Jayme >> Good afternoon and welcome to today's WISE webinar, “How Will Work Affect My Social Security Disability Benefits?” My name is Jayme Pendergraft, and I am a member of the Ticket to Work Program Manager. Today I have Derek Shields with me who will serve as our presenter. Thank you for joining us to learn more about Social Security's Ticket to Work Program, Work Incentives, and the impact that choosing work may have on your Social Security and Medicaid or Medicare benefits. We'll also share who can help you on this journey when we talk about your Employment Team. 
Today's topics can help you as you start or choose to expand your path to financial independence through work. Each of us is on our own journey and we hope you can get some information today that will help you on your path to employment. Let's get started by reviewing some of the functions of the webinar platform so you can interact and get the most information out of 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 speaker. Choose Select Speaker from the menu options as noted in the device speaker image on the screen now. All of our attendees will be muted throughout today's webinar. When asked how do you want to join this 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 up and your headphones are plugged in to access the sound. If you don't have sound capabilities on your computer, or you'd like to listen by telephone, please dial 1-800-832-0736, and then enter the access code 4189148#. You can also use the join meeting audio via receive a phone call as shown in the image on the screen and entering the same number and access code. Next, please note that all of our attendees will be muted throughout today's webinar. I apologize about that. Went the wrong way on my slides. 

Now, let's review the Adobe Connect platform. First, you'll notice different boxes on your screen. These boxes are called pods. We have the presentation pod, and this is where the slide deck appears. That is the largest portion of your screen. Below that is an open space for the placement of closed captioning if you do need that option. The top right corner is our Q&A pod. And below that is the Web Links pod. We'll talk about these pods in more detail shortly. But first, we want to mention accessibility. If you do need assistance navigating Adobe Connect and Accessibility User Guide complete with the list of controls is available at http>>//bit.ly/adobe-accessibility. This link is also available in our Web Links pod in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. It's labeled Adobe Accessibility User Guide. As I mentioned, real-time captioning is available and displayed in the captioning pod which can be placed below the slides. 

You can show or hide the captioning display and can also choose the text size and text color combinations to best meet your vision preferences. To open closed captioning, select the CC option from the top menu bar. The captioning link can also be accessed in the Web Links pod under the title "Web Captioning". You can also access captioning online in a separate viewing window. The choice is completely up to you and your preferences. If we have attendees who are fluent in American Sign Language and you would like support during today's webinar, follow the link below that provides instructions on how to connect with an interpreter through the Federal Communication Commission's video relay service. The ASL user guide can also be found in the Web Links pod under the title ASL User Guide. 

We're here today to answer questions that you may have about the Ticket to Work Program. Please send your questions to us any time throughout the webinar by typing them into the Q&A pod, which is on the top right-hand side of your screen. We'll then direct the questions to our speaker during the Q&A portions of our webinar. We will address questions at three different points during the presentation so please be sure to send us your questions and we'll do our best to get to as many questions as possible. 

If you're listening by phone and are not logged into the webinar, you can ask your questions by sending us an email at webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. Another resource we have available that we think you'll find very useful is the Web Links pod that I've mentioned a couple of times. This pod is in the bottom right corner of your screen. And it lists the links to the resources covered in today's webinar. To access these resources, please select the topic of interest and access the resource to learn more. If you're listening by phone and you're not logged into the webinar, you can email webinars@choosework.ssa.gov for this list of available resources. Or you can reference your confirmation email for today's webinar to access this list.

Also, please note that Social Security cannot guarantee and is not responsible for the accessibility of any external websites listed in the web links. Today's webinar is being recorded and a copy of it will be available within two weeks on the ChooseWork website at http>>//bit.ly/wise_ondemand. This link, as well as others, are in the Web Links pod as we've been mentioning at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, and it's titled WISE Webinar Archives. And again, that will be available with a full copy of the presentation via video along with the transcript and accessible materials as well. 

We hope that everyone has a great experience during today's webinar. However, if you experience any technical difficulties during the webinar, please use the Q&A pod to send us a message or email webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. We really want to hear from you. In a minute, you'll hear from my colleague and today's presenter, Derek Shields. Derek has spent the past 28 years working in the areas of disability, inclusion, employment, accessibility, and reasonable accommodations. Derek has a master’s degree in management and disability services from the University of San Francisco. In addition to his contributions to the Ticket Program, he's also the president of ForwardWorks Consulting and a co-founder and board advisor of the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. I'll be back with you during the Q&A sessions. So, remember to put your questions in that Q&A pod. And it's now my pleasure to turn the microphone over to Derek.

Derek >> Jayme, thank you so much for the kind introduction and setting the stage for today's webinar. And welcome everybody. It's great to have you with us for our webinar focused on how work can affect your disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. We're pleased that you've scheduled time in December to join us to cover this important content. We hope that you all gain a lot of information that can be put to use. And as Jayme said, either in starting your path to financial independence through work or perhaps returning to work, depending on your situation. And with that, I'm going to jump into the content. 

We have a lot to share. And we have three different Q&A sessions built in. So, like Jayme said, please submit your questions and we'll pause three different times to try to address as many as possible. I'd like to start just with kind of a summary of our agenda here, the overview. We're going to discuss the Ticket to Work Program as we always do. Of course, you know, that's important to our mission. And then we'll get into kind of the impact of work. So, the first topic being “What is the program?” We want to ensure everyone knows the offerings, services and supports that come with the Ticket Program. Next will be “Can I work and keep my Social Security benefits?” So that will be our second question that we'll address. And let me just put it simply, will I lose my disability benefits if I start working? We know that many of you are thinking about that. The third topic or question that we're going to address is “Can I keep my Medicaid or Medicare when I start working?” So, we'll talk a little bit about what each of those are and importantly some things called Work Incentives that come along with those that we want you to know about. And last, the fourth question “Who can help me achieve my work goals?” I really love that one. There is a lot of folks out there that are your possible Employment Team members. We're going to cover some of those today to know that you can have support on your path to employment through the Ticket Program service providers. So, that's the overview. 

And with that, we're going to address that first one, “what is Social Security's Ticket to Work Program?” So, you know, the program is available to those that are participating in Social Security's Disability Programs. So, we need to start out by making sure that all of us understand what those two benefits programs are. The first one we have on the left, the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, or SSDI. And the first thing we like to point out is notice the word insurance. So, this is an insurance program that's run by the Social Security Administration. And it's a program that people pay into. So, while you're working, if you have worked -- and perhaps you've heard of FICA taxes and those are withheld from your paycheck. That's how we fund the disability insurance benefit. So, you pay into that. And that amount of the benefit is really going to depend on how long an individual has worked and how much that individual has earned. There's not a maximum to that amount and it's really important that we understand that everyone's benefit is going to be different because if you've worked before, everyone's worked different amounts for different periods of time. You do need to have a fairly long history of work and that can be, you know, maybe up to 10 years in some cases to become insured. Again, this varies. But with SSDI, recall that's the insurance program you have to have worked in the past to pay into it. And another important thing to remember with the insurance program is that it's not really looking at other resources. It's not caring about the kind of unearned income that you might have so the insurance program doesn't look at resources. 

Now, we want to contrast that with the other program --Supplemental Security Income, or SSI you might hear. That doesn't say insurance. This is a needs-based program also administered by the Social Security Administration. And this is for people who haven't worked enough to be insured through the disability insurance program or perhaps don't have any work history. And so, it's very different than the insurance program and it is going to look at resource amounts. It's looking at, you know, earned income amounts or unearned income amounts. Social Security is looking at that to see if you qualify based on low resource amounts. They administer both programs. This one will pay a monthly benefit to people with limited income. And it's available for people who are blind or have a qualifying disability. It's also important to note it is available to folks who are 65 or older and to children with disabilities or who are blind, they can also have access to SSI. 
It's directly related to today's topic covering, you know, the Medicaid and Medicare discussion that we're going to get into. SSDI comes with Medicare so the one on the left comes with Medicare. Somebody is eligible for Medicaid in their state, you need to apply for that separately through a state Medicaid agency. And in most states, Medicaid comes with SSI. So, when we think about that, you know, the Medicaid program does have resource limitations and income limitations like SSI. So, I think it's 46 states, SSI and Medicaid are connected. In four states, we have to apply separately for Medicaid. But you can check that out. We'll give you some resources to look that up. So, once you're in though, you'll have a long time to work yourself off of the benefits. And we're going to talk about that in more detail a little later. But when we think of these programs, think of SSDI, the insurance program, that's one on the left that comes with Medicare, SSI, that's the one on the right, that's Medicaid and we want to keep those connected. Insurance program: Medicare, SSI: Medicaid. 

So, with that in mind, we can now talk a little bit more about, well, how do I know which one I'm on, or am I on both? And so, we'd like to encourage you to ensure that you have something called the My Social Security account or My SSA account. And this will give you the ability to log in and find out, you know, what's going on with your benefit story. So, these accounts have to be set up on the Social Security website. They're going to ask you for some personal information. And I can assure you that this is safe and secure, and it's a great way that you can get the information you need that could include past work history, you know, if you had earnings in the past, they'll give you by the year that earnings list and it will show if you paid into that insurance program. So, that will tell you if you're eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance, how much you would receive, and it would tell you how much your family members will receive too if you have dependents. So, I look at mine. I don't know exactly why but I tend to look at it each December. Maybe some of you choose to do that more in January after the end of the year. But when you log into your My SSA account, you could read your Social Security statement. Perhaps some of you remember getting those in the mail back, you know, years ago. This has a projected disability benefit, the projected survivor benefits, and you can view your eligibility for benefits status. 
On the SSI side, you know, not the disability insurance but on the Supplemental Security side, it will clarify if you have those benefits and what they are. And all of that information is going to be really helpful if you decide to use the Ticket Program and work with the service provider. Those planning folks are going to want to know that information to help give you good advice so you can make your decisions. If you don't have one of these accounts yet, we really recommend to sign up for one. You can do it, you know, by just searching on the Internet for My SSA or go right to the site. That's ssa.gov/myaccount. There's a lot of great information in there. And as Jayme mentioned, we have these things in the Web Links pod on the bottom right, and number 8, that's the My Social Security details that can help you set up one of those accounts. 

So, with the benefit programs in mind and how do you, you know, log in to find out what you have in My SSA, we now turn to, you know, exploring work. And the Ticket to Work Program encouraging those people that are receiving benefits who want to work to explore the idea of choosing work. So, we ask why choose work? We like to say, you know, the simple saying of because work works. We know that it, you know, sounds pretty straightforward but it really does work for people. Work can bring people out of poverty. It can give people the ability to make choices beyond where you may currently sit. And for that, having more choices gives you the opportunity to, you know, not only earn but potentially save and to have some excess money. And those are things to enjoy some flexibilities that you might not be able to have without work. So, when we think about this, we also recognize that earning a living through work may not be an option for everybody. And that's why the benefits exist and it's why the disability standard set by Social Security is tough. That's there for people that need benefits. If you are one of those people that are considering the option of choosing work, then, you know, that's a choice that you can make and you can explore that through the Ticket to Work Program to provide those services and supports to help you transition and try work again. So, for today's session, we're going to focus on the health care and the very little risk that is out there to your health care as long as you continue to participate in a transition to work program like the Ticket Program. So, as I mentioned, we want to cover that today. So, let's get into what is the Ticket Program? If you've heard about it, maybe you're, you know, considering it. We want to make sure you know some details about it today. The Ticket to Work Program is free and voluntary. So, notice it says voluntary. This is up to you. You have the ability to choose to do this. If you're on the benefits right now and you don't want to do it right now, you're just here gathering some information, that's great too. There used to be a ticket and sometimes there's tickets that are mailed, you don't actually need a physical ticket to access the career development services and supports that we'll cover today. It is available for people ages 18 through 64 that are receiving one of those or both Social Security disability benefits. And the key here is you have to want to work. And while there's a transition through potential part-time employment, the objective is full-time employment. So, you want to work and have a long-term goal of full-time employment. And if that sounds like you, we have some great career development offerings that we're going to talk about for your consideration today. 

If you want to work, on this slide, we give you some, you know, some descriptions about how the Ticket Program specifically can help you. It's going to connect you with the employment service providers, folks that are experts in doing these four things. And we'll go through each one of these bullets on the slide. The first one being, you know, helping you decide if work is right for you. And work means a lot of different things so we'll use a broad definition, and it can include self-employment or it can be more traditional employment as well. We want to get you the information that will help you so you can make that informed decision. And the service providers that are out there cover them a little later. They're going to know kind of what exists and what are your skills and help you frame different employment options that might match up with what's there and they can talk to you about, you know, like we're talking today what will happen to your health care if you have that coming through benefit, then what's the impact of work so then you can decide. And if you do decide, then, of course, the next step is they can help you prepare for work. This could be, you know, you're having a change of career direction that you need some training or education in order to support that transition. Maybe you don't have the knowledge or the skills in the area, but you can get some training or educational preparation, and that could be covered through a variety of programs that exist. Somebody else might need some rehabilitative support services or preparation and that could be available through a service provider. So, the Ticket Program can really help in the preparation from detailed training and education to let's say resume preparation or interview practicing, more of the tactics of how you would engage with an employer. So, a lot of different preparation. Next, of course, looking for a paid work opportunity. The employment service providers that are out there can help you find that paid work opportunity. We'll talk about the Employment Networks and the State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies that are well positioned, they know their region or territory, they have relationships with employers because this is what they do as an organization, and they know what kind of jobs are out there. So, they're going to be able to help you prepare the resume, practice for the interview, and point you in the right direction. You know, you will qualify for these types of positions with this employer and they're having a hard time filling these positions. Why don't we introduce you to those folks, perhaps for a formal interview, maybe an informal interview just to learn a little bit more? But those service providers can really help you with those connections in finding paid work opportunities. 
And the fourth bullet here, of course, succeeding at work. And to me, this is, you know, this is what we do all this for. If we decide to go through these transitions, then we want you to have the most success. So once you find that paid work opportunity, the service providers, they don't have to leave, they can continue to support through things like job coaching, helping if you ended up needing a reasonable accommodation to do some essential job functions. That service provider can really provide kind of this on-the-job supports that allow you to, not just retain the position but end up thriving in a position. And so, when we think of choosing work, we think of success at work, and we think of the contributions that you can provide to the team or the mission that also helps with kind of the value that you bring and the success that you can reap as an individual. So, with all of these, we have a couple of links on the slide. 

There's a fact sheet about what is the Ticket Program. I've given you a quick review. You can look at Web Links pod number 9 to get more details there. And we have on the ChooseWork website, there's a self-guided tutorial that goes into each one of those four areas in more detail. I really encourage you if you are thinking about, well, this might be for me, check out the self-guided tutorial. You can go in the Web Links pod down to item number 10 and find that link, open it up and, you know, hopefully not right now do it but, you know, maybe later tonight you can check that out or tomorrow. To prepare yourself a little bit more about those four areas. If you have questions, you can learn more. 

Speaking of learning more, we're going to give you a lot of information today. If at any point you're like "I don't know exactly where to start,” we have a team of beneficiary support specialists that staff what we call the Ticket to Work Help Line. This Help Line is for Social Security beneficiaries who need to either verify eligibility for the Ticket Program or have questions about how the program works and perhaps even where to start. So, we encourage you to reach out and call the Ticket to Work Help Line. You can do that Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We have a couple of numbers here that I'm going to give you. And we'll repeat them again at the end to make sure that you have access to this information. The telephone number is 1-866-968-7842. We also have a TTY number, that number is 1-866-833-2967. That TTY telephone number is a phone number for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability. Those individuals who use a text telephone can make and receive calls through TTY. So use that. Go ahead and reach out through those appropriate numbers to our Help Line and our beneficiary support specialists are ready to answer your questions and help connect you with the Employment Team members that you choose. 

All right. So, that was our first question. Now we're going to shift gears and look at the second one. Can I work and keep my Social Security benefits? And with that, let's explore it in a little bit more detail. So, this is why you all came. It's important to know that Social Security does have safety features in place that's going to let you keep your benefits while working. We call these Work Incentives. We're going to get into the different programs and rules that help beneficiaries either enter or re-enter or continue employment. But these Work Incentives are important to know about because they protect your eligibility for benefits payments, including healthcare coverage until they're able to be replaced, you know, when we speak about income replacing those benefit payments, those earnings from employment or self-employment, they can add up. And then at some point, you can transition off. But knowing this is also dispelling the number one myth about entering, re-entering, or continuing employment. The Work Incentives allow you to maintain your disability benefits for a very long time because they're safety features to help increase your confidence when you choose to return or start work that you're not going to lose your health care. So, the second part of that is, you know, whether you're looking for the job for the first time or returning to work, perhaps after an injury or you've had an illness, that these Work Incentives can help during that transition and it helps you have a mind-set that says, "Okay. I have a long time to go through that." So, we're going to explore what some specific Work Incentives are today, and we want you to be familiar with those. 
The first one that's really important is something called the Trial Work Period. You can hear people say that TWP as well. This is important for the disability insurance benefit recipients, SSDI. So, if you're receiving SSDI, the Trial Work Period actually allows you to test your ability to work for at least nine months. So, that's a trial work, it's testing the capability of work over a nine-month period. Now, that nine-month period doesn't have to be consecutive, and we'll get into that. But during that, you'll receive your full disability insurance benefit payments no matter how much you earn. All you have to do is report work activity and continue to meet the Social Security rule on disability that you still have the disability. But you can earn as much as you want during that nine-month period. As I've mentioned, this TWP, the work period continues until you accumulate those nine service months, but they don't have to be consecutive. It does have to happen in a 60-month period of time that those earnings for nine months get reported. If you think about it if you're trying work and it's spread out over a 60-month period, it's probably not a really good test if it's spread out over a long period of time. So, the idea is to try to have it in more of a reasonable nine-month or so period so you can actually test your ability to work. And Social Security does use an amount that you've earned in a month before subtracting taxes to decide if a month will count. 
So, in 2024, the year that's right around the corner, if you earn $1110 or more or you work 80 hours in the self-employment model in the month, those would be considered as counting as a service month for the Trial Work Period. So, if you think about nine months of $1110 or more per month or 80 hours in self-employment, then that's what it would be. Now, you can earn as much as you want and keep your healthcare benefits, but then the insurance program, keep that in mind, 2024, $1110. If you're starting to get intrigued and you're like, okay, I want to learn more about the Trial Work Period, we do have a fact sheet that's in the Web Links pod. And we encourage you to explore that further. What also is important in that fact sheet and on our website is that when you complete your Trial Work Period, that's not the end of it. There's something called the Extended Period of Eligibility. And when you think of the Extended Period of Eligibility what I want you to take with you is that you have nine months under the Trial Work Period, and then the Extended Period of Eligibility is another 36 months. That EPE Work Incentive is 36 more months of the safeguard during which time Social Security will evaluate your work and earnings based on something called Substantial Gainful Activity , and they're going to evaluate if you can continue to be eligible for benefits. But think about that, nine months plus 36 months, it's basically together there, you have all those months of continued protection of your SSDI benefits. So, check that out in the Web Links pod when we see which the Trial Work Period and you can get that also, let's see, it's number 11 there, Trial Work Period fact sheet, and that will give you some other information on the Extended Period of Eligibility as well. All right. So, we went through the Ticket Program, and we started to get at a higher level to a couple of Work Incentives, especially the Trial Work Period. What I'm going to do now is take a pause and ask Jayme to come back in and we're going to have our first Q&A session.

Jayme >> Thanks, Derek, that was a lot of really great information. And we do have quite a few questions coming in. The first question I'm going to start with is, "What happens when your Trial Work Period ends?"

Derek >> It's interesting. Yes. So, when the Trial Work Period that I was just talking about ends, so, you know, if you've gone through the nine months, not consecutive but you have those nine months, and then 2024 will be at that dollar amount that $1110, if you have those nine months and you are working, then you begin that 36-month Extended Period of Eligibility, which let's say you continue having this, you know, Substantial Gainful Employment, then if you're working at that level of income, you have up to 36 months of coverage. It's important to think about that. If your income goes down and/or your illness returns, then you actually have during that 36-month period an opportunity to go back on the benefits. So, it's kind of, you know, I used the word earlier the safeguard. TWP ends, an Extended Period of Eligibility goes into place, and you still have that 36-month potential safeguard for you. So, it's something to keep in mind.

Jayme >> That's great. Thanks, Derek. That's a good amount of time for folks to have a backup plan in case they're not able to continue working. So, that's great information. We also have a question out there from someone who wants to know if they actually have to use the Ticket to Work Program or any of these Work Incentives if they want to work. What if they find a job and they just want to apply?

Derek >> This is Derek. Yes, it's a good question. You can choose what you want to do. If you find a job posting and you don't want to necessarily use the Ticket Program or one of the service providers that comes with the Ticket Program, you can certainly do it on your own. We do recommend that before you begin working, you know, you have the job offer, you're going to start working so ensure you update Social Security about your employment status to potentially talk to a benefits counselor when you're working about the impact of that income on your benefits and about how to report your earnings from work because that's something that you have to do as you transition off the benefits to employment. So, you have the flexibility to use or not use your Ticket and to work with one of the Employment Team members, but we do encourage you to reach out to report to Social Security when you do start working.

Jayme >> Thanks so much, Derek. And I want to reiterate that that reporting to Social Security is so very important. Please remember to save your pay stubs and any records you have of work and get it over to Social Security in case you need it. We do have some folks out there asking for a little more clarification or a repeat about the Trial Work Period months. Do those have to be all in a row? Is there a -- do they ever reset after a certain period of time? Can you explain that a little more?

Derek >> This is Derek. Sure. So, the Trial Work Period doesn't have to be in a row or what we call consecutive. It's nine months of, you know, income that in 2024 is at that level, $1110, $1110 or above. But it does have to happen in a 60-month period and you have that I guess chance in those 60 months to go through that. So, you don't really reset and get another 60 months. So, it's important to think about the Trial Work Period and plan that out. That gives this the right time for me to choose work and begin to test my capability to work and to see what level of work I can achieve successfully. But once you begin, you do have that 60-month window to have that occur. And again, that's a long period of time. We encourage you to think about it in maybe a smaller period of time to test, you know, what it's going to be like, can I do this, and what would the impact be on the rest of my life and my health if I choose that. We have the positive benefits of work, but then other realities exist. And so, the Trial Work Period is set to be that experience for you. So, hopefully, that helps to clarify.

Jayme >> Definitely. Thanks, Derek. And this is our last question for this section. I know there are a lot of questions coming through and unfortunately, we're not going to get them all today. We'll do our best. But we have a lot of people out there who are also wondering if they have to work full-time.

Derek >> This is Derek again. Yeah. Another really good question. The Ticket Program supports all types of work. So, that does include things like part-time work and seasonal work. However, the goal of the program is to reduce and eventually eliminate your reliance on the benefit. And to do that, it does mean that the long-term employment goal is full-time employment. In your Trial Work Period, you could test part-time work. You could transition out of trial work into part-time work and have kind of a short-term goal that's part-time. But we want the long-term employment goal that is full-time employment. That way, you know, the program is designed to help you transition from receiving the benefit check to a paycheck and that would help increase your flexibilities that you don't have when receiving the benefit level payments. So, think about it as short-term part-time work is okay, but the long-term objective is full-time employment.

Jayme >> Thanks, Derek. I think that should help a lot of folks out there. At this point, I want to turn it back over to you to get back into the presentation. But, again, I encourage everyone to keep sending those questions in through the Q&A.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks again, Jayme. And we'll be back to you in a little bit. So, now we're going to move to the second of the four big questions we're covering today. Can I keep my Medicaid or Medicare when I start working? And, you know, this is where we're going to get into some details and I'm going to try to keep it as interesting and understandable as possible. But it does get a little technical at times. So, with this question, the answer to, you know, can I keep my Medicaid or Medicare when I start working is as long as you are receiving a benefit payment in any amount that you can keep your Medicaid or Medicare. I think it's really important to have that straightforward here. You know, if your benefit payments stop due to earnings from work, in many and almost most cases, you are going to be able to find a way to keep Medicaid or Medicare indefinitely, meaning there are ways to keep it even if your benefit payments stop because of Work Incentives and buy-in programs. And we're going to talk about both of these in more detail. So, Medicaid -- or sorry, Medicare or Medicaid through the Work Incentives or through a buy-in program can continue. Up to 43 states have Medicaid buy-in programs and everybody has a Medicare buy-in program safety net. We're going to talk about those two. I'll just go back to what I said earlier, SSDI, that's the insurance program, that comes with Medicare. SSI, Supplemental Security comes with Medicaid. And with this in mind, we can keep busting that myth out there that if you go to work, you automatically lose Medicaid or Medicare. And if people are telling you that will happen, they're wrong. So, remember if you're receiving a benefit payment in any amount, you're going to keep your Medicaid or Medicare, and then beyond that, we have some Work Incentives and buy-in programs that allow you long-term access to these. So, we'll cover these now. So, Work Incentives in different programs that help you keep Medicare and Medicaid. 

So, on this slide, we have both programs. I'm going to talk to the specifics here. But first, let's go back to, you know, maybe you have Medicaid, and you know exactly what it is, there is others with us today that are less certain. So, let's start by defining it. Medicaid is a funded federal-state health insurance program. And it's for folks who will have low income or have needs that can cover a variety of people. It can cover children, it can cover older people, and it covers individuals who are blind or have disabilities. And there are some other groups that are eligible as well. But this is receiving federally assisted income maintenance payments. That's Medicaid and it's available through 35 states in the District of Columbia are providing that Medicaid eligibility to people with Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, SSI. In those states, the SSI application is attached with the Medicaid application. They go together. Medicaid eligibility starts the same month as SSI eligibility. So, Medicaid is provided to SSI recipients and so we associate those two. The Work Incentives that are specific to Medicaid are listed here. They are called Medicaid While Working. You might hear people say 1619(B), it's officially called Medicaid While Working. And then there's also the Medicaid buy-in program. Both of these things are really helpful and important to know about. Medicaid is administered by the state agency, and it can be kind of like your department of social service or public welfare entity. So, that's on the left side. 
Medicare on the right side is a health insurance program. Remember disability insurance, SSDI, well, Medicare is the health insurance that comes with that for people 65 years of age or older. And many of you may be familiar with Medicare through some older people in your family or relatives. And it's available for disabled individuals under 65 years of age and that could be you. SSDI, receiving Medicare. Medicare it has four parts, but we tend to talk more about the first two parts. Medicare part A, that's your hospital insurance, and Medicare part B, that's the medical insurance. C and D are out there. I'm not going to get into those today. So, let's go into these in more detail. That's the high-level overview but let's look at Medicaid and those two Work Incentives, and then we'll look at Medicare. When thinking about Medicaid While Working or the 1619(B), if you are receiving SSI, you're able to continue to get health care while you're working. Then if your work has been really successful, you can also make sure that you keep some of those services that are directly supporting your work effort. So, remember if you're receiving SSI and, you know, you qualify for Medicaid coverage when your benefits stop, and to think about that, we should go into the details of it a little bit more. 
If you have been eligible for an SSI payment for at least one month, that makes you eligible. So, this is if you're an SSI beneficiary, that's probably what's happening, you get a benefits payment. At some point, well, that helps with eligibility. Next, you continue to meet the definition of Social Security's definition of disability. So, when you're working, you normally have to worry about Social Security, kind of looking at you and saying, you know, we have to review the disability status again. If you have and continue to meet the definition of disability, then you can be eligible. The next one is an important one, the third one here. You have to meet the other non-disability requirements of SSI. Like they're going to look at your resources with SSI, low income, unearned income, they're not going to consider that income from work when you're, you know, keyed to getting into that program, the 1619(B), but they might look at the income that you're receiving from someplace else. That's that unearned income, not related to your work income. Number 4, you need Medicaid benefits to continue to work. Of course, if you need health care to work, the Ticket to Work Act, you know, that was the first time that the United States Congress ever said people need health insurance if they're going to work. In the 1619(B), Medicaid While Working is the way that we make that happen for you. So, that's a great thing, it's, you know, the eligibility criteria is that you need that health care to work. And last, you have to have gross earnings before taxes that are below the state's threshold of eligibility. And these state's thresholds, they do vary. And quite dramatically actually in some cases. So, you really need to look up kind of what that threshold is. And we have a link there on the slide and we also provide a link to it. I think it's at number 12 in the Web Links pod. 

That threshold is the measure that Social Security uses when they decide when your income becomes high enough to replace your SSI Medicaid benefits. So, you can be working at a certain level, it's below the threshold, but if you get up to a higher level and by state, that level is the threshold that they would -- it's the amount of earnings which would cause SSI cash payments to stop in that state or it's also the average Medicaid expenses in that state that helps create the threshold. So, check that out at number 12. When you look at the thresholds, they range from 37,000. There's one state that's over 80,000. You know, I looked at Maryland and for this year that we're just finishing, that was around 48,000. So, it's a big range and you need to look at, you know, where you are to know what that threshold would be for yourself. The second Work Incentive is the Medicaid buy-in program. You know, when we think about Medicaid and the two incentives, you know, what happens when you're working and your earnings are above that threshold, you know, when we go back and we think about Medicaid While Working, well, if we go above that state's threshold, what happens? Well, we have the opportunity to use the Medicaid buy-in to continue to qualify and receive the benefit. So, if you meet the definition of disabled, although each program is different, but most are going to require that you have some earnings from work. Some are going to allow you to have significant earnings from work or self-employment and savings. 

And then the second bullet here, under certain circumstances, people who receive the SSDI benefits may also be eligible for Medicaid buy-in. And that we really recommend you contacting your local Medicaid agency to find out specifically how the program is run in your state and how long you could buy into that program. But this could go on for extended periods of time so you have the Trial Work Period, and then you have Medicaid While Working, and then you could buy into Medicaid to go even further so you can maintain that health benefit using some of the income that you're earning which would outweigh the payments that you've been receiving as a benefit. 

All right. I mentioned, you know, Medicaid Work Incentives and then we're going to go to the other side now, to the Medicare Work Incentives. So, now we're going over to the SSDI program in Medicare. So, this, we have something called the Extended Period of Medicare Coverage. Most disability insurance beneficiaries, the SSDI beneficiaries whose benefit payments stop due to work will continue to receive after their Trial Work Period those nine months over a 60-month period. After that's done, at least 93 consecutive months of both of those A and B that I talked about earlier, the hospital insurance coverage, the supplemental medical insurance if you participate, and it also includes D, which is the prescription drug coverage program. Again, if you're enrolled in that. So, Trial Work Period and then 93 more consecutive months you can have an Extended Period of Medicare Coverage. That's a very long period of time that gives you access to Medicare coverage, giving you hospital and medical insurance coverage. You know, this is -- we're looking at seven years’ worth of Medicare. So, if somebody says the safety net is too short or too quick, well, let's bust that myth a little bit. Seven years’ worth of Medicare is a long time to become stabilized in the new employment, to have that income be where you need it to be, and then consider after those months of transitioning off of Medicare if that's something that's right for you. So, keep that in mind. 
The other one here is Medicare for people with disabilities who work. Let's talk about that for a moment. After the premium-free Medicare coverage ends because of work, that long period of time that we just talked about, you can even extend it further by buying the coverage that you need if you remain medically disabled. So, this is really important to know. At this point, you have worked for a long period of time, and you've been eligible to buy the coverage if you keep meeting three criteria. 

First on here, you're not yet age 65. Remember at age 65, you become eligible for Medicare based on age. So, you can get it if you're 65 or older, just not through this pathway. Number two, you continue to have a disabling impairment, you have to meet the Social Security definition, that hasn't changed. And number three, your Medicare stopped due to earnings from work. So, that's seven years went by, your earnings have stopped that so now you would be eligible for this access to Medicare coverage. So, it's important to think about that. You can have all those months and you can still buy into it if you need it, if you qualify through those three different criteria. 

Now, Medicaid and Medicare can be confusing. I've been working around this for a long time, and you need to have the right information to make the right decisions and everyone's a little different. We encourage you if you have Medicare questions to reach out to a couple of potential resources. First, you can go to the website medicare.gov. There's a lot of great information out there that can help you explore what we just went through quickly. Or you can talk or use a chat tool with a representative through 1-800-MEDICARE. That's 1-800-633-4227. And that's an option for you for telephone. We also have that TTY option number for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, use the TTY number 1-877-486-2048. We encourage you to explore Medicare questions through those resources. You can talk to someone there or you can contact Medicare. We also have a link in the Web Links pod at 13 to talk to someone and there's some contact information for Medicare info available. At this point, I'm going to pause again and ask Jayme to come back for our second questions set.

Jayme >> Thanks, Derek. We have lots of questions coming in because this is a very confusing and very important topic. I want to start out with this one from someone who receives the SSI. “I heard you say I can keep my Medicaid coverage when my payment stops due to work earnings but only in some states. So, where can I find out if my state participates in Medicaid While Working?”

Derek >> Yeah. This is Derek. Thanks, Jayme. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple of different ways that you could do that. There are a lot of buy-in programs, not every state has it. But you are likely in a state because so many have them that you can't buy it. The Medicaid agency in the state is the person that, you know, would be providing that. You have to meet the definition of disabled under the Social Security Act. It's eligible for SSI payments, if, you know, SSI Medicaid, remember that. And importantly, there is a state Medicaid program list where you can look up your state in that directory. And, you know, another way you can do this is if you have access to the Internet is literally do an Internet search for Medicaid and add your state. If you're in Maryland, type in Medicaid Maryland and you're going to come up with the first hit. I just did it this morning. The first hit you're going to get is the state agency in Maryland that's running the Medicaid program. They're going to have all the information. If you're in one of those states that doesn't have it, you'll get a response that says this, you know, doesn't exist. But that's what I want to encourage you to do. We have a link that you can use to find it but if it's easier, do an Internet search, type in your state, and you'll get the buy-in details in your state, and it will explain the steps to take to do that. If you're not sure how to do that, another option is to always contact the Ticket to Work Help Line and people can, you know, talk you through some of these resources as well.

Jayme >> Thanks, Derek. Along those same lines, we have someone who has said, "You're saying that if I work and keep my SSDI, I can also keep my Medicare. Is that correct?"

Derek >> This is Derek. That's correct. You know, Social Security has the Work Incentives to help. So, I mean, the first part about this is, you know, to go back to the Trial Work Period, that's the first Work Incentive that if you're on SSDI during that Trial Work Period, that nine months, you're going to keep Medicare. So, like that's up to that five-year period of time, going through those nine months of Trial Work Period at that income level. You're going to have access to Medicare that entire time. And so, then after that remember, it goes to that Extended Period of Eligibility, and it does get a little bit more complicated at points when you start to earn more money. But at that point, because you're working, you can have access to a benefits counselor to help you navigate those transition questions. But then the question is if I work, can I keep my SSDI, the answer is yes. No changes during the Trial Work Period. And then as you get, you know, deeper into the work period, you have other ways to keep Medicare for a very long period of time. We went through those numbers. But I just need people to be aware that it's not going to go away right away. And we need you to have comfort in knowing that there's these Work Incentives that help you navigate those changes.

Jayme >> Thanks so much, Derek. Our next question is from someone who has a job offer and they're being offered employer-sponsored insurance. So, what happens to their Medicare or Medicaid?

Derek Shields>> This is Derek. Well, congratulations to that individual. You know, this is why the Ticket Program exists, and getting that employment offer is a great success. Part of employment can come with employer-sponsored insurance, which is a fabulous benefit. So, if you have access to it and it's what you need, you know, the transition if you're offering and accepting that employer-sponsored insurance and you're ending that what we call premium-free Medicare coverage. You know, you're earning money at a Substantial Gainful Activity level, meaning you're earning a certain amount of money, you can keep Medicare if there's parts of it that you need by buying it. So, you can buy part A hospital, part B medical, and that part D if you're enrolled with a prescription, you can buy those three things. So, you can keep your employer-sponsored insurance and you can buy into the Medicare program to keep it. In fact, you can do that with Medicaid in those states too. So, it's important to know that they can work together. So, if you need some things that are just critical for your success, know that you can use some of your income and buy Medicare to keep it going and have employer-sponsored insurance. And there's many people that do that.

Jayme >> Thanks, Derek. And we received this question from a lot of folks in the chat and it is a great transition into our next section. You have mentioned Ticket Program service providers several times during this portion of the presentation, and we have a lot of folks wondering what exactly those service providers are. So, I'll let you kick off our next section. And we'll come back and have some more questions after this.

Derek >> Thank you, Jayme. Yeah, that's -- I do say employment service providers frequently and I say Employment Networks and others. And, you know, the key to the Ticket Program for me is knowing that you have these long periods of transition with Work Incentives that allows you to keep health care and you have access to a team. So, you're not in this alone. And it's important to know that there's a lot of folks out there who can help you achieve your work goals. And in fact, can even help you figure out what those work goals are to set you on that path for your employment success and really enhancing your financial independence through work. 

So, let's look at that. Who can help you achieve your work goals? And today we're going to focus on two of our service providers. Through the Ticket to Work Program, you can access both of these. You know, they are Employment Networks on the left and the State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies on the right. You might hear people say ENs or VRs so that's what we're talking about, these two different types of service providers that are out there. So, let's first look at the Employment Networks or those ENs. These service providers are put in place by Social Security, and they serve every part of the country, some of them might have, you know, like more of a regional or a local range of services, geography-wise. Maybe they'll cover a ZIP code or two. Others can serve an entire state or region, and then there are some that provide virtual services across the country. And when you decide, you know, to work with one of these Employment Networks, you should know that they could be a private or a public organization that actually has an agreement with the Social Security Administration, it should provide these free employment support services. And that allows Ticket to Work Program eligible participants to tap those in a way that the individuals choose. 
What do I mean by that? You know, I'm in Maryland so if you're in Maryland and you really want to work with an employment network and go visit them in person, then that's your choice. There's Employment Networks that are local or regional and you can go into their office and meet them. Or if you don't care as much about that, you just want to have the services and you prefer virtual offering, then you could go to a regional or a national Employment Network and, you know, they might be in Denver or, you know, in San Diego, it doesn't matter to you if you're able to get their services through virtual appointments and that distant support. It's really up to you. The choice is yours to figure out what kind of EN you would like to meet with and whether there's distance involved or not. With this in mind, you know, the program, again, is for services. When we talk about these ENs, you have to be a disabled adult aged 18 through 64 and you have a desire to work. So, you don't have to pay for anything. If you want to, you know, get involved with an Employment Network, there's different ways that you can do that. We suggest, of course, always if you're not sure where to start, you can go to our website or contact the Ticket to Work Help Line. We'll show you how to do both of these things. But that allows you to get access to a list of Employment Networks based on your choosing. I will note that we have the workforce ENs on this page too. If you're familiar with the state public workforce system that comes out of the Department of Labor, each state has these American Job Centers, they're all across the country. Many of these are Workforce ENs. 
So, if you like the idea of working with the Department of Labor, American Job Centers, you could, you know, either go there or contact them to see if they have virtual services. And many of those are workforce ENs, meaning they're partnering with the Social Security Administration to provide the same free employment support services. So, keep that in mind. You know, when I talk about the services and supports that are free through the Ticket Program Employment Networks, we've mentioned a variety of these different services but specifically, when we think about the first thing you would do, you know, kind of on the intake is you would be interviewed to try to frame out what are your employment goals. So, identifying your work goals is one of the first things that you would do with an Employment Network in creating an Individualized Work Plan. And with that, you're going to have some short-term goals and some midterm goals, and maybe some longer-term like full-time employment goals. But these things could say, well, the first thing we need to do is refresh a resume or perhaps create a new one. We may need to access the training or education. And the ENs could also help, you know, as they identify an employer and they say, you know, this job is the one that we should have you consider. Well, if you get nervous about that because you haven't interviewed for a while, they can help prepare you, they could do a mock interview, they could help you develop a list of questions to have in your pocket. So, if you're in the interview and the employer asks, well, what questions do you have for us, you know, the EN is there to support you and reduce some of the nerves that you have in the process, increase your confidence, and get you ready so when they ask you the questions too, you can be prepared to offer what value you bring to them. If in the interview there's a question around reasonable accommodations or if you need to request a reasonable accommodation to perform some of the essential tasks in that position, the EN can actually help you prepare on when and how to ask that question, providing, you know, the amount of detail around disability in terms of disclosure that you're comfortable with and relating that just to the essential job functions themselves. 
And last, many ENs have benefits counselors that are certified and they can provide support about, you know, as I start work, what will happen, and take you through the details that I've run through quickly today about Trial Work Period or about, you know, Medicaid and Medicare options as you transition into work. If the EN doesn't have a certified benefits counselor, they're going to be able to, as you start work, and are working, they'll refer you to a benefits counselor to provide you those services. So, I think the EN is a gatekeeper to a lot of good things. These are some of those services and supports that ENs all across the country are doing every day as they're helping thousands of ticket holders explore or plan for and explore transition to work, and then, of course, for those that are working successfully, transition off the benefits as well.

All right. So, we've covered ENs, now I'm going to cover the State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies or those VR agencies. They have in-house planning services that you should know about. And it's a really fantastic one-stop offering, the State Vocational agencies -- Rehabilitation agencies are in every state and they've been doing this work for a long time. They normally have different vendors that are providing these employment support services. And the state VR agency can also offer that important benefits counseling that I was talking about. Importantly, when we think of the State VR program, they do a lot of important services. There's two that we really like to call out. If you're needing Vocational Rehabilitation or a lengthier training and educational program, then the state VR agency is the Employment Team member we really recommend you exploring. So, that can help you re-enter the workforce and a new career path. 


Of course, also with the state VR agencies, if you explore those, you should know that many states have separate VR agencies, one that serves individuals who are blind and another that serves individuals with other disabilities. So, blind and visual disabilities, one agency, and another one, both working in the same state, just different, you know, subject matter experts and skill sets that are available to you out there. 

You know, just some re-enforcing how can working with a Vocational Rehabilitation agency help you. The VR agencies, you know, work with the individuals who need those more significant services like longer-term rehabilitation or training and education. And they also can have that career counseling job placement assistance which is similar to what you might find at some ENs. So, there are some similar services there. And importantly, the counseling about how those earnings from work may affect Social Security disability benefits. It's important that you know that the VR program, you know, might be funded by a different federal agency than Social Security, but the Social Security Administration is working so closely with every VR program across the country. And we all have the same objectives. If you want to work, if you choose work that the State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency system and the Social Security Employment Network system are all here to help you succeed in that path. 

How do you find these folks? We have a couple of options. We mentioned the Ticket to Work Help Line. This is where you can call. If you don't know where to start, we recommend talking to the beneficiary support specialist there. You can call and say, you know, I attended the webinar, and they talked about the service providers, I would like to get a list of those service providers. And the beneficiary support specialist would ask you some questions. Well, let's figure out how to create a list that's really going to meet your needs. Are you interested in training and education? What types of services and supports do you think you'll need? Well, they can craft an Employment Network resource list and they can craft a Vocational Rehabilitation agency contact for you. So, you can reach them. The numbers are here. The telephone line 1-866-968-7842, or that TTY number for the deaf, hard of hearing, or individuals with speech disabilities, that TTY number is 1-866-833-2967. Again, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Now, if you don't like to call folks and talk to them, you can use the Find Help tool that's on the ChooseWork website. There's a link to it on this slide. It's also available in the Web Links pod with the link there at item number 15. 

On the ChooseWork website Find Help page, you can go in there and do a direct search or a guided search. There's a lot of flexibility in the tool. You know, if you're like me and you want something in your backyard, you can put your ZIP code in, get a local service provider. If you're more interested in the types of services that you need, you know, you want help with the resume or you need specific services, check those off. And many individuals are looking also for experience with the same type of disability. So, if you're deaf and you want somebody who has experience with the deaf community, you could select that and then find providers that are going to be well suited to support you. Languages spoken is an option too. And importantly, you can look at the Employment Team members, Employment Networks, Workforce Employment Networks, Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, or we have PABSS, and this is like a Protection and Advocacy organization for beneficiaries of Social Security. It's a bit like the legal part. If you have a question around kind of your legal rights, you could find that provider type too in the directory or on that Find Help page. So, I encourage you to explore that tool or contact the Ticket to Work Help Line. The important thing is if you're ready to start, do one of those things, reach out to find a service provider. You can, you know, interview them, which one you work with, it's your choice. And the service provider, you know, hopefully, will be a good match to give you some increased confidence in your path to employment or re-employment. All right. We've come to our third and final question set. So, I'm going to ask Jayme to rejoin me for this last section.

Jayme >> Thanks so much, Derek. And we do have lots of questions still coming in. And we'll let you know if we don't get to answer your question today where you can find resources and more information in just a couple of minutes. First off, Derek, I wanted to ask you to clarify one more time who is the Ticket Program for, who is eligible for Ticket to Work.

Derek>> This is Derek. Yes, so it's -- the Ticket to Work Program is for individuals. If we go back to the start that are receiving SSDI or SSI or both, are ages 18 through 64, and want to work. So, three qualifiers there. So, just repeat it. Receiving the benefit, either SSDI or SSI or both, age 18 through 64, and importantly, have a desire to work.

Jayme >> Thank you for explaining that again. Our next question comes from somebody who is actually on the job and wants to know if there are any service providers out there who can help them kind of retain their employment and keep their job.

Derek >> This is Derek. Well, congratulations on employment. If you were in the Ticket Program and working with an Employment Network, then that same Employment Network could help you with those on-the-job support services. If you're eligible, you could maybe transition to work and you've been reporting your earnings to Social Security without a service provider, it's not too late, you can still have access to an Employment Network, one of those ENs. That would provide that support after you've started like you have. And I think it's important, you know, when we talk about the transition to work and the successive work, you know, sometimes work isn't easy, and having a team member that you can reach out to and talk to about kind of understanding what's happening at work, helping with communicating with the employer. You know, there's a bit of a game of work. And if it's been a while since you've been doing that, then that Employment Network could serve as a job coach to you, you know, to help you understand perhaps what's being asked of you, the guidance from a supervisor, and that service provider could actually meet with you and the employer if you want it. So, that could really help. Importantly, those Employment Networks also help with communication with Social Security. You know, if you need to report your earnings, they can advise you on how to do that to make sure that you're doing it correctly. And they could also, of course, answer those questions about how that new earnings from work would be impacting your benefits. I strongly encourage you as you get close to working or like this one individual who was successful in getting a job of having an Employment Team, having ENs and VRs or others from the Social Security partners are key to your successful transition. Your Employment Team might have others. Everyone's going to build that team in a unique way, but you want to be lifted up by folks that are going to be working in support of your personal goals so craft that Employment Team and keep those ENs in mind. You know, and as disability evolves, maybe you have multiple disabilities too, work evolves and disability evolves, so those Employment Networks can also help with your requesting reasonable accommodation strategies. You know, so maybe today you don't need that reasonable accommodation in place but maybe next week or next month, or next year you will. And that Employment Network can really help with that requesting accommodation strategy. So, those are some ideas. Again, congratulations on your choice of choosing working and finding work. That's awesome.

Jayme >> Thanks, Derek. You have mentioned a lot of different people and organizations who can be part of my Employment Team, how do I figure out which one I'm in?

Derek >> Yes. So, I've tried to give those couple of options but there are different ways to figure it out. You can call the Ticket to Work Help Line. We're going to repeat that information. I think it's the next slide. Jayme will bring it up. And really, you know, our representatives can help you explore what's right for you. The tool on our website is another option that I've mentioned. You could use, you know, finding an EN, you know, the find help tool to kind of go through the guided search or direct search. We also have this thing called finding an EN and assigning your ticket; that's a worksheet and it can help you keep track of the different ENs that you've contacted. So, if you use that worksheet, that's one thing. Or keep a bit of a journal like I'm going to call four Employment Networks and I'm going to interview them about the services and supports I think I'll need and ask them kind of what value they can help me with and see if it's the right match. And based on your notes, from those, I don't know, discovery calls, you're going to say, well, this EN seems like it's the right fit, I really found this person to have the good listening skills and seemed like they were really, you know, there to drive me toward my goals. I think those notes are really important because there are a lot of providers out there, but you want to find one that really matches up. So, keep some type of worksheet or a bit of a journal and that will help you in determining. And again, I can't say it enough, if you're not sure where to start, we encourage you to call the Ticket to Work Help Line. Those specialists are there every day of the workweek and they're ready to help out 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time each day.

Jayme >> Thank you so much, Derek. And we are going to move on from this Q&A session. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful information you provided during this presentation. You have a lot of people out there thinking about work and what they should be thinking about in terms of the next steps. And a lot of folks did have some great questions and we'll tell you how you can get those answered in the next couple of slides. So, thank you, Derek, for that. 

As I've just said, we've learned a lot during today's webinar. And as you've learned today, the Ticket to Work Program has several different types of service providers and other resources ready to answer your questions. There are a couple of different ways that you can get started. As Derek mentioned, first you can contact the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 or for TTY 1-866-833-2967. The TTY line is the phone number for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have a speech disability. And you will use the text telephone to make and receive calls. Both phone numbers are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Second, you can visit us online at choosework.ssa.gov. You'll be able to find more details regarding everything we talked about during today's webinar. And you can access the Find Help tool that Derek mentioned earlier. You can choose how to connect with us, the important part is just to get started and make that connection. A few more different ways to connect with us. You can find us on social media or subscribe to the Choose Work blog and other email updates by visiting choosework.ssa.gov/contact. 

Next, to get advice, encouragement, and read stories about people who achieved financial independence with help from the Ticket to Work Program, you can opt in to receive our text messages and information for doing that is listed on the screen. And if you do want to receive text messages from the Ticket Program, you can text "ticket" to 1-571-489-5292. Standard messaging rates may apply, and you can opt out at any time. 
You can also always send us an email at support@choosework.ssa.gov. We encourage you to join us for our next webinar which will be on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Our topic in January will be “Exploring a new career with Ticket to Work.” We'll take a close look at one of our success stories, her name is Rebecca and look at her career change after she decided to participate in the Ticket to Work Program. Our registration is now available online at choosework.ssa.gov/wise. Or you can call 1-866-968-7842. Or dial our TTY at 1-866-833-2967. 
Looking for a job often requires going online and we want to share some information about a program offered by the Federal Communications Commission. And it helps ensure households can afford access to the Internet they need for work, school, health care, and more. This is called the Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP, and it provides eligible households with the discount on broadband service and connected devices. It also provides a discount of up to $30 a month toward the Internet for eligible households and up to $75 a month for homes on qualifying tribal lands. To find out if you're eligible and how to apply, please visit www.fcc.gov/acp. Finally, your feedback is very important to us in planning our future webinars. Please let us know what you think by taking our survey. To take the survey, you can follow the link that will pop up after the webinar or you can find the survey link in the Web Links pod or by visiting the website at choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/wise. Thank you so much for attending today's webinar about the Ticket to Work Program and how work will affect your disability benefits. Please know there are supports and people ready to help and we encourage you to reach out to begin your journey. And actually, to be honest, you have already begun your journey by taking the first step of attending today's webinar and we do want to congratulate you on that and wish you a wonderful holiday season. This concludes today's webinar. Thank you.