. You can choose attorneys or non-attorneys to represent you. You can search for exactly what you would like off that website. If you're a veteran who is interested in getting Work Incentive planning, I encourage you to ask your benefits counselor if they've earned the veteran C credential from Cornell University. All Work Incentive planners who are CWIC who are certified through VCU or who went through the WIP-C Cornell Process and have a credential that way receive a little bit of information about VA benefits, so they know some basics. But planners who've gone through this course have specialized knowledge and expertise to help veterans. They also have a continuing education requirement so these folks that have the veteran C credential are constantly participating in additional education and training and staying on top of trends and VA benefits and Work Incentives and how work impacts VA benefits. 

If you yourself are a benefits counselor and you'd like to earn that veteran C credential, you can do that by visiting our website. It's https>>//ytionline.org. If you go there, you will be able to register for the course. I just finished one. The next course that should be coming up will probably be in May of next year. So I would check in April at that website and see the registration link for that course. We go into great depth and really talk about these benefits in a lot of detail. And really talk about the impacts of work. So I want to thank all of you today for being here. I've given you information about how to reach out and contact me if you do have questions. So slide 33 does have my email address. It's dw529@Cornell.edu, and we will take time in just a few minutes for me to be able to answer any questions you may have about the content related to VA benefits that we have gone over today. And at this point I am through my slides; I'm going to turn things back over to Derek.

Derek >> Debora, thank you so much for this comprehensive and descriptive review of VA and SSA benefits for veterans. Really helpful review and descriptions and we do look forward to having you back shortly for the Q & A session. Debora just gave us some great suggestions, there were links and when she read them out, you might have been scrambling to write them down. I'm just going to repeat two ways to also find them. They're on the slide and I'm going to bring it back up. Help with VA benefits and that long link she read out it's in the Web Links pod at item number 11. So you can go down to the bottom right corner. You can use that, select it. It will open up that link for you. Secondly, the veteran C credentialing link is included in the Web Links pod at item number 12. So if you're interested in those and you're trying to scramble, don't worry they're in the Web Links pod and you can find them there as well. Certainly that first one sounds like a great resource that we all should have in our toolkit. 
Okay, so as we mentioned a couple times we'll have a Q & A session with Debora. She's certainly an expert in this content. We encourage you to start submitting questions. We've collected a few already, but keep them coming in if you're interested. Now we're going to move on and provide some content that focus on veterans considering path to financial independence. And those really looking for who can help you in achieving those employment goals. So we'll build upon the information that was just shared through this path to financial independence. I think it's important when we do that in recognizing skills that veterans are bringing to the workforce. Acknowledging that there's a real asset inventory that veterans bring. From teamwork, leadership, dedication to integrity, flexibility and real problem solving. This is a skillset list that really any employer would desire, and veterans have the training and experience to bring these assets to the workforce. Not in the future but today. And in the talent status of the country where we have many openings, we have an opportunity for disabled veterans to find employment to leverage these skill sets. 

With this in mind I'd like to talk about a little bit this mindset of thinking like an employer. When we are doing that, we're thinking of landing a civilian job. One of the powerful ways or things that we can do is to persuade an employer that you're going to bring value to that organization. So when - if you're a veteran and you're thinking about that transition to work, you have access to a lot of resources, right? We have the - the veterans readiness and employment track, so those five pathways. And you can get support to return to what you did or rapid path to a new occupation. Or you know, you can look at the Ticket Program and Employment Network, and we'll talk about those. But as we do that, we also need you to start thinking about the employer’s language. It may sound a little different, so the research is going to help you in figuring out how to communicate that you can impact and bring results from your past work experience to your new employer. Maybe you've heard this before, but we want to reiterate it today to get you thinking about it as you consider this new opportunity. 

So looking at understanding results. We're going to look at a few specific areas. And we recommend for you to examine and how you're communicating about your ability to positively impact business or another employer that will increase your chance of being hired. So really you know, as the saying goes begin with the end. And in this case organizations are focused on these areas that we have on the screen, six bullets to cover. Attracting and retaining customers. This will include things like setting and meeting core values. So we have employers around the country thinking about commitments to their corporate, social responsibility agenda. And this is aligning with core values. And the military departments that you worked in will have similar core values. You just have to think about well how am I going to align my commitment to those values to now these core values of the new employer? Next, improving customer satisfaction. Perhaps product or process quality. Mostly the elimination of waste and looking at process improvement. These are areas that many individuals have worked on through their military service but need to be able to translate in ways that will resonate with the private sector employer. Also increasing operational excellence. I think the next one, boosting the performance of the organization. When we think about that, we think about like transformation and efficiency. This is language that I know from working specifically inside the military health system and with the department of the Army as well. That is common. It's every day so think about what you've done in the past and how you can bring efficiency to the private sector. And then the last two, improving the organization strategy. Helping to really envision the future and building a roadmap to get there. And maximizing the return on investment. When you think about the employers’ return on investment, I would encourage you to think about well what's the return on investment of the veteran ROI? And really bring through your personal unique value proposition that you bring as a veteran to the workforce as a veteran ROI and you can connect that to the organization’s return on investment and it would really lead to the previous five, veterans help realize these previous five attracting the right work, customer base. Improving customer satisfaction, increasing performance across the organization and inside of specific departments that you'll be working in. So some thoughts there about personal branding as a veteran and the ROI you bring to help employers understand where you're coming from.

You know and the last piece I'm thinking like an employer. We have here turning military experience into civilian careers. These tips coming from the Department of Labor we have on the left results hiring decision makers and what they care about. We have two examples. The first example is quickly solving problems and then presenting them from reoccurring. What this example, how you delivered results in these areas or how you can deliver them in the future. The example is perhaps when you were conducting an after action review you can bring up the focus of finding the root cause of problems rather than searching for blame. And then analyzing that root cause and insuring that hey we made the mistake, but we found an improvement that would eliminate that from occurring again. So bringing forth your analytical skills, using root cause problem solving and then finding how to remove operational weakness. The second example, improving safety and reducing accidents. This example proving to deliver results by perhaps being on a rifle range or handling hazardous materials. When we're around dangerous items, we understand the process to develop, disseminate and implement safety guidelines that can virtually eliminate accidents or injuries. This is the epitome of risk elimination. And for any private sector employer they're going to be interested in risk management solutions and insuring compliance. So bringing those safety and reduction of accidents into the workforce could translate quite well. 

All right, with this in mind and those items you can think like an employer. That's all available through one of our Web Links pod numbers as well. It is under pod number 13. So you can access that to learn more. Let's turn now to how Social Security can help. So if you're a qualifying veteran or perhaps you know of a qualifying veteran or you're a service provider of one, Social Security can help with return to work supports through Employment Networks. These are also known as EN's if you haven't heard that before. We call them EN's. Employment Networks or they can be private or public organizations, either one. The key is they have an agreement with the Social Security Administration to provide free employment support services to people who are eligible for the Ticket to Work Program. Now those private sector ones, those are largely the service providers around the country. But they also include many state public workforce systems. What we call the American Job Centers. And those are called workforce EN's. All of the EN's that are out there, Ticket Program providers and they offer free employment support services to people who are eligible. And remember eligibility 18 through 64 receiving SSDI or SSI and want to work. That gets you qualified. Then once you're in, they can help you in identifying and apply for work. And you can do that for your standard in office jobs. They can help you find work from home jobs. And as Debora brought up before, the VA provides great support for self-employment. Employment Networks can do the same, so you can get those supports from both sides. It's really the gamut. Planning your work goals, writing your resume. Preparing for an interview. And then of course, once you get the job, staying on board if you need a job coach to kind of help you with the transition to work. When you think about EN's they cover a broad variety of areas and a broad variety of models. You could have one in your back yard, like a local or statewide EN. Then there's other EN's that are regional, covering multiple states and we have national EN's too where they can reach the whole country. And you could access these services either in person, virtually or both. You know if you want to do some in person and some virtually, you can have that flexibility. That's really personal, so that choice is yours. So you can decide the type of EN from a regional or local to a national and then how you prefer to access those services. For the American job centers, what we call those workforce EN's. They're part of network of over 2,400 American job centers. And they're all out there helping people within employment questions and needs every day. So there's a national network. We have a link in our Web Links pod, number 14 that gets you access to that American Job Centers page and directory. What's cool about these folks is they also have specialists that are veteran representatives that many of these American Job Centers. So if you go into one of the job centers and you're filling out your application, they'll ask you a question. And if you tag that you're a veteran, they'll have somebody that's going to be able to be more knowledgeable around transition and support options for veterans as well. So definitely something to keep in mind in your resource toolkit. 

Speaking of your resource toolkit, we wanted to share with you some opportunities for online job sites that are specifically designed with veterans in mind. So before we get to our Q & A segment, I just wanted to bring up a few of these. We have five for you today. So the first one here is called job openings for disabled veterans. This has a job board and blog posts that provide a lot of helpful information for kind of career planning and searching for what's next. The next one is called Hire Heroes USA. This has a free job search engine. And it's connecting assistance for military members, veterans and included spouses. So if you're new here and you're interested in support for employment for a spouse, that's a good one to check out too. The third that we have is Getting Hired, this one has a dedicated career section for veterans. It is a broader portal but they have a section focused on veterans. And job seekers can register and then apply for jobs for free. And sometimes when you sign up for these, they'll actually send you an email with something that will be of your interest areas as well. So those are the first three job search boards we wanted to share. The second two on this slide, start out with Hiring Our Heroes. This also is a job board. I've been to it a number of times. It's quite expansive. And it features job listings for different types of positions you can filter by full time, part time, or contractor type positions, like an independent consultant. So if you're interested in those I'd definitely explore that. They have a lot of employer partners. And the fifth one is Recruit Military. This is looking at military job seekers with services as they're transitioning and as an extensive job board. And also connects to a lot of nationwide career fairs. So there's five different options. All of these are listed in the Web Links pod, starting at number 15. So number 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. So if you're like wondering how to access those, go in the bottom right corner, select the Web Links pod of the description of the name I just read. And then you can open up and peruse, if you're a veteran, what we recommend doing that. If you're considering work, check out the job boards. You can also find all these by the way on our choosework website, which we will provide a little bit more information on in a little bit. If you're also a service provider, and you're not familiar with these, please check them out. So when you have a veteran visit, they'll be part of your toolkit as well. 

All right, that's really our content for today. But as is our custom, we love to include a success story. And so today we're going to finish up the presentation portion before we start our Q & A with a success story about a ticketholder who successfully transitioned to employment. We just posted this story this week, we're excited for that. And we want you to meet Jeff. Jeff was a 22 year old car enthusiast who applied his aptitude for fixing things by joining the United States Marine Corps in their tank unit. In 2001 he carried those expanded skills into the civilian workforce as a limousine mechanic. So here he had become a veteran and he was working as a mechanic. And unfortunately in 2009 Jeff was in a motorcycle accident, which caused serious injuries, and he lost his right arm. And it led to eight years of rehabilitation. And here we have a picture of Jeff at a desk. He's smiling, wearing a plaid shirt in an office scene. And clearly, he's back to work in this picture because it's later on. Before he got to that point though, Jeff moved in with his mother and was grateful to have his family's support as is often the case. He was receiving SSDI and spent the next eight years in that rehabilitation going through surgery and finding different ways to perform a variety of activities of daily living. And he reported that the rehabilitation regiment was unlike any of his workouts he experienced as a marine, a very challenging experience for him. So Jeff was propelled through these successes. And with his recovered strength in 2015 he decided to return to school, many years after he entered the Marine Corps. He entered Genesee Community College; this is in Michigan. Around that time he also learned about Ticket to Work. So that connected him to the State - I'm sorry, Genesee Community College in New York State. So he was connected to New York State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. And they helped him out with the college expenses to get that degree and the disability accommodations he needed for school. He actually went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Brockport, SUNY Brockport. And that success gave him the confidence to use the Ticket and enter a brand new field as an employment training counselor. And here we have a photo of Jeff in an exhibit table performing some of his outreach tasks. What Jeff said about his view of Ticket to Work. He said, "Participating in the Ticket to Work Program was the best decision I ever made. The help I received was amazing. I didn't know I could do the work I'm doing. Step by Step they helped me create a new pathway back to the workforce. And I'm in a better place in my life. Now I'm helping other people find their way. And it's so satisfying." So we thank Jeff for sharing his Ticket to Work success story with us. And we thank Jeff, and all veterans for their sacrifice and service. 

Okay with that, we've reached our Q & A that I mentioned would occur. And we wanted to bring Debora back on for the Q & A session. We received a blend of a variety of questions today that cover benefits topics and also general Ticket Program content. So I'm going to just answer the first one, and then I have several that are lined up for Debora. This is a frequent one and it's - it goes how do I find out whether I receive SSI or SSDI or not? So I mentioned it a couple times, but just to reiterate; If you're unsure, you have some options. You could create your my Social Security account. I mentioned that. But if you prefer not to Google that or go to the website and do that, we encourage you to - you can call Social Security toll free. So you can reach out at 1-800-772-1213 or via TTY at 1-800-325-0778. You can call Social Security 8:00 a.m. to 7>:00 p.m. and that's Monday through Friday Eastern Time. Or you can do the my SSA account or we'll provide the help line where you can talk to beneficiary support specialists. But please know you have those three options and we'll ensure that we keep providing that information if that's a need to you. 

All right, so let's turn now to a veteran’s employment question. So, Debora, we have a variety of them. I'm going to start out with one - with kind of a generic question. We've had some very personal questions and we can't do those, but we'll take them and make them a little bit more generic. So, Debora, the first question we have is if you have a general medical discharge and are eligible for honorable discharge in six years after, are you eligible for VA services in the Ticket Program?

Debora >> Thank you Derek. Yeah, so general discharge is usually going to be found to be qualifying because they're considered to be discharges under other than dishonorable conditions. So that's usually going to qualify you for VA benefits. If for some reason the VA finds that they don't like that discharge you can ask for the character discharge determination or you can wait until you have that honorable discharge. That will definitely make you a candidate, make you eligible for those VA benefits. Ticket is a totally separate issue. Ticket is administered through the Social Security Administration, so you'd have to be getting a Social Security Benefit in order to get the Ticket services.

Derek >> Excellent. Thank you for that. This is Derek. So one other thing that I heard you say before that's pretty critical is like there's an assumption in the question here that we had somebody who served in active service status.

Debora >> Absolutely. Thank you for catching that Derek. Yes. Yeah, they have to have active-duty service, and it's two years for healthcare.

Derek >> Thank you. So keep that in mind because you can go through that. And if you were not in active duty status for two years, you wouldn't access the healthcare benefit. Okay. Here's another question. I already receive VA benefits; can I get Social Security Disability Benefits too? So -

Debora >> Absolutely.

Derek >> You brought this up. But go through it again because I've heard this question so many times. Tell us what - what the option is here.

Debora >> So absolutely. If you get a small amount of compensation, you can definitely apply for SSI if you don't have a work history. If you have a work history and you've paid those FICA taxes, and you have that insured status, Social Security Disability and VA compensation together are a wonderful combination. I mentioned that I have veterans making thousands of dollars per month, tax free with that combination. If you're getting a VA pension you absolutely can apply for SSDI and go through that process, that's a combination you can get. The only combination you don't really get is VA pension and SSI. That's because the VA pension always pays more. That counts as unearned income for SSI. And it would reduce an SSI payment to zero.

Derek >> Thank you, appreciate that. So I want to go back to something I heard you say. And I just want to clarify either for me, or for all of us. And I'm not sure if you misspoke or not. But it was really important information around your golden ticket description. And you were giving amounts and you ended up saying an amount per year. And I was wondering if it was an amount per year or per month? So can you describe the golden ticket situation again, and just repeat that?

Debora >> Absolutely Derek. And I apologize if I misspoke and said "per year.” Because what I meant to say was $4,000, $5,000, $6,000 per month. Because compensation, a veteran has a 100% disability rating, if they need extra help with activities of daily living or if they're housebound they can get a lot of money through the VA. And they may also be eligible for a decent payment from Social Security. So that combination would give them a high monthly income. And that would be a tax free for those VA benefits.

Derek >> Outstanding. The golden ticket, and I think I heard year, I might be wrong. But I just wanted to bring it back in case. And I really appreciate the description because I think this is the dual benefit that we're thinking about. And we really don't have a lot of experts with the dual benefit description, so we appreciate having you today but being able to describe that scenario that many individuals have a right to, but might not be aware that they do. And that's what we wanted to bring up today. All right, so next question here. So next question here is the question that's in particular for an individual. But it might be representative for some others that are out there. I have pretty severe post-traumatic stress, or PTSD. And I'm not sure I can work. Can I get any support for this in the process of returning to work or in the workplace?

Debora >> Absolutely. You know PTSD would be a mental health condition you could get treatment for through the VA. If you establish service connection already, you could look at veteran readiness and employment services to help you explore work options and get supports in that transition. Even if you don't have your PTSD service connected, you could try compensated work therapy as long as you're eligible for VA healthcare for that post traumatic stress disorder. Compensated work therapy could offer you a wide range of therapeutic supports to help you to explore your options for employment. And to make a transition to employment when you're ready.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks for that, Debora. So let's - let's take that out a little further. Talked about some veteran readiness and employment services that could support. From the Ticket side, if that same individual veteran living with PTS is now thinking about work, any recommendations for them concerning how the Ticket to Work Program can work and the different Work Incentives?

Debora >> Well the Work Incentives for Social Security are absolutely amazing. So definitely talk with a Work Incentive planner and get support around how to use those Work Incentives to maximize your financial stability and keep your health coverage that you need while you're working. But the Ticket to Work, I've worked with a lot of providers, Employment Networks who actually specialize in helping individuals with mental health diagnoses to be able to find the right niche, that work setting that is going to be comfortable, minimize anxiety and offer all the supports the person may need as they're making that transition into and maintaining themselves in employment.

Derek >> Fantastic. So we have options on both sides with the Work Incentives and with the VR&E support services including the therapy program you described. One of the Work Incentives that I love is the notion of Trial Work Period in that folks are concerned about. Can I do this? That's what the whole Trial Work Period is there for, to determine how much and at what level work is possible for someone. So if you're listening, and you're concerned about trying work please know that's out there for you and talk to that Employment Network, like Debora said, to explore that option. So, Debora, I wanted to ask another question here. Do you - we have two paths. We have two options. We have the VA benefits, and the tracks, I guess. You call them pathways for vocational readiness and employment. Sorry, I worked with them, they called themselves something else way back when. So you have -

Debora >> I remember.

Derek >> Yeah, so you have VA benefits and then you have those pathways. And then we have the SSA benefits and the Ticket Program. And the alternative tracks there. What do you tell a veteran who has all these options? Like how do they begin each and work with both?

Debora >> I always encourage them to reach out and connect with both programs. Talk to them about what services they can offer. Figure out which sounds like the supports and services that they need. Or they can again use a combination, right? So maybe I want to work with VR&E on job development because they're really helpful in explaining to employers how my military skills are going to transition into civilian life, right? But maybe I need some vocational program that my local Employment Network has that's really just right on what I want to be doing. Maybe I'm going to do services with each. But I think it's by reaching out and having those conversations with the different Vocational Rehabilitation service providers and figuring out which of the services connect to what your goals are. And the supports that you need to help you reach those goals.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks for that. That's really helpful advice and thinking through resources that are out there and getting the assistance to make a plan, and the plan could have a two-pronged approach to it. So I understand that you've been doing this work for a while. And you must be seeing some trends around veterans and return to work. Anything in particular as we go to wrap up that you'd like to share from your experiences and things that you notice about how veterans are transitioning with success? When it comes to return to work?

Debora >> Great question Derek, thank you. I have to say that one thing I would really love to see as a trend in the future is the development of Work Incentives in the VA benefit programs. You know Social Security has these amazing tools, like you mentioned the Trial Work Period for SSDI recipients that really allows people to try their ability to work without having adverse consequences on their benefits. The VA doesn't really have anything like that yet. And so one of my goals in creating the course at Cornell is to really train a number of Work Incentive planners in this intersection area and create a group of people that we can do research on the benefits of Work Incentive planning for veterans. And we can advocate with the VA to implement some sorts of Work Incentives, so they've got great vocational programs. but I find that if you don't answer those benefits questions, it's still going to be hard for some veterans to go to work because they worry. You know they need that safety net. They need their healthcare and they don't want to adversely impact that by working. And so, I would really love for us to create this community of Work Incentive planners and gather the data that we need to go to the VA and ask them to implement these types of programs like Social Security has for veterans who are also getting benefits in the VA world.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks, Debora. It's important that you get that peace of mind through Social Security Work Incentives. And so if you don't have access to that, then that's one thing that I hear you can access, you know if you're eligible. That will protect your healthcare benefits, but you'd like to see that expanded interesting recommendations and hopefully in time you can see those come to fruition. We do have one other question we can get to. And then I'm going to go to wrap up. This question is fairly specific but came in from one of our attendees. Do the qualifications for Individual Unemployability include family members or only you?

Debora >> So it's only the - the veteran who would be unemployable. And the amount that they used, that 100% of the federal poverty level is the individual rate. So 100% of federal poverty level for one person is what they use when they look at whether that person can do Substantial Gainful Employment. And there is a rule in there that they'll look at marginal employment. Things like people working for families or getting employment support may be able to reduce that income. But again, there's no bright line. I think for those of us who work with people in the Social Security system we would recognize subsidies and special conditions as being potential indicators of marginal employment. But the VA system doesn't have that type of language or clear program rules. But it's the eligibility that 100% of the federal poverty level is for one person.

Derek >> Excellent. Thanks for sharing that information with everybody. Well, Debora, as it happens we've come to the time that I need to thank you for joining us today and sharing your expertise. And we appreciate Cornell's Yang-Tan Institute loaning you to us today for today's event. We really appreciate your time and expertise.

Debora >> Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the Ticket to Work and Social Security giving me this opportunity to reach out to veterans and share this wonderful information. Thank you.

Derek >> Okay folks, so to wrap up I have a few closing remarks. We want to of course reinforce how to get started. Social Security's Ticket Program has a variety of resources and there's a variety of ways to connect with us. It's important to think about calling the Ticket to Work help line, I mentioned it before. But here it is again 1-866-968-7842. Also via TTY at 1-866-833-2967. You can visit the Choose Work website that's at choosework.ssa.gov. On that site we have a variety of resources out there on the job boards that I mentioned, or a list of about 22 different job boards. Some of them specific for veterans, including the five that we had today. We also encourage you at the ChooseWork website to use the find help tool. That's at choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp. You can search for an Employment Network, along with a lot of other members of the Employment Team right there online. The choice is yours how to start: Use the helpline. Use the find help tool. What we do encourage you to do is explore those options. 

Next, how do you connect with us? We have three options here; we recommend you can visit the choosework website. That contact page. To find us on social media and subscribe to the blog and email updates that frequently come out. You can locate that information or web link number 21 in that Web Links pod. Next, you can opt in to receive text messages by texting ticket to 1571 - Excuse me. 571-489-5292. Again that's 1-571-489-5292. There may be some standard messaging rates that apply. And if you do get in and you decide you want to opt out, you can certainly do that. The last option we have is to email us at support@choosework.ssa.gov. Three options to connect. We encourage you to explore those. As I mentioned at the start, next month on Wednesday, December 20 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time we will have our monthly WISE webinar entitled “How Will Work Effect My Disability Benefits?” Registration is now open on the choosework website. You can also contact the help line if you prefer registering that way. 

And finally, your feedback is very important to us. That's how we plan our future webinars. Please provide your feedback and tell us what you think by taking our survey. That is accessible at Web Links pod number 23 or when you close the Adobe Connect Platform that will pop up. Please take two minutes to give us your feedback. And with that we thank you so much for your time and attention today. And support of our nation’s veterans and in this web topic of Ticket to Work for veterans. This concludes today's webinar.