Jayme Pendergraft >> Good afternoon, and welcome to today's Ticket to Work webinar, Debunking the Three Biggest Myths About Disability Benefits and Work. I'm Jayme Pendergraft, Director of Communications and Outreach for the Ticket Program Manager, and I'm excited to have you with us today. It's my pleasure to introduce our moderator, Derek Shields. Derek has nearly 30 years of experience in disability services. He currently serves as Senior Employment Network Development and Training Manager with the Ticket Program Manager. In addition to his role here, Derek holds a master's degree in Management and Disability Services, is President of ForwardWorks Consulting, and serves as Advisory Council Co-Chair of the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. We're happy to have him guiding today's discussion. With that, I will turn things over to Derek.

Derek Shields >> As I said and as Jayme introduced, I'm Derek Shields with the Ticket Program Manager, and today I'm serving as our moderator. Our presenter for today is Ray Cebula. Ray received his law degree from the University of New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce School of Law. Ray spent 23 years providing legal services to individuals with disabilities in their interactions with Social Security, and then became part of Cornell University's Work Incentive Support Center. Then in 2005, Ray joined the staff of Cornell's K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment and Disability. That resides in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell. He now serves as the program director of YTI Online. That's Cornell's Work Incentives Practitioner Credentialing Program. Welcome again to today's webinar, Debunking the Three Biggest Myths about Disability Benefits and Work. I'll turn the session over to our presenter, Ray.
Ray >> Thank you, Derek. Yeah, I like the name of this session a lot because there is, frankly, a lot of bunk out there, and we are going to take a shot at debunking some of those urban myths and otherwise incorrect pieces of information that you may have heard out there. So for today's overview, we're going to talk about debunking the biggest myths about disability benefits and returning to work, and who can help you achieve your work goals. That's the employment team that Derek was referring to a bit earlier. 

Now let's talk about debunking myths. It's always a pleasure to do this one because, you know, the truth is real, you know, and the truth may very well set you free on your way to work. So myth one, I cannot work and receive Social Security disability benefits. You know, I can't tell you how incorrect that is. The facts are it's common to be worried about losing your benefits if you work, but there's plenty of good news out there. There are many safety nets in place to help you try working before your Social Security disability insurance benefits or Supplemental Security Income, SSI, ends because of your earnings. And we've got the Ticket to Work Program that's available now. And the long-standing Social Security Work Incentives that have only been improved over the years. I should say improved and added to. 

So what is that Ticket to Work? This program, it's important to note, is free and voluntary. If you want to participate, it's there for you. If you want to just return to work, you can just return to work. Now, I'm going to encourage you to do some things rather than just go back to work. But what can the Ticket Program do for you? It's going to offer free career development for people ages 18 through 64 who receive a cash benefit from Social Security and want to work. Those are the only requirements. So we are going to talk about that. 
We've always tried to clarify the two different programs that Social Security administers. The first one, SSDI, it's Social Security Disability Insurance. And it is truly an insurance program. As you work and you pay FICA taxes, you're buying this insurance. And that insurance not only covers you should you incur a disability, but it's going to cover you for retirement benefits as well. Working, paying FICA taxes to become eligible, and an insurance program. SSI, the Supplemental Security Income program, is truly a federal welfare program. It's paid to people with disabilities, people who are elderly over the age of 65, or people who are blind. There is no work requirement. It does have severe resource limits, $2,000 for an individual, $3,000 for a married couple, and your earned income will impact that. And we'll tell you how. 

How can the Ticket to Work Program help? We can start right at the beginning. You know, this is free employment services to help you decide if work is right for you. Is now the time? You know, and I'm a firm believer that everybody can work. Everybody has something to sell, some skill, some ability, some knowledge. And the question is, can we find that and begin to sell it? But is work right for you? We have to talk about that. We have to have a long discussion. It may be right now. It may be that we've got some more healing to do before we can begin the work to get you back to work. 

How about preparing for work? If you've been on benefits for four or five years and you were working in computers, well, my guess is there's going to be some refresher courses you're going to need to catch up. You know, computers seem to change every day. You know, it's something — I'm updating something every day. All it does is confuse me. But if you are putting these things together and building programs and all that stuff, you're going to need to update your skills. We can help you do that. How about find a paid work opportunity? It could be an internship. It could just be a temporary job. Somebody needs extra help during the holiday season. All of those opportunities are giving you the chance to test not only the job to see whether you like it, but to test your ability to work. If you're not sure how many hours you can work, this is a great way to find out. And how to succeed at work. That's a very important bullet there because we don't want to find you a job and say goodbye. We want to help you succeed at that job. You can learn more at What is Social Security's Ticket to Work Program, Self-Guided Tutorial, in the web links pod. The Ticket to Work Help Line is always a great place to start. You know, I like to say there's no wrong door into these services, and there really isn't. But this is a fabulous place to start. It offers a toll-free Help Line to answer your questions and support you in your journey to financial independence. You can call that Ticket to Work Help Line Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. And that number is 1-866-968-7842 and 1-866-833-2967 for TTY users. 

All right. Other Social Security Work Incentives. We've been talking about Work Incentives on these webinars for a long time now. There are fabulous Work Incentives. And, you know, can you work and receive benefits at the same time? Absolutely, and this is how. These are safety nets, that are called Work Incentives, that allow you to keep all or some of your benefits while you try to work. And they come in different phases. Some are available at different times. But there is a lot of them out there. Work Incentives are programs and rules that help beneficiaries enter, re-enter, or continue employment by protecting eligibility for benefits payments and health care coverage until they can replace Social Security Disability Insurance or SSI payments with earnings from employment or self-employment. This is all according to the standards that Social Security has developed. But no. That, you know, this isn't 40 years ago. Nobody is looking for you to go to work so they can pull the rug out from under you. There is assistance. There is time. There's the ability to fail and start again. Whether you're looking for a job for the first time or returning to work after an injury or illness, Work Incentives can help you through the transition to work towards financial independence. And with proper planning, you will always be assured that there will be more each month. That's a planner's job, to make sure that work pays. 

Now, Impairment Related Work Expenses, or what I like to affectionately say, these are a few of my favorite things. We call them IRWEs. Now, IRWEs are costs to you for items or services that you need to work because of your disability. So the three rules are, it enables you to work, it's needed because of a disability, and you pay for it. Social Security can deduct the costs of an IRWE from your countable income when determining eligibility for Social Security benefits. We always start with gross earnings. But what Social Security is really interested in is countable earnings. And an IRWE reduces gross to countable. So whether you receive SSDI, SSI, or both, you're eligible to claim an IRWE. Now, here are the criteria once again. The item or service enables you to work. You need the item or service because of a physical or mental impairment. You pay for the item yourself and are not reimbursed by anyone or anything, and the cost is reasonable. I take blood pressure medication. That's a physical impairment. I have blood medication because it enables me to work. Do I pay for it? Well, I really don't pay for all of it, but I pay a $10 copay. That $10 is the first step in reducing my countable income. And if we go through your daily activities, from turning that alarm clock off to going to bed again, I want to know what you are doing, what kind of medications you're taking. Are you taking a break now and then? Do you need some special equipment that you might have paid for? All of that is amenable to reducing your gross income to countable. And if you want more information on that, the Impairment Related Work Expense in the Web Links pod is available to you. 

Now, an example. Examples of some are a prosthesis, an artificial leg, an artificial arm. That's clearly something that's expensive. It's clearly something you need because of an impairment. And it's clearly something that you need to pay for. If somebody else provides it, or Medicaid is paying for it, it's not an IRWE. This money has to come from your pocket. Modifications to your vehicle related to your disability that allow you to commute to and from work. That's an expensive set of equipment. Are you getting that from the Vocational Rehabilitation Agency? If you are, then it's not an IRWE. If you're paying for it or paying for some additional equipment out of pocket, then it becomes an IRWE. Excuse me. The expense is paid for a guide dog or service animal that enables you to work. This can include the purchase of the animal, training, food, the license from the county or city, veterinary services. If we look at the picture of that beautiful pup up here, it's got a harness on. This is a working dog. Buy it some toys. It needs a bed. All of these are part of your IRWE for having that dog. And if you do have pets, you know exactly how expensive they can be. Everything associated with that pet is going to be an IRWE. All right. So that's a little bit about IRWEs. You know, I just want you to think broadly because IRWEs are pretty much unlimited and only limited by your exact circumstances. 

The Trial Work Period, what is this all about? The Trial Work Period, or TWP, is one of the Work Incentives available to people who receive SSDI, Social Security Disability Insurance. If you receive SSDI, your Trial Work Period allows you to test your ability to work for at least nine months. That's a lot of time. You know, can you work for nine months if you're expecting to go to work and work full-time? Is that working out? Because if it doesn't, you know, you can adjust. We can drop you to 30 hours, to 20 hours, so that by the end of this Trial Work Period, you have determined how much you can work and whether or not you like that job. Maybe you don't exactly. That job's not exactly your dream job. It's not working out the way you planned. Okay, let's find another one. See if it's a better fit. Trial Work Period months are precious because of that. During your TWP, you will receive your full SSDI cash benefits, no matter how much you earn. If I earn $2,000 a month, I get my full check. If I earn $10,000 a month, I get my full check. Your health benefits are also protected because you're getting your check. During the TWP, as long as you report your work activity and continue to meet Social Security's rules for disability, you're going to be good. But remember, reporting is your legal obligation that you agreed to when you signed on the dotted line for your disability benefits. So be sure we're reporting. The reporting, reporting, reporting helps us move through these Work Incentives in a timely way. 

Now, how do we calculate a Trial Work Period? As I said, the TWP continues until you accumulate nine trial work service months within a 60-month rolling period. Now, that rolling period sounds a little confusing, but it really isn't. Once April falls off the list, we move to May. It's just the notion of the calendar moving ahead another month. The moment you look at this chart that you can make and see you have nine months within that 60-month or five-year period, you're done. Your Trial Work Period has a beginning, hand in hand. Now, we do have to know what Social Security considers a service month. Social Security uses the amount that you have earned in a month before subtracting taxes, so your gross wages, not your take-home pay, to decide if that particular month counts as a trial work month. This year, in 2026, if you earn $1,210 or more, or work more than 80 hours a month in self-employment, you're considered to have used one month. As I said, there's no limit to what you can earn. So don't limit yourself to that $1,200. If you want to go out and earn $3,000 a month, you're still going to get your full benefit and your health care while you collect these nine months. 

How to get more information? Take a look at the Trial Work Period fact sheet in the Web links pod to learn more about the Trial Work Period. And about another Work Incentive that's available to you when you complete that Trial Work Period. It's called the Extended Period of Eligibility. So if you've used that Trial Work Period, you're not finished with Work Incentives. They only get bigger and better as they go along and as you progress towards financial independence. Okay, Derek, that brings us to our first Q&A session.

Derek >> Thank you, Ray, for going through all the content and getting us set up through debunking our first myth, too. I appreciate learning about all those details. We've had a lot of questions submitted. Thanks, everyone, for being with us and your questions. Again, we'll be answering the general or generic questions, not the very personal ones. Let's start out, though, by answering one of our most common questions, and it's, is a recording available of today's session? Are the slides available? And the answer to that is yes. We'll be providing the website for what we call the Choose Work! website for SSA's Ticket to Work Program, where you can access all of our webinar recordings and materials. So we'll give you that a couple of times. But these recordings are available, and we appreciate you wanting to replay them. It takes about two weeks for this to be up and live, but that's that Choose Work! website. We'll give you that in a little bit. Let's go into — we've had a lot of questions about the IRWEs, and we'll cover those, but let's start with a couple of the generic ones. People are with us asking questions about SSDI and the Trial Work Period, and others are asking questions about SSI. A common question we always have, Ray, is, "How do I know which one I'm on?" So there are people that are with us that know, but what about the folks that are with us that don't know? How can they tell which benefit they're receiving?

Ray >> Thanks, Derek. There are lots of ways you'll be able to tell what benefit you're on. When Social Security sends a notice to you, that front page in big letters is going to tell you whether it's SSDI or SSI. Other ways of telling is to contact the 1-800 number. That's a great place. They'll be able to provide that information to you. And the best way, I think, and I'm a big fan of this, is to set up a my Social Security account. You can do that right on Social Security's homepage at ssa.gov. And that will clearly tell you how much you receive, what type of benefit you receive. It could give you a little bit of information about health care. It's going to tell you what your past wages were. I mean, these are fantastic things. You can now report your wages using the My Report function in that website. So I'm going to encourage everybody who does not have one to do that as soon as we finish the webinar today. They are truly valuable things. And I think right now, the last figures I saw, it's getting close to 100 million people in the country have a Social Security my SSA account. If you are going to work or thinking about it, please sign up for one. Because the first thing I'm going to ask you as a benefits planner is what benefits are you receiving? If you have an account, we can look at it in my office. We can look at it online if we're doing video chat. There are plenty of ways to use this account. So I'm encouraging you all to do that. But if you do have a notice hanging around the house, take a look at that. And if you want to know immediately, call that 1-800 number.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks for that, Ray. Yeah, go right to ssa.gov. Right on the homepage, you can open up your my SSA account and get to know what benefits you're receiving, as Ray said. I highly encourage that. So there's a variety of people that are talking about, you know, is the Ticket Program a requirement? You went through, you know, a little bit about the benefits, and there's questions there. And then a sub-question, too, that says, you know, "If I'm receiving SSI's the Trial Work Period, am I eligible for it?" So two different questions are, do I have to use the program to find work, but also, you know, if I'm receiving SSI's Trial Work Period? Open to me. What do you have to say there, Ray?

Ray >> Okay. I'm going to answer the second one quick. SSI and SSDI are two different programs like we talked about earlier. They both have different Work Incentives, and the Trial Work Period is not available to SSI. It's a Title II Work Incentive. I think once we have a session that gets deeper into the SSI Work Incentives, you're going to see that it's really not important for SSI. We're just going to look at your earnings, and that benefit's going to go up and down according to your earnings. They're very, very different programs, which is why you need that my Social Security account. Now, the other question, is the Ticket to Work required? And no, it's not. But remember, they're free services. You don't need to listen to this to go to work. I'm telling you, I'm going to tell you that if you do that, you could run into problems. So by using the Ticket to Work and getting some services to talk about what kind of jobs are available in your community, to talk about what happens when you start? How do you report that new job? You know, to talk about how your benefits will be affected. You know, you will then know what's going to happen to you. And I like saying that you are in a proactive situation then because you know what's coming and what to expect. That's a power position. And I want you all to keep your own power. If you just get a job, you're reacting to what Social Security says because you may not understand all the rules. So I don't want anybody to react to anything. I want us all to be proactive and keep our personal power. So that's my little stint.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks for that, Ray. I hear you on that. Why not take advantage of it? It's free if you're eligible for it. You kind of get out in front of what's going to happen. So then you're in your personal position of power. So you don't have to, but there's a lot of good reasons that you might want to. Next question came in. Will the Ticket Program help me manage my transition back to work? So when you're thinking of getting out in front of it, how does the Ticket Program — and I know we'll talk about the employment team a little bit later, but how does that help in the transition back to work?

Ray >> Well, you know, when you're talking to an Employment Network or to somebody at the local VR agency, you're putting a whole plan together to return to work. At that point, you know what's going to happen, at least what's expected to happen. And we can build, you know, training into this. You'll know when the training's finished, when it's time to look for a job. You know, ENs, the Employment Networks, are great at helping you put a resume together and explaining what that gap is. You know, you look at that, and you have a space of five years where you didn't work. Employment Networks are great at filling that up because you didn't do nothing. 

Have you learned new skills that might be transitionable to the workplace? And you'd be surprised when you start looking at what you're doing, how you're doing it, that you may very well have developed some great organizational skills. You may have developed — you may have taken up a hobby and developed new skills that you could sell, right? I mean, we're all looking at what we can sell. So I think that's a great way to prepare. I think the other thing of getting ahead with it is a benefits plan. You can sit down with somebody who is very well trained, has all the support they need to help you figure out what's going to happen. If I earn $1,000 this month and I'm on SSI, what happens to my benefit? We're going to do a calculation, and you'll find out that Social Security cares about less than $500 of that. And that's right off the top. You'll learn more about IRWEs. You'll learn about blind work expenses if you're on SSI. And we're going to start taking all of these deductions to help keep that SSI benefit high. And I'm going to tell you, I am a horrible mathematician. But I can promise you if you're on SSI and you go to work, you will have more money. Yeah, that's keeping on top of it. Now you're ahead of the game. I know what to expect. I know that when I earn X amount of money, this is what my SSI check is going to look like. I know that if my SSI check goes to zero, there are still special Work Incentives that are going to protect those benefits in your health care. And if you don't have that information and just return to work, you'll find out maybe in a year, you know, when the IRS finally tells Social Security how much you made, what should have happened to your SSI? So it's, again, information. I heard somebody say the other day that knowledge is power, and it truly is. It truly is. What are you going to do with all that new money? I told you SSI has very strict resource levels. Well, I didn't tell you that there are special accounts you can set up to begin to save money. There's a lot of good stuff if you use the Ticket to Work, and there are associated helpers and your employment team to begin your journey.

Derek >> Thanks, Ray. This is Derek. We've got about two minutes for some more questions, and then we'll get you back into the presentation. But we've got to get through these. They're good ones. Let's dig into the Trial Work Period a little bit more. Lots of questions. Can I start and stop? Or I did use it and then stopped, and now five years have passed. And then kind of explaining along with that, you know, what's the rolling 60 months? Can you cover those in like a minute?

Ray >> I think I can. You can stop and start. Again, these 60 months — these nine months need to fall within a five-year period. Is that testing your ability to work if you work three months here, a year and a half later, work three more months? I'm not sure. I know if you do them nine months in a row, you're testing your ability to work. So there's the utilization of those months that I think is important. But if you work three months and have an exacerbation, need to take a couple of months off, yeah, you can pick up that Trial Work Period where you left off, and maybe that exacerbation taught us a lesson. You can't work full-time. How about let's reduce that to 30 hours and see how it goes for the next couple of months. So there's a lot of utility there. The five-year rule, you get one Trial Work Period per period of disability. So if you used all nine months 10 years ago, you've used them, and they're gone. If you only used four 10 years ago, you're in a different situation. Because then that five-year rule is going to apply. Those four months are too old. So now we're looking at the current five-year period. You have no months. You have nine more. The only hard rule is if you have used all nine of them. And Social Security can tell you when that began and when it ended, you've used it. And I think there was a third part to that, Derek.

Derek >> This is Derek. I think you covered it. I think that was fantastic. But I did have a couple of questions on IRWEs, and hopefully we can do this a little bit more as a yes or no. We had three or four questions come in around transportation and IRWEs. Could ride shares like Uber or Lyft be IRWEs? Could car payments be IRWEs? So a lot of interest in transportation. Are those eligible?

Ray >> Ride share is if it's related to your disability. If you cannot take the subway because of an anxiety disorder, yes, a ride share would be available. And the IRWE would be the difference between the subway and the ride-share cost. A car payment, no. They're not going to accept a car payment as an IRWE.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks for that. It's got to come back to being disability related.

Ray >> Yeah, that's the important part here.

Derek >> Yeah, yeah. Okay, another one on IRWEs. Can they be retroactive?

Ray >> Absolutely. You know, if you go to a benefits plan and you've been working for a couple of years — Derek, can you hear me? 

Derek >> Yes.

Ray >> Okay, okay. My screen just blanked out on me. All right, so if you are — oh, God, I forgot the question. What?
 
Derek >> This is Derek. Could an IRWE, an Impairment-Related Work Expense, be retroactive?

Ray >> Exactly. Yeah. Thank you, Derek. Yes, they can be. If you did not — if you weren't aware of them, most certainly. You know, if Social Security never did anything with the IRWEs' report, absolutely. You know, I have taken these back to somebody who started working five years ago, you know, 10 years ago, and just apply them all. You know, we've been taking a lot of things, right? My blood pressure pills for years and years and years. If Social Security never gave me credit for that, or I didn't know what an IRWE was, then most certainly I can dig up records. You know, I don't know if they go back 10 years, but I can show that I've been taking this drug for 10 years. Now, let's give me the IRWE for each month. That's absolutely the case. You know, you are supposed to be holding receipts. But if you didn't know about that, you know, we can fix that as well. Here's the current receipt. This copay has been $2 for the last 20 years. And that's what we're going to do. I've done that very often, particularly in an overpayment situation, because you're looking to see if that overpayment actually happened. And if we have enough IRWEs that we can claim retroactively, we might be able to do away with it. So we use those retroactive expenses for many, many things. Great question.

Derek >> Thank you, Ray. I'm going to send it back to you, but encourage everyone to continue submitting your questions into the Q&A field. Our team will be responding, and we'll bring them up in our second Q&A as well. Ray, over to you to bust myth two.

Ray >> Okay, thank you. What's our next myth? If I go to work, I will automatically lose Medicare or Medicaid. Today, that is laughable. I can assure you that you need to work very hard, very long, before you're going to lose your health care. Everybody knows you need health care to work. So why would we pull that away from you? At some point, if you're not receiving a cash benefit, you may be paying those premiums, but that's up to your planner to help you with, right? How do we pay that $200 premium for Part B, Medicare? Do we need a couple of extra hours? Or do you earn enough so that that's not going to matter? You'll still have more, even if you have to pay that premium. So there's a lot of what-ifs and what should happen and what's the best when you're dealing with this plan. 

Okay, if you receive SSDI benefits or SSI payments in any amount, you will keep your Medicare and Medicaid. That's the general rule. If you have a cash benefit, you're covered. If your benefits payments stop because of earnings and work — these are Work Incentives, so you've got to be working — and you remain medically disabled, you may be able to keep your Medicare or Medicaid through the Work Incentives. And then there are the buy-in programs that are out there for 48 states now, I think, that are fantastic remedies to the loss of one program or the other. It's a great system for health care. Medicare and Medicaid employment supports, check it out in your Web links pod. It will give you a lot more information. 

So Work Incentives and programs to help you keep Medicare and Medicaid. Medicaid, this is easy. As you work, your benefits are going to be reduced a little bit. At some point, it's like $2,053 this year, you will have exhausted your cash SSI award. And I'm going to say, so what? I've got twice as much money, you know, and I still am eligible for Medicaid under a program called 1619(b), which means I'm an SSI recipient who receives zero money and is entitled to Medicaid. Now, each state has a threshold. Some of those thresholds, if you look at Alaska, it's like $80,000. I'm going to say for the lower 48, we're looking between $40,000 and $60,000. So I could continue to work and be making $59,000 in some states and still have Medicaid at no cost to me. That's a good Work Incentive. I have gone from $994 a month on SSI to making $59,000 a year, and I still have Medicaid. Now, the Medicaid buy-in program, what if I make more than $60,000? I'm now making $61,000, and 1619(b) is not available to me. Well, for those 48 states that have Medicaid buy-in programs, you can apply for that program. No one has said right now that you are not disabled. You are only not eligible because of work. That's why these are Work Incentives. Now that Medicaid buy-in, we can see people making over $100,000 and paying a very reasonable monthly premium. At that point, you likely have private insurance through your employer. But does it cover everything that Medicaid covers? So the package of your private health care through your employer and the Medicaid buy-in is pretty much going to take care of everything you need. This is a fabulous extension of Medicaid eligibility. 

Now, if we turn to Medicare, you have the Extended Period of Medicare coverage. We spent time on the Trial Work Period. I said it was nine months. After the Trial Work Period ends, you will be eligible for Medicare for at least 93 months. I think that's seven and three-quarters years. What that does, in my sense of all of this, is give you the ability to become a worker with a disability. Get used to be — get used to work. 

You know, it takes time to make a person a worker. This gives you time without worrying about what's going to happen to your health care. Even after that, if you continue to be medically disabled, you have Medicare for people with disabilities who work. At this point, there are going to be premiums to pay. And ideally, you're earning enough money to pay for those premiums. Now, could you have an employer plan with Medicare? Sure. Because there are things that Medicare can provide, like durable medical equipment, that it's unlikely that a private plan is going to cover. So the mix of your private health care with public health care makes all of the difference. And for the most part, when we get to Medicare for people with disabilities who work, they either have a plan through their employer that's going to meet their needs, or they're long gone for the program. They've turned 65. They're now aged, or they're getting ready to retire. But this plan, again, is there for a very long time. The trick with Medicare is you may have a premium. You know, if you do not receive an SSDI benefit, that premium that was taken out of your cash benefit is now up to you to cover. It's a long way down the road. A long way down the road. 
Now, 1619(b), we talked about that. I stole my old thunder here. If you receive SSI, you can qualify for Medicaid coverage when your payments stop. We're going to talk about the requirements. You did receive a cash payment for at least one month. That's not too hard to meet. Continue to meet the definition of disability. Those medical CDRs are going to review your case every once in a while to see if you're still disabled. Still meet other non-disability SSI requirements. You know, this used to be the tough one. You can work and earn a lot of money, but you still have that $2,000 resource level. There are special accounts, the ABLE account, a Better Life Experience accounts that will allow you to save and have that account protected. You know, you can put up to $20,000 in it this year. We have to wait to see how much it's going to be next year, but it will either stay the same or go up. 

You need benefits to continue to work. Yeah, you do, because Medicaid is likely paying for a lot of the support services that you need to work. So yes, that's always a yes. You have gross earnings that are below your state's threshold of eligibility. And here's the website. I'm going to read it out to you so you can find out what these limits are in your state. It's ssa.gov/disability research/wi/1619b.atm. Very easy. It's just going to give you a chart of the states in alphabetical order and tell you how much you could earn before you might have to rely on that Medicaid buy-in. You notice that's the game we're playing right now. What's next? It's not, oh, this is over. It's what's next. The Medicaid buy-in program was a game-changer for people. It was truly a game-changer. Many states allow you to purchase Medicaid under a buy-in program. You may qualify if you meet the definition of disabled under the Social Security Act. Some states' buy-ins are available to people with disabilities that don't meet the Social Security standard. So you might want to check that out. What that would mean, if Social Security said you are no longer disabled according to their rules, you might still be able to participate in this. Each program is different, but most require you to have earnings. This is a Work Incentive. Some allow you to have significant earnings from work or self-employment and greater savings than most Medicaid programs. 

You know, the one that I'm most familiar with is New York. The state statute says they have a $25 monthly premium. They've never collected it. Other states who have premiums, they've been in a moratorium since the pandemic ended, and they're not collecting these premiums, making it even a better deal, right? Under certain circumstances, people who receive SSDI benefits may also be eligible for the Medicaid buy-in. Remember, we're looking at how much you are earning. So check with your state and local Medicaid agencies to find out what's available in your state. 

Medicare for people with disabilities who work. Now, to be eligible for this, you are not yet age 65. You continue to have a disability — disabling impairment, according to Social Security, and your Medicare stopped because of earnings. This is the program that comes with premiums. I'm not going to tell you it's cheap, but we got to think about the future and how much money you actually have, and compare that to private insurance. It may not actually be any more expensive than your share of your private insurance through your employer. Just be aware that that's available, and it's a long time in the future. At age 65, you are aged, and you're still available for those programs. There may be a premium for them, though. The extended period of Medicare coverage, you know, we have four different parts of Medicare. Part A, Part B, Part C, which is Medicare Advantage, and Part D. You're going to be entitled to these programs for at least 93 months after the TWP. You know, the only trick is, are you receiving a cash benefit from SSDI? If you're not, the premium is going to be coming out of your pocket. Medicare questions? Call, you know, 1-800-MEDICARE, or 1-800-633-4227, or for TTY users, 1-877-486-2048. For TTY users, again, or visit medicare.gov. Now, I've got to tell you, 1-800-MEDICARE is great. You're not going to wait forever. If someone's going to pick up the phone, it's going to be a human being who will talk to you and give you the information. It's actually a very helpful 1-800 number. And you can look at "Talk to Someone," and contact Medicare in the Web links pod. 

So myth three, if my Social Security payments stop because I go to work, and I have to stop working because of my disability, I will have to apply all over again. No, sir, you don't have to apply all over again. If your benefits end because you worked and had earnings, and you stop work, or for SSDI, you fall below Substantial Gainful Activity, you'll be eligible to have your benefits started right away. This program is called Expedited Reinstatement. To apply, you must have the same disability or one that's significantly related to the old disability that qualified you for benefits before you started working. You must also not be working at the substantial level according to Social Security's definition. So you can either stop working or slip below that substantial gainful level and be eligible for Expedited Reinstatement. 

You know, again, a Work Incentive. It's a safety net for people who successfully return to work and lose their entitlement to SSDI or SSI, and stops working within five years from your termination date. Termination is not that big of a threat anymore if Social Security is going to have their eye on you for five more years. If you're counting all of these Work Incentives, we're actually over eight years at work before this five-year period ends with the Trial Work Period, etc. 

Who can help you achieve your work goals? Who are these people that we were talking about? You know, your employment team. As you think about returning to work or possibly changing jobs or careers, you may have questions, you may need some support. Connecting with a Ticket Program service provider can help you develop achievable goals and establish a path to find and maintain employment in your new career. Ticket Program service providers can help you identify the type of job you want or will this job turn into a career? A career that you're going to enjoy? And any of those transferable skills that you have right now, despite the fact that you're on disability, you have skills from your prior jobs, you have skills you developed during your period of receipt of benefits. Now let's add that all up and see what we can bring to your new job. 

We talked a bit about the Employment Networks. They're private agencies, nonprofit agencies that help you plan your return to work. We also have State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. There's one in every state. There could be two. Sometimes they do separate — I'm sorry. They separate disabilities from blindness. If you call the wrong one, you're going to get the number to the right one. Again, no wrong door here. So the Employment Networks have an agreement with Social Security to provide you with free employment services and supports if you're eligible for the Ticket Program. You're between 18 and 64, and you want to go to work, and you receive a benefit. You're eligible. Many state Public Workforce Systems, such as American Job Centers, are called Workforce ENs. And those American Job Centers, I still call them one-stop shops, you know, where you can do everything. It's a great place. You can contact — make contact with them. They'll give you a computer. They'll put you at one of their stations. You can start looking for jobs that are available. You can use that to build a resume. You can use it for a lot of different reasons. The services there can also provide you with sometimes benefits planning and other, you know, vocational counseling. 

How can working with an EN help? Supports and services are designed to help you on the path to financial independence through work, and they may include helping you identify your work goals. What kind of job do you want? How many hours do you think you can work each week? Write and review your resume. This is important. I haven't done a resume in 26 years. If I'm going to do it now, I'm going to need some help. I don't know what they even look like today. And having a current one is important. Prepare for interviews. The ENs can do mock interviews with you and help you develop the questions that you want to ask your prospective employer. How about requesting reasonable accommodations? The ENs can help you determine what that accommodation might be and give you how much that's going to cost your employer. And if you're not real confident in your ability to talk to your employer about that yet, maybe the EN can help you out with that as well. Excuse me. And receive benefits counseling. We've talked a bit about that. I don't think anyone on benefits should return to work without benefits counseling, just so that you're aware of what's going to happen. It's a very important thing for you. 

State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies; these provide a wide variety of services to help people with disabilities return to work, enter new lines of work, or enter the workforce for the first time. A State VR agency may offer benefits counseling as well and may also help you with vocational rehabilitation and training and education. If you look at those two items, vocational rehabilitation can be very, very expensive. An EN may not have the budget to help you with that. So it's looking like VR is going to be able to help you. How about training and education? If you need a four-year degree to get the job you want, VR can help you with that. Again, an EN is a totally different kind of agency. Not likely to be able to support you through four years of college. 

How can working with VR help? You know, usually they're working with people who need more, and more expensive services. Some states will include intensive training, education, and rehabilitation. All with the goal of returning you to work. They may also provide career counseling, job placement assistance, as well as counseling about how earnings from work may affect your benefits. That's the benefits planning component. How do you find a service provider? For a list of service providers, call the Ticket to Work Help Line. That number is 1-866-968-7842. And for TTY users, 1-866-833-2967, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. You can do this online as well. If you look at the Find Help page on Social Security's Return to Work page, you can search for your own providers. What do I want? An EN? Do I want my VR agency? Or am I looking for benefits planning? I can search by zip code. I can search by the type of services people offer, by disability type, by the languages that services can be provided in, as well as the type. So if I'm only looking for ENs in the Santa Fe area, I would put EN and my zip code. And only those ENs that would come up that serve my zip code would be there. And then I look and see what type of service do they offer? Do they provide Spanish services, Mandarin services? What languages are available? And what type of disabilities do they provide? It's great to match your disability to what they provide. And if they don't, you've got to consider whether that's the right EN for you. Go to the next one to see if they provide people with those services. And you can shop. Call a bunch of them. "This is the disability I have. I want to return to work. How many people with my disability have you placed in my area, and what kind of jobs are they?" You're interviewing them before you have to work with them. 

National Apprenticeship Week in 2026. This year, National Apprenticeship Week is April 26  through May 2, which is coming up next week. You know, apprenticeships involve hands-on career training, learn while you earn, and education, a career, national credentials. Now, when I look at my educational history, I had many internships. Back then, we used to call them jobs. But when I was — particularly in law school, I got a legal job for my first summer. I kept that job into my coursework. And the next summer, I actually went back to the same place where I started, you know, and worked more with those people. They were all involved with the type of legal work I wanted to do, and I had the luxury of getting paid to do that. Look for our new blog posts that are coming out about Apprenticeship Week. Derek's a major fan of apprenticeships. He's the man. So I hope he's going to get involved in posting some of those blogs. All right, Derek, we are back with Q&A.

Derek >> Fantastic, Ray. This is Derek speaking again. Thank you for covering and busting or debunking Myth 2 and 3. We appreciate your review and all of the details you provided. On that last one there, as Ray called out, National Apprenticeship Week being next week. If you're interested to learn more on that, in the Web links pod, there's items number 15 and 16, the Apprenticeship Week information about how you can learn and earn at the same time as you develop new skill sets and really have mentors helping you along the way. And the blog post that we anticipate coming out is linked there, too. I appreciate you checking those out if you're interested in the apprenticeship pipeline to work as part of your Ticket to Work and Return to Work strategy. 

Yeah, we're now at the second Q&A. Thanks again for everybody who has been submitting your questions, and I know you've been engaging with our team in the Q&A pod. It's fantastic engagement. So now we're looking at some questions that have come in around the employment team and specifically, you know, the process of what ENs do and how can I find an EN to match up. An EN being an Employment Network, that service provider that's working on behalf of Social Security to help Ticketholders return to work or try work for the first time. Ray, a few questions around this. But basically, "Can an EN help me find a job?" Or, "What does an EN do to help me specifically find a job?" Can you revisit some of those services and supports around job finding and job placement?

Ray >> Absolutely, Derek. You know, an Employment Network can do many, many things. And we're starting at the beginning, right? We're searching, we're developing our plan to return to work. So the Employment Network is going to talk to you again. What jobs did you have in the past? Did you like those jobs? What job are you looking to do in the future? And, you know, "I'm not sure" is a perfect answer because that's going to start the conversation. Lots of people aren't sure. Lots of people don't know how much they can work. That's fine. The EN will talk about that. And the variables. This is what will happen if you work 20 hours. This is what will happen if you work full-time. There are more jobs available to you right now that might be part-time. So there are lots of different things. Again, the skills. What skills do you have? You have not just been sitting at home collecting benefits. I had a client who actually learned how to knit while she was out on benefits, and she loved it. It was her therapy. It was a great device for her to calm down. And we ended up getting her a job at Michaels, you know, working in the yarn department, because she knew it all by that time. She knew what types of yarn were best for what, you know, what do you want to do? What kind of scarf or sweater do you need? This is what you may do. And nowadays, because I still see her in Michaels when I run in there, she is actually managing the yarn department. Ann has classes set up so she can teach people how to knit. So you may think of knitting as nothing significant, but it was turned into a career for this woman. We want to know all that. The Employment Network can take these skills and turn them into jobs. 

There are plans after that. Where are we going to do this? How far away can this job be? If you're living in a city, do you prefer to walk? If you're living where I live, public transportation is not available. How am I going to get back and forth to work? We're going to make all of these arrangements. Find you a job, get that resume polished up, and then give you some interview practice and point you to three places where jobs are available. You're totally prepared now to sit down with somebody, interview, and get that job. And then, while you're on the job, do you need any supports? That could be as simple as talking to your Employment Network again, or it could be a job coach. The Employment Network can arrange for someone to come on the job on Monday mornings. It's a horrible time. I need somebody to help me come in and get organized. If someone helps me for an hour to get organized for the week, I'm good to go. And you eventually grow out of job coaching because you just get used to being a worker. At that point, the Employment Network may not be doing much for you because you are working independently. But that's our goal here, not to get you a job, but make sure you can be a success at that job. And if it turns into a career, even better.

Derek >> This is Derek speaking. Thanks, Ray, for reviewing those details. And one thing I'd like to call out, too, is, you know, a lot of times, ENs have relationships with employers. And whether they're doing the preparation services and supports and introductions to employers, or actual job placement, might vary. Ray, you said something earlier that's really important. When you get options for Employment Networks, you have the opportunity to interview them and ask them about their job placement type services. So some of them will do direct job placement. Some may have like a national model and only have some areas that they can do job placement, like direct placement. So ask those questions just to make sure that you know whether they have local or regional arrangements, or if they can do the preparation services and supports, but not really the direct handoff for that interview. That's up to you to explore and find what you're looking for in the EN. And then that will help in your matchmaking process. 

All right, Ray, on the employment team, the next question comes in, and it always talks about kind of, you know, I am looking for training and education services. We've had questions like that throughout today's webinar. "Am I eligible to get those training or education services because I need new skill sets to be attractive to an employer?" And then, "Who do I go to? Do I go to Vocational Rehabilitation (agency), or do I go to an Employment Network, or can I go to both?" What are your thoughts on that?

Ray >> You know, training and education tends to be expensive. So my initial gut reaction is the State VR agency is probably the best place to do that. Some of the ENs, though, might be able to help. And I think a good way of looking at this, if I need to get an associate's degree, two years of community college will do that. If I'm VR, I'll probably pay for that for you. If I'm an EN, I'm going to work with you to apply. I'm going to work with you to help get financial aid. Grants, things like that. Maybe even loans. Now the question is, is that what you want to do? You know, you can — if somebody — if an EN can help you get financial awards that's going to basically pay for your education, then fine. That's a good thing. If they're saying, as part of this, because I can't, as an EN, pay for it, you know, for you, you may need to take out loans. If I don't want to take out loans, maybe I need to go to VR to get those services now. 
Now, can you use both? In many states, you can, and it's very well orchestrated. You can't use both at the same time, and you can't bounce back and forth. So education and training is a good example. Education is expensive. VR is going to provide you with a plan to return to work in a job that you want. So we're going to get you that associate's degree that you need. Once you've got that job, if they can close you as a successful case, you can then take your Ticket to Work and go to an EN. And say, "I need help finding a job in my area." "I need help with my resume." Things like that. So you can use them in tandem. And that is called Partnership Plus. It's a very, very good program. You can only use one at a time, though.

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks, Ray, for reviewing that. Next question comes in, we've had a lot of questions on reporting wages and earnings. So kind of two questions generally framing what some of the items are out there. First one being, "Do I need to report my earnings from work during the Trial Work Period to Social Security?" And the second one being, "Can an EN or other service providers help me with wage reporting to avoid overpayments?" So first, about the Trial Work Period, and second, kind of addressing overpayments.

Ray >> Very simply, you need to report any earnings at any time. If you have earnings in April, you will need to report those in May. That's the rule. If you don't report your earnings during your Trial Work Period, how's Social Security going to know whether you used any trial work months or not? That your reports keep Social Security up to speed with where you are in your progression to work. Now, can people help you? Sure. You know, if you happen to have a representative payee, that person can help you. A benefits planner might be able to help you early on until you're comfortable doing it yourself. ENs were not supposed to, but I think that rule is getting a little squishy now, and some ENs are still reporting income for people. Whoever is necessary. When I'm working with a client, I just want to make sure your wages are being reported. The first person I'm going to rely on is you. If you're telling me you're not comfortable, then come on into my office to be an AMA, and I will call. You will listen to me call Social Security. I will report your wages for you. Maybe next month, I'm going to dial the number and hand you the phone. You're going to report your wages. The month after that, you're on your own, if that works. Do you have a spouse, a brother, a sister, a parent who can help you do this? Anybody can help you do it. What I'm looking for are people who can help you do this for the long run. Your Employment Network may do it for you while you're working with them. VR may do it for you while you're working, but when you stop working, they're not going to continue, which is why I want to meet your spouse, you know, your brother, whoever helps you with things like this, to teach them what the rules are. And you two can do that together. If you're not able to do that, your brother can do it. We just want to make sure it happens every month in a timely fashion.

Derek >> Ray, thank you so much for going through those two questions with your responses and support. And thank you for joining us today as our presenter for this session, debunking the three biggest myths about disability benefits and work. By looking at the three biggest myths and helping debunk them, we hope to have motivated some people out there who are interested in work to work with the Social Security employment team, to get out there, get the right information, and find a path towards work and financial independence. So appreciate you, Ray, as always. Thanks a lot. I'm going to move to wrap up now.

Ray >> Okay. Thank you, Derek. It's always a pleasure.

Derek >> Okay. As I said, we're going to wrap up, and what we do is encourage you now to get started on that path. And a lot of you will ask the question, "How do I get started? Ray's given me a lot of ideas. My brain is full, but I want to take action." First, we want to make sure that you're eligible. So that's 18 through 64 years old and receiving SSDI or SSI due to a disability. If that's you, then we have a couple of options. You can call the Ticket to Work Help Line that Ray's provided. That's 1-866-968-7842. Or for callers who are deaf or hard of hearing or have speech communication disabilities, use the TTY line at 1-866-833-2967. We have agents there, beneficiary support specialists that are available to guide you and connect you with the right resources. If you prefer, you can visit our website at choosework.ssa.gov. You can explore a lot of information online there. You can access the webinars area to explore our recorded webinars, and this one will be posted in a couple of weeks there as well. 

If you also like searching online, you can use our Find Help tool. That directory allows you to explore the employment team. You can look for a national Employment Network, a regional one, or if you prefer to visit somebody in their office in your local region, you can find that too. Use the Find Help tool and the different offerings it has to kind of find a provider that meets your needs. It really doesn't matter which one you choose. We just encourage you to choose one, the Help Line, visit the website to learn more, or find help, that tool to find your employment team member and connect with them. 

Next, we encourage you to connect. There's different ways to connect with us. You can stay connected and informed about the Ticket Program, and one easy way to do that is by subscribing to the Choose Work! blog. And to sign up for our email updates visit choosework.ssa.gov, that same website that I mentioned, and go to the contact page. There you can find subscription options and more ways to stay engaged. That link is also available to you in the Web Links pod under Ticket to Work Contact Information, which is in the pod in the bottom right corner. And we have at item number 18, a direct link to that Find Help page. If you do prefer updates sent straight to your phone, you can opt in to our text messaging tool to receive updates around webinar announcements, success stories, and other helpful tips. We have thousands of people receiving the text messages. Just text TICKET, T-I-C-K-E-T, to 1-571-489-5292 to get those updates. Standard messaging rates may apply depending on your mobile plan. And if you have questions or need specific support and you prefer using email, we encourage you to email us at tickettowork@ssa.gov. Whether you're just getting started or looking for guidance along the way, the Ticket to Work team is here to support you on your journey. 

And finally, we're pleased to announce that our next WISE webinar will be on Wednesday, May 27, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The topic will be “Ticket to Work: Support on Your Employment Journey.” We'll revisit some of the high-level program information and go into other details to support you on your employment journey. Registration is now available at choosework.ssa.gov/WISE. That's the Choose Work! website, under the webinars area that you registered for today's webinar is now listed. You can also contact the beneficiary Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 or TTY at 1-866-833-2967. Thank you again for attending today. This ends today's webinar.