>> Good afternoon, everyone.
Welcome to today's Ticket to Work WISE webinar -- "Achieving Financial Independence with Ticket to Work and the ABLE Act."
Today, we have some wonderful presenters for you.
Before we get started, let's do a little bit of housekeeping.
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The toll-free number is 1-800-832-0736. 
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>> Thank you, Elizabeth.
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I am your moderator, Nancy Boutot, with NDI Consulting.
We have two wonderful presenters for you today.
Christopher Rodriguez from the National Disability Institute and the ABLE National Resource Center, and Marlene Ulisky from  National Disability Institute Consulting.
I am going to welcome them and introduce them in a minute.
They are going to be talking about Social Security disability benefits and the Ticket to Work program, and also talking about ABLE basics, including requirements and eligibility, the impact on federal benefits, and setting up an ABLE account.
We will then also give you some additional resources.
We will answer as many questions as possible.
As of about an hour before this webinar, we had over 1300 people registered.
It may be difficult for us to get to all of your questions, but we do our best.
Having said that, I would like to introduce both Chris and Marlene.
Chris Rodriguez is the acting director for the ABLE National Resource Center and Senior Public Policy Advisor for National Disability Institute.
Chris has extensive experience working on behalf of individuals with disabilities in both state and national levels.
Prior to joining NDI, Chris worked for Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services Incorporated as the Director of Governmental Affairs and Media Relations.
He also has worked for UCP National, the National Association of Councils for Developmental Disabilities, and the ARC of Texas.
Chris earned his bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of California Berkeley and his masters degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas, concentrating on social and economic policy as well as disability studies.
His drive to assist individuals with disabilities is a result of a personal experience with disability.
Chris is the younger brother to an individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
We also have speaking today Marlene Ulisky.
Marlene worked for the Social Security Administration for a total of 35 years.
In her first position, she became an expert in developing relations with partners across Florida to educate them on disability programs administered by the Social Security Administration.
She then worked on the Florida office for Vocational Rehabilitation to establish the Partnership Plus program under the Ticket to Work program.
The Social Security Administration later rehired Marlene to conduct trainings and help manage critical integrity workloads.
This work included office of the Inspector General investigations of work concealment and medical work continuing disability reviews.
As a part of the training and technical assistance team at National Disability Institute, Marlene currently provides support to her colleagues and beneficiaries on complex issues related to the Social Security Administration and individuals going to work.
I am very happy to introduce both of them.
We are going to start talking about Social Security disability benefits and work incentives with Marlene.
Marlene, I will turn it over to you.
>> I am going to begin with a review of some of the basic information on Social Security benefits and I will follow that with information on the Ticket to Work program so that you will understand benefits a little better.
Once we do that, Chris Rodriguez, a nationally renowned expert on the ABLE Act, will talk about the exciting new Act and how it will work for you.
OK, first, we are going to talk about disability benefits.
Social Security has two programs under which they pay a disability benefit -- the SSI program and the SSDI program.
We will talk a little bit about SSDI.
SSDI is an entitlement program, which means someone worked and they paid into Social Security, into the trust fund, and they became eligible for that benefit due to a disability.
That person may have been a worker, which Social Security calls a wage earner, or a childhood disability beneficiary.
Either would be an adult over the age of 18.
A childhood disability beneficiary is someone Social Security defines as having a disability prior to the age of 22.
That person qualifies for the benefit under the earnings record or the work record of a parent who is either deceased, disabled, or retired.
The name of that benefit is a little misleading because the person receiving a childhood disability benefit can be 50 years old or older, for that matter, or even 70 years old or 80 years old and still receiving a benefit because they have a disability which began prior to the age of 22.
There are not any limits on the amount of other income or resources or money in the bank you can have receiving that type of the benefit.
With SSDI and childhood disability benefits, Medicare comes with that generally after 24 months.
One way of knowing if you are receiving this kind of a benefit is when your benefit is directly deposited.
If it is on the third of the month or Wednesday, it is likely an SSDI benefit or a childhood disability.
OK.
The other type of a benefit under which Social Security pays a disability benefit is Supplemental Security Income.
The Supplemental Security Income program is a benefit to children and to adults who have a disability and who have limited means.
They must have had very limited income and resources to be eligible for the program.
The federal benefit rate for an individual is $735.
In some states, they pay a supplemental benefit and that is either paid through the Social Security Administration or through state channels.
If you are wondering if you are receiving that type of a benefit, one of the ways of knowing is when you are receiving the direct deposit.
If it is on the first of the month or if it is $735 or less, it is likely you may be receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits.
Some individuals receive both SSDI benefits and SSI benefits and that is what is called a concurrent beneficiary.
If an individual's SSDI benefit is low enough and if they have limited other income and limited resources, they qualify for a concurrent benefit.
One way of knowing whether or not you are receiving this benefit or these benefits is the fact that you are receiving at least two direct deposits each month and you have both Medicare and you have Medicaid.
What is the Ticket to Work program?
The Ticket to Work program is free and a voluntary program and it is for people ages 18-64 receiving SSDI benefits or SSI benefits and who want to work and become self-sufficient.
The program is all about choice.
It provides a lot of choices, whether you want to participate in the program, and it provides a choice of where you go for employment or other services that you need.
There are Vocational Rehabilitation providers in each state along with other organizations called Employment Networks who provide services.
You can choose to assign your Ticket to Work to an Employment Network or to Vocational Rehabilitation, your choice, to obtain the services you need to achieve your work goal.
The Employment Network or Vocational Rehabilitation will work together to develop a plan for work and they will provide you with the services you need to find and maintain employment.
They really want you to become successful, not only because they are working with you and have agreed to work with you and you have agreed to work with them, but it shows they believe in you.
It is also because they also will not receive any payment for their services unless you are successful.
They have a stake in you being successful, too.
Starting the journey.
If you are receiving a disability benefit or listening to the webinar today, chances are you already started thinking about choosing work and chances are you have come to a fork in the road.
Only you can decide if working is the right choice for you.
The decision you are making is truly a big decision and there is a whole lot to think about.
Where to begin, where to get answers to your questions.
I really cannot tell you how many times I have heard over the years someone is receiving a disability benefit or SSI from Social Security and they say they cannot work or they would lose their benefits if they work and they could end up worse off.
I cannot tell you how many times I have shown them that they can work and can keep their Medicare and Medicaid and not immediately lose their cash benefits and end up in a worse position.
It is all about taking the first step.
We are here to give you the tools you need to begin your journey.
You will see many valuable resources at the end of the presentation.
When you walk away from the webinar, I would like for you to think about how working can change your life, and I would like you to remember that you can choose to work while receiving a disability benefit.
You have a lot more choices.
Not only whether or not you will work, but whether you will work part-time or less hours or move forward with full steam ahead and work full-time.
No matter what you decide, the choice is always yours.
You never want to look back and say, I wish I had.
Why choose work?
Think about it, working can change your whole life.
Many individuals choose work to earn more income.
We will be hearing from Chris Rodriguez and he will be telling us about the ABLE accounts and how they can be a great option as you plan your journey forward.
Some people choose work to gain independence.
They want to increase their standard of living and they want to work to try to reduce or eliminate their need for benefits.
By working, they will have more choice in their daily lives.
Some folks work to meet new people and make new friends.
My family member, my nephew Jeremy, he works for that reason.
He loves meeting new people and no one is ever a stranger.
It has expanded his horizons.
Some of his new friends like many of the same things he does.
He has taken that first step forward.
The next step.
Like any other big decision, taking the next step involves planning.
It involves gathering the information and the resources to explore all of your options.
You need not only begin thinking about what you want to do and what you enjoy doing but also how you will get there and what you need to get to that next level.
Think about it.
Do you need training, education, or do you need special equipment or accommodation, or maybe you need supportive employment, or help with putting together a resume, or transportation?
How would you get to and from work?
Part of the planning process involves gathering information and resources to help you understand how working will affect your benefits so that there are no surprises.
You may be thinking about all of this right now and think that it all sounds great, but it is a bit overwhelming.
Where do you go from here?
How do you find this information and how do you find reliable resources to help you?
One way is through the Find Help tool.
It is located at the link shown on your screen at www.choosework.net/findhelp/.
You can search for providers of services.
These are free services.
I know you often hear that nothing in life is free.
But I am telling you, these are free services and they are available under the Ticket to Work program.
You can search in a variety of ways.
Perhaps you are seeking a provider near your home or in your general vicinity.
Maybe you want to meet with them face-to-face and talk to them face-to-face.
You can search by ZIP Code.
Perhaps you know what services you are seeking, but you do not know who offers those services.
It may be job accommodations or job coaching or resume preparation or a variety of other services.
The tool also allows you to search for providers who focus on a specific disability.
It also focuses on finding providers who speak a particular language.
You can search by provider type.
You can search by employment network, workforce employment network, Vocational Rehabilitation, or perhaps you need a benefit planner so you would seek services from a WIPA, a Work Incentives Planning and Assistance grantee.
Perhaps you are already on the job and you are facing some barriers and you need to run it by someone because you may need some assistance from a Protection and Advocacy component.
The site includes a handy tool called "Finding an Employment Network and Assigning a Your Ticket Worksheet."
If you are not certain what questions to ask, this may be the tool for you because it gives you the questions to ask.
You are encouraged to talk to several prospective employment networks before you do assign your Ticket to Work.
Sometimes they say, you need to have all your ducks in a row so that you can proceed with work.
What would happen if you do have all of your ducks in a row but there is one critical piece missing?
What would you do?
Maybe you need a special accommodation to work or maybe a special certification at work to get you to that next level or maybe you need more reliable transportation to and from work or maybe you have a future need critical to you continuing to work.
How would you pay for these things if they are not covered under any other program?
I think Chris may have some answers for you in just a moment.
>> Before we move on to Chris, we have had some questions come in.
I realize we are getting some things working with the people who are just calling in.
We will give them a moment.
We just had the phone number up, and we are working on that.
In the meantime, we have somebody who has a question and it is -- are there any limits on how much I can make or save or earn?
I am on SSDI.
>> That is a great question, asking how much you can make or earn when receiving SSDI benefits from Social Security.
I don't really want to throw a number out there because the work incentives out there Social Security has in place, there is a lot of information someone has to know before they can apply the work incentive.
All I can say is the person receiving an SSDI benefit is entitled to a trial work period, a nine-month trial work period, where they can earn any amount of money and it will not affect their benefit.
After that, Social Security looks at countable income and it gets a little complex there.
For cases like that, I would recommend or encourage someone to talk to a benefits planner.
That would be a WIPA and they can find the WIPA that serves their area by using the Find Help tool or by telephoning the Choose Work, the Ticket to Work helpline at 1-866-968-7842.
If you don't have Internet access or you have difficulty navigating websites -- some of us do sometimes -- you can always telephone the work helpline and they can help you and provide you with the information you need to take that next step.
>> Great.
Thanks very much, Marlene.
Another question -- what is the difference between a resource and an asset?
>> Well, that is a really great question.
They are both things you own, but not everything a person owns is a resource.
Some items, and I am talking from Social Security's viewpoint, they are considered assets, like a person's residence or primary home or vehicle.
Those are things that cannot easily be converted to cash within 20 days.
And used for that person's needs.
Social Security considers a resource as cash or other assets that a person owns that can be easily converted to cash within about 20 days and used for their support and maintenance.
It would be things like a checking account, savings account, cash, investment, CDs, life insurance with a cash value, IRAs, 401(k)s, or something like a second home.
Some things that are not resources are things like an Earned Income Tax Credit or plan for achieving self-support fund or personal effects.
I hope that helps a little.
Probably a little more information than you need or wanted.
>> Great information, thank you.
There is always misunderstanding about that.
Thank you.
I am sure we will have other questions that are related to SSI and SSDI.
Marlene, I do have another question for you that typically comes up every call and it is about childhood disability benefits, also known as disabled adult child.
How does somebody know they are receiving those benefits or not?
>> Well, they must have had a disability which began prior to the age of 22.
They would have a parent who is deceased, disabled, or retired.
If the parent is disabled or retired, they would be receiving a benefit from Social Security and that person may qualify as a disabled adult child on the parent's record.
Sometimes, we will see an individual may have been receiving a Supplemental Security Income benefit and over the age of 18, but a parent retires or maybe a parent begins receiving disability benefits and that child may qualify for a benefit on the parent's record.
>> Is there anything in the Social Security record which could help someone receiving the benefit to know when their disability began, if they are not sure?
>> They can establish a My Social Security account online through the Internet and find the information that way.
Or they can work with a benefit planner and the benefit planner will ask them to sign a consent form and the benefit planner will obtain certain information from Social Security from the record and it will show a disability onset date in those records.
That is kind of important because when Chris will begin talking about ABLE accounts, to qualify for an ABLE account, the person must have a disability which began prior to the age of 26.
We heard already 22, and disabled adult children and those folks would qualify for a benefit, but there are other ways they can qualify as well.
It is really important if they are interested in ABLE that they know when their disability began.
Most folks do know that or it could be in their medical records.
>> Great.
We will keep going with questions for you.
One of the questions is -- can someone be on both SSI and SSDI at the same time?
>> That is what I was talking about earlier.
That is called a concurrent beneficiary.
If someone's SSDI benefit is low enough and they meet the other SSI income and resource requirements, they can possibly qualify for SSI benefits to supplement their SSDI.
They can actually receive both.
The Social Security offices are phenomenal about this.
They look at all angles and they pay a person as much as they can, looking at all records.
That is why sometimes when they take claims, they will ask a lot of questions and you may wonder, why are they asking me this question, but it is so they can obtain all the information they need to see what benefits an individual may qualify for.
They are protecting that person's benefits.
I am telling you they are really great about it.
>> Wonderful, thank you so much.
I think that we are going to turn it over to Chris Rodriguez.
Chris?
>> I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about ABLE.
Let's dive right in.
Just a very brief history of the ABLE Act.
The formal name is the Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, or ABLE Act, and it was signed into law December 19, 2014.
What it does in its most basic sense, it creates a new option for certain people with disabilities and their families to save for their future, while at the same time protecting the individual's eligibility for public benefits, such as Medicaid and Social Security income.
There are a few things, a few exceptions, and we will talk about those here in the next few slides.
ABLE accounts, they are qualified savings accounts that receive preferred federal tax treatment.
They are known as 529A accounts.
I do not want anybody to get confused if at times you hear, instead of being called ABLE accounts, you hear them called 529A accounts.
That is the exact same thing.
That is the technical name for it.
Additionally, they an ABLE eligible individuals to save for what is called disability-related expenses.
We will go over what it takes to be an eligible individual or be allowed to open up an ABLE account.
We will talk about what a disability-related expense is.
It is important to note that as of today, there are 18 ABLE programs that are enrolling qualified individuals, people who meet the eligibility criteria.
For more information on those states, you can always go to the ABLE National Resource Center website.
The link is right there in front of you on this particular slide.
It is also important to note that some people think you have to be a resident or you have to live in the state that is providing the ABLE program, and that is not true.
The majority of those 18 programs available to people are enrolling -- provided you meet the eligibility criteria -- enrolling people no matter where you live.
We will talk a little bit more about that in a little bit as well.
So, what is an ABLE account?
Assets in an ABLE account will be disregarded or given special treatment in determining eligibility for most federally funded means-tested benefits.
When we say assets, and this goes back to a question I just heard answered, the money that is contributed or put into an ABLE account.
Those funds are not taken into consideration when determining eligibility for most federally funded means-tested benefits, referring to things like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income, things like food assistance programs.
Things funded by the federal government but they have these tests associated with being eligible for them that are based on what your means are or how much assets you have or the financial resources you have.
It is important to note distributions for qualified disability expenses will be disregarded or given special treatment in determining eligibility again for most federally funded means-tested benefits.
Not only are the funds that are held by the ABLE account not counted against somebody when any type of agency is determining eligibility for benefit, but when you take the money out so long as it is used appropriately or used to pay for a qualified disability expense, those funds taken out of the account will also not be taken into consideration and will not harm the beneficiary or the account holder or the person with the disability's ability to receive those federally funded means-tested benefits, such as Medicaid, SNAP benefits, Section 8 housing, things like that.
Some of the characteristics around having an ABLE account that you should be aware of -- each eligible individual may only have one ABLE account.
This is not like a savings account with respect that you can have multiple savings accounts.
An ABLE account is only one ABLE account per eligible individual with a disability.
The designated beneficiary is the account owner.
The designated beneficiary means the account owner, who is also the person with a disability.
If you are a person with a disability and you have opened an ABLE account, you are the account owner and you are the designated beneficiary because the funds belong to you.
The funds are for your best interest.
In addition to that, while the designated beneficiary is always the account owner, if the person with a disability feels as though they do not want to maintain the account or if they feel as though they need some help with the account, there are different types of people that are allowed to have what is called signature authority or be allowed to exercise use over the account owner on behalf of the person with the disability, and that can be the parent, guardian, or a person with power of attorney.
Those three types of people are allowed to have signature authority or basically exercise use over the account on behalf of the designated beneficiary.
There is no longer a federal residency requirement related to establishing an ABLE account unless otherwise established by that given program.
Say that I meet the eligibility criteria that we will go over in a little bit, I meet that, and I'm a person with a disability and I can open an account, and I live in Texas.
Texas, right now, does not have an ABLE program.
Does that mean I cannot enroll in an ABLE program?
No.
That means I can go to another state despite the fact that I live in Texas and open up an account, provided that I meet the eligibility criteria.
Of those 18 states, there are only a couple that prohibit out-of-state residents from enrolling.
That is Kentucky and Florida right now.
The rest of the states, the majority of the states, have national enrollment so you can enroll anywhere.
Let's say I live in Texas and I know that Ohio has a program.
You could enroll in theirs, Virginia, Tennessee, or Nebraska, or a number of other states.
Most of them do have national enrollment.
Moving on.
The total annual contributions are not to exceed the federal gift tax contribution, which is currently set at $14,000.
What does that mean?
It means that all the money contributed or deposited into a person's ABLE account in any given tax year, from January 1 all the way through the year through December 31, the contributions made in between those periods of time can not exceed $14,000.
That is the maximum amount of money that can be contributed or deposited into a person's ABLE account in any given tax year or calendar year.
This may be periodically adjusted for inflation and anyone, including the beneficiary, their family, friends, and others, can make contributions to an ABLE account.
I have a brother in Texas who is eligible to open an ABLE account.
I can contribute money into his account.
My parents can contribute money into his account.
His friends can contribute money into his ABLE account.
He himself can contribute money into his ABLE account.
We have to keep in mind that all those contributions combined from all of those people who decide to contribute into an ABLE account are not allowed to go above $14,000 in any given tax year.
From January 1 to December 31.
And then it starts over.
Those funds can grow however long people continue to fund into the account.
Multiple individuals may make contributions.
There is also a lifetime contribution limit and that is equal to whatever state the ABLE account is established in, they have a college savings account limit.
Another program related to saving for college.
Once it hits that limit, which is usually anywhere from $250,000 all the way to $500,000, the account can no longer take additional contributions until that balance falls below that threshold or limit.
This is not something people necessarily need to pay attention to right now because at $14,000 a year, it will take quite some time, probably well over 10 or 15 years if you put in the maximum amount per year, which is $14,000, to reach any one of those limits.
It is something people should be aware of but probably not something they should strongly take into consideration at this time.
We have talked a little bit about some of the characteristics of an ABLE account.
We know a little bit about how they operate.
What I want to talk about now is who exactly is eligible to open up these accounts.
Why did I say these accounts are available to certain individuals with disabilities and not all individuals with disabilities?
There are eligibility requirements, and if you do not meet the following requirements we are about to discuss, as it stands currently, you are not allowed to open up an ABLE account.
What do these look like?
There are two basic requirements that need to be met, and the first has to do with the age of onset of the person's disability.
The individual must have had an onset of disability before their 26th birthday.
That means they had to start experiencing their disability prior to turning 26.
Does that mean that in my brother's circumstance -- he lives in Texas, his disability was established at birth, but currently, he is 34 years old.
Can he open up an ABLE account despite the fact that he is older than 26?
The answer would be yes because despite the fact that he is older than 26, his disability occurred prior to age 26 because he was born with his disability.
He would meet that requirement.
There is one other part you need to meet that talks about the severity of the disability.
There is one of two things that need to be met.
If you have been determined to meet the disability requirements for SSI or SSDI and you meet the age requirement, you start to experience your disability before your 26th birthday, you are set to go.
For a lot of folks listening in today, they are beneficiaries of SSI or SSDI.
Provided you meet the age requirement and you receive those benefits currently, you are good to go.
You are allowed to set up your ABLE account.
You need to pick a program that best meets your needs.
Let's say you do meet the age requirement but you are not a beneficiary of SSI or SSDI, there is still a possibility you can be eligible to open an account.
You need to submit a disability certification, which includes a physician's diagnosis, that the individual meets certain criteria.
More about that on the ABLE National Resource Center website.
Moving forward.
We have a basic understanding of some of the things that surround having an ABLE account.
We have a better idea of who is eligible to open an account.
What exactly can the funds that are deposited or contributed into somebody's ABLE account be used for?
Distributions from an ABLE account may be used for qualified disability expenses.
A qualified disability expense are expenses that relate to the designated beneficiary's blindness or disability and are for the benefit of that designated beneficiary and help them maintain or improve their health, independence, or quality of life.
This is a very vague and broad definition of what these funds can be used for and we want to make sure it was that way because we appreciate, we understand the needs of people with disabilities are vast and can be very different from one person to the other and we did not want to make very specific things you could and can't use the money for.
The term "qualified disability-related expenses" should be broadly understood to permit the inclusion of basic living expenses and should not be limited to expenses for items for which there is a medical necessity.
Unlike Medicaid, where perhaps if you need something, you have to have a doctor saying you need it and you can go purchase it.
That is not the way ABLE works.
You do not need to have or prove a medical necessity in order for something to be a qualified disability-related expense.
In addition, it should not be limited to things which provide no benefit to others in addition to the benefit of the eligible individual.
While it should be for the primary benefit of the person with a disability, if it has some type of peripheral benefits to other people, that is OK, too.
The primary benefit needs to be for that person.
An example could be, you could purchase an accessible van to help you improve your independence with ABLE funds.
Can other people ride in the van from time to time?
Of course, yes.
It really has to be for the primary purpose of the person with a disability who is also the account owner.
There are different kinds of buckets that these qualified disability expenses may be related to.
They can include education, housing, transportation, employment training and support, assistive technology and personal support services, health, prevention and wellness, financial management and administrative services, legal fees, expenses for oversight and monitoring, basic living expenses, can even be used for funeral and burial expenses.
There is a catchall -- any other expenses approved by the Secretary of the Treasury under regulations consistent with the purpose of the program.
Those are ways people can use these ABLE accounts to help offset the expenses of disability-related purchases that helps them increase or maintain their health and quality of life.
That is what these dollars are supposed to be spent on.
If you spend the dollars on things that are not qualified, do not meet the criteria that we just discussed, those funds will be subject to tax consequences and may even affect the individual's eligibility for their federally funded means-tested benefits, such as Medicaid or SSI.
It is important for people to understand what the appropriate way to use these funds are so they do not run into any issues that can result in paying taxes and penalties and even losing their benefits.
One of the great things, obviously, about these ABLE programs is that the funds, or the assets, in an ABLE account will not be counted against the individual when determining eligibility for most federally funded means-tested benefits.
Many people know that folks on Supplemental Security Income are not allowed to have more than $2000 worth of assets at any given time or else your eligibility could be in jeopardy.
We wanted to get around that, so this is what ABLE allows folks to have.
It allows them to save money far beyond $2000 as long as it is in the ABLE account and as long as it is used for disability-related expenses.
That is really, really great.
There is one exception with respect to means-tested benefits and that is for SSI beneficiaries.
What happens is once the account exceeds or goes over $100,000, the ABLE account, the cash benefit that is provided through SSI will be temporarily suspended or cut off until such time as the balance falls back below $100,000.
It is important to note that while that cash benefit would be suspended, cut off temporarily, eligibility still remains intact.
You are still considered a beneficiary of SSI despite the fact that the cash benefit will be cut off and you will receive all of the benefits associated with being a beneficiary of SSI with the exception of the monthly cash benefit that will kick back in as soon as the ABLE account falls back below $100,000.
Any dollar over the $100,000 will be counted as a resource.
However, if you are on SSDI, which does not have a limit or any other federally funded means-tested benefit, you do not have to worry about it.
Even if the account goes over $100,000, you will still receive those benefits.
It is only the monthly cash benefit that will be affected if and when the account goes over $100,000.
We are not expecting to see anybody's SSI payment cut off in the near future because it will take a few years for anybody that opens up an ABLE account to reach $100,000 provided that you can only put $14,000 in an account during any given tax year.
I hope people understand the differences between that SSI cash benefit being suspended, yet the individual is still considered eligible, and not terminated, even if it lasts over 12 months.
They are just temporarily suspended in terms of the cash benefit.
Housing expenses receive the same treatment as all housing costs paid by outside sources.
However, new Social Security instructions will treat housing expenses as resources only if you pay for them in the month after they are due.
The point of this is, if you are going to be using your ABLE dollars to pay for your housing and you don't want it to affect your SSI cash benefit, you need to pay for that housing expense in the same month in which you take the funds out of your ABLE account.
That is very important to note.
Marlene, did you have anything you needed -- I know you know the differences between eligibility and termination and benefits being suspended under this new rule here related to ABLE.
>> There is a big difference between a suspension action and a termination action.
I want the folks who are listening today to understand with a suspension action, someone can be an expense for months and even years and their benefits can resume.
It is something like -- I can throw this out here, for those who have listened to other webinars and listened about work incentives, it is similar to what happens when someone uses 1619(b), where their cash benefit is reduced to zero because their earnings have exceeded a breakeven point or a threshold level that their Medicaid continues.
Once they drop back down, benefits resume.
That does not mean they are terminated.
When I used to go out and talk to folks, I used to say it is like they are in suspended animation.
They are still carried on the Social Security computers as an open case.
Termination is different.
>> That is a great example.
So, next, again, ABLE assets are disregarded in determining Medicaid eligibility.
Even if the funds in the account go over that $100,000, it does not affect the person's Medicaid eligibility.
If you receive SSI, Medicaid benefits are not suspended.
Even if you go over -- people often have that question -- if my account goes over $100,000, I understand the cash benefit is suspended.
How will that affect your Medicaid?
It does not affect your Medicaid.
Your Medicaid stays intact.
There is another aspect that people should certainly know about and understand and that is related to Medicaid.
It is called the Medicaid Payback provision.
If there are assets in the ABLE account when a beneficiary passes away, when they die, the assets can be used to reimburse the state for Medicaid payments made on behalf of the beneficiary after establishment of the ABLE account.
That is extremely important to understand because a lot of the folks that will be eligible to open an ABLE account have significant needs and those needs can only be addressed through the supports and services that are received through Medicaid.
What happens is the state keeps track of how much money the supports and services cost that are being provided to the beneficiary over time.
When that person dies, they add up the costs of all of the supports and services the person has been getting, starting at the point when they created the account and they can go to whatever ABLE program that is holding the account after the person passes away and use the remaining funds in the account to reimburse themselves, reimburse the state for those services provided.
In order for that to happen, the state has to file a claim.
In the law, there is nothing that says they have to file the claim, but if they do, it must be paid.
That is important to note.
As a side note, there are some states looking into passing legislation that would say that if you have an ABLE account in their state and you are receiving Medicaid through their state, they promise to not file a claim.
Those are still in the works.
People are still trying to figure that out.
This really is not a wealth transfer tool.
It is an asset saving tool.
We crammed a lot of information into a very limited amount of slides.
There is still a great deal of information about ABLE accounts that people might be curious about.
I would encourage folks who want to know more to go to the ABLE National Resource website at ablenrc.org.
The things we talked about today are things that will be consistent across all ABLE programs.
However, ABLE programs do have the flexibility to add certain types of bells and whistles to differentiate themselves from other programs in the sense of competition to help people be more enticed to go to their program as opposed to another.
If you go to our website, you can look at the different programs and you can compare them side-to-side based on different characteristics that people might want to take into account when choosing which program best meets their needs.
Some of those are the costs of the program, whether or not there is a tax deduction related to contributions, minimum contributions, fees, some of them have debit cards you can have with the account.
Things like that.
All that information is on the website.
There are also informative videos you can watch, different archives on different topics that we have on the website, and all kinds of other information.
I encourage folks to go there and check that out.
You can always get a hold of me.
My email address is right there, crodriguez@ndi-inc.org.
I would be more than happy to answer any of your ABLE-related questions.
With that, I appreciate the opportunity to talk today and share some of this information.
I am sure I will be talking to some of you very soon.
Thank you.
>> Yes, Chris, you will.
We have several questions that came in during your presentation.
I am going to run a few of those by you now.
The first is -- if my account goes over $2000, will I lose my SSI and my Medicaid?
>> I am back.
The point of an ABLE account is to allow people to save money without jeopardizing their SSI and Medicaid and other federally funded means-tested benefits.
As long as the money is in the ABLE account, no federally funded means-tested benefits, including SSI and Medicaid, will be affected with the exception of the $100,000 rule that I went over previously.
To answer the question specifically, you can have $2000, $3000, $4000, $10,000, $20,000, all the way up to $100,000 in the ABLE account before it will have any effect on any of your federally funded means-tested benefits.
Once it reaches $100,000, the only program it will affect is your cash benefit provided through SSI.
>> Wonderful information.
Another question -- what if the account owner has a representative payee?
>> This is a great question that we get fairly frequently.
There are only three types of people that are allowed to exercise signature authority or use the account on behalf of the beneficiary for the benefit of the person with the disability, and that is the parent, guardian, or person with power of attorney.
Unless the rep payee is one of those three types of people, they are not allowed to help that individual maintain the account.
>> Wonderful.
Can you clarify -- can a bank help someone set up their ABLE account?
>> That is another great question.
Currently, in an effort to keep the cost as low as possible to establish and maintain these accounts, enrollment and maintenance of the account is all done online.
This is not a situation wherein you walk into a brick-and-mortar building, a Bank of America or whatever, you do all of this online through the state program that you decide to choose to establish your particular account with.
No, a bank would probably not be able to help you.
At this point in time, because these programs are so new, I do not think a bank would recognize what an ABLE account actually is.
>> Good to know.
I know you mentioned that 18 states have ABLE, and we have a question from somebody in a state that does not have an ABLE program at this time and want to know if they set up an account in another state and then their state opens an ABLE account, will they be able to move their ABLE account into the state that they live in?
>> Another great question.
Under the law, you are allowed to move the funds in one ABLE account to another ABLE account, but you would have to do the entire balance.
An eligible individual is only allowed to have one ABLE account at a time.
My brother lives in Texas.
He could open up an ABLE account in Ohio and once Texas launches their program, he could transfer that account to the Texas program if he wanted to do so or any other program for that matter.
>> OK, that is great information.
We have another question.
Somebody wants to know if they can use their ABLE to pay for their prescriptions, money from their ABLE account for that purpose?
>> You would want to look at it through the lens of the definition.
Does this relate to my disability?
Is it for my benefit?
You cannot buy medication for other people.
I do not even know how that would work.
Does this help me increase or maintain my health, independence, or quality of life?
I would think that any type of medication you have been prescribed helps with your health, so I would think that is good to go, if the medication is for your consumption.
I would say yes.
That would qualify as a qualified disability-related expense.
>> OK.
And then, we also have somebody in the chat box asking if you can provide an example of administrative services for ABLE.
>> Administrative services for ABLE?
I do not know that I understand the question.
>> Maybe we can get that person to re-ask their question and we will get it back to you at a later time with a little clarification.
I told you we had a lot coming in.
If I have a special needs trust, do I still need to set up an ABLE account?
>> Right.
This is a pretty frequently asked question about comparing an ABLE account to a special needs trust, and we got so many questions, we did an entire 90-minute webinar that you can access.
It is archived on our ABLE National Resource Center website.
There are differences from an ABLE account and a special needs trust.
It is our opinion that if you can do so, having both is ideal.
There are benefits provided by having both that are greater than having one alone.
It really just depends on the person's circumstance and how they plan to use the funds.
How they plan to put the funds into the account.
If you are talking about things like, you need to find a place to put $50,000 because of an inheritance or something like that, ABLE would be difficult to do that with because you can only put $14,000 in at a time.
If you want to say without jeopardizing your eligibility for your benefits, but you do not feel comfortable or you do not have the funds to spend thousands of dollars to set up a special needs trust, an ABLE account might be a better option.
It depends on what your circumstances are and what your needs are in terms of which would best suit you, or if you have the finances or resources to set up both, that is great, too.
>> OK, great.
Somebody said they are over the age of 26.
Does that mean it is too late for them to establish an ABLE account?
>> Like I mentioned previously, you can establish an ABLE account at any age.
It is just that your onset of your disability had to occur prior to age 26.
In my brother's case, his disability was established at birth, he is 34 years old, which makes him older than 26, but his disability occurred at birth, which is before age 26.
He could open up an account because he is also an SSI beneficiary, right now despite the fact that he is 34.
>> That makes sense, great.
Just to confirm, a person does have to be receiving disability benefits from SSA to qualify for an ABLE account?
>> Or they can submit the disability certificate.
If they are not currently a beneficiary of SSI or SSDI, they could still qualify to open up an ABLE account, but they would have to submit a disability certification with a doctor's diagnosis confirming they meet a certain level of severity related to their disability.
>> Great information, thank you.
We may have a few more questions.
Right now, what we will do is turn it back over to Marlene to talk to us a little bit more.
Thank you very much, Chris.
>> Chris, can I throw in something?
There was a question in the chat box and I was not certain I could answer.
Someone was asking, can they use ABLE funds for financial management advice?
>> Financial management advice.
>> What they were referring to is maybe investment advice?
>> Investment advice.
I don't know if that would necessarily be disability-related but I guess it could be.
You would have to be able to justify if you were ever audited.
The entity making sure these accounts are used properly is The Department of Treasury.
The way they will do that is from time to time, they will audit somebody.
They will go to a person who is an ABLE account owner and say, prove to me you are eligible to have an account and let's go through the things you have been spending money on, and tell me how they meet the definition of being disability-related and how they help you increase your health, independence, or quality of life.
As long as you can justify that to them, it is a qualified disability-related expense.
>> We will talk a little bit about ways to save money to reach our goal.
I think when you look at ways to save money to reach a goal, we know working and saving money is a great way for us to reach our goal.
We know that we can work, earn money, and deposit our earnings, or a portion of our earnings, into an ABLE account to use later for disability-related expenses, and some of the disability-related expenses that Chris talked about are also work-related expenses.
They can be things like education or job training to prepare you for the right job or to take you to the next level or they could be something like assistive technology or transportation.
We know that even though Supplemental Security Income has resource limits, ABLE accounts are an option to save money above the resource limit for persons receiving SSI so they can reach their goals, too.
There is another way that we can save money to reach our goals, and that is through working and filing for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
We included this information in the presentation today because there is no better time to talk about the Earned Income Tax Credit because it is tax season.
As we go through the next several slides, keep in mind you can work and you can earn money and you can save it in the ABLE account, and you can work and earn money and you can file for the Earned Income Tax Credit so that you have even more money to save in the ABLE account to meet your goals.
Let me tell you how.
When I was doing a little research for the presentation, I was reading a little more about the Earned Income Tax Credit.
I learned that the national participation rate for the Earned Income Tax Credit is about 80% and that told me about 20% of the folks who actually qualified are passing it up.
I wondered, why didn't they file?
I learned the average amount for the Earned Income Tax Credit paid out in 2016 was about $2400, which is an awful lot of money and it would go a great way toward reducing poverty for a lot of working families.
We will talk a little bit about the Earned Income Tax Credit and you can see if you possibly qualify for it.
There is great news.
The Internal Revenue Service can give you a tax credit for working and that is called the Earned Income Tax Credit and it is a benefit for low- to moderate-income workers and that includes persons with a disability and persons without a disability.
If you qualify, you could either pay less in federal income taxes or possibly no income taxes, or you could get a tax refund -- and it could be a large tax refund.
To be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit -- you can't be eligible either from wages or self-employment, if you have net self-employment income, and you don't have to have a child or children to be eligible.
If you don't have a child, you have to be between the ages of 25 and 64, or if you do have a child or children, you have to be between the ages of 18 and 64.
When we talk about earned income, that could be earnings, but it does not include SSI benefits or childhood disability benefits or Supplemental Security Income benefits or something like a Veterans Administration pension.
It does not include those sorts of benefits.
It gets a little complicated sometimes.
At the end of this presentation, we will be giving you some resources so you can contact trained professionals if you need some help.
What is really great about the Earned Income Tax Credit is the fact that you can file for it even up to three years back if you passed it up possibly because you did not know it existed or you did not know if you qualified or possibly you did not owe any tax.
You can file for it if you are not required to file for taxes.
There is no minimum amount of earnings required.
In general, your income and the size of your family will determine eligibility.
The maximum amount of the credits are shown on your screen.
Look at those numbers.
In tax year 2015, the maximum amount was $6,242.
In tax year 2016, it was $6,269.
This year, which will be filed next spring, the limit is $6,318.
Some of you out there listening today, I know you are receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits and you may be wondering if you file your tax return and you receive sums of money, whether Social Security will reduce your SSI cash benefit or whether they will consider that income or resource.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is not considered income and not considered as a resource for at least 12 months from when you receive it.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is money you can place into your ABLE account, if you choose to do that.
Chris told us you could deposit up to $14,000 per year into an ABLE account.
That is a lot.
There may be also similar credits at your state or local level.
If you are not sure if you are eligible, the IRS website has a handy-dandy tool called the Earned Income Tax Credit Assistant and it is available at www.IRS.gov.
It will help you to determine if you are eligible and it will help you get an estimate on the amount that you may be eligible for.
Like with other webinars, we are here to help you today so you can succeed in your journey to work.
We encourage you to take advantage of the resources that we provided you with today.
If you missed something today and you want to listen in on this webinar again, all of our webinars are archived and Nancy will be telling us a little more about this and about the resources and some additional resources that may be available.
>> Thanks so much, Marlene, for that incredible amount of information.
We did have a question regarding the EITC and if there any resources, any free resources, available to help me determine if I'm eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit?
>> That is a great question.
In addition to that Earned Income Tax Credit tool I talked about, the Earned Income Tax Credit assistant at www.IRS.gov, there are a lot of other resources out there.
The National Disability Institute actually has a new tax preparation site at www.realeconomicimpact.org.
It provides a lot of options not only about tax filing and tax preparation, but it provides information about the Earned Income Tax Credit and whether or not you may be eligible.
There are some other free resources out there and those are also listed on the National Disability Institute website.
They are also listed at www.IRS.gov.
There is Voluntary Income Tax Assistance, or VITA.
Generally, folks can qualify for that if they earn $54,000 a year or less.
The VITA offices are staffed by IRS trained certified volunteers.
From what I understood, $54,000 is not set in stone and there is a little leeway.
Folks like that could actually help an individual to determine whether or not they may be eligible for that Earned Income Tax Credit.
There are also resources available through the AARP, especially for folks age 50 or over.
You can find those resources on the IRS website or through the AARP website, which is www.AARP.org.
There are quite a few resources out there for folks if they need assistance.
>> Thank you very much, Marlene.
I appreciate that.
We do have some additional resources that we would like to share with everybody.
I want to make sure we can finish up on time.
Please contact the ABLE National Resource Center at www.ablenrc.org.
The National Disability Institute has several webinars that you can listen to for free.
You can go there at http://www.realeconomicimpact.org/resources/webinar-archive.
The Earned Income Tax Credit that Marlene just talked about, you can contact a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance person about that.
You can do that by going to 1-800-906-9887 or you can visit www. IRS.gov/eitc.
We have a couple of final announcements before the survey pops up that we love for you all to take and give your feedback to us on.
Next month, April 26, we will be having our next Ticket to Work webinar, which will be about working with a federal contractor.
Registration is ready to go for that.
You can register for that at any time.
The other important thing that I want to tell everyone about is that in two days, this Friday, you can join us for a Twitter chat featuring the ABLE National Resource Center.
Any of your questions that maybe you were not able to get answered today, you can have answered on Friday and follow us.
The hashtag is #dechat.
You can follow us on Twitter, and that chat is this Friday from noon until 1:00 Eastern.
We look forward to you joining us for that as well.
I want to take a moment again to thank our speakers for all of the great information they gave us.
Marlene, with your experience working at the Social Security Administration in the past, you certainly have a wealth of knowledge and we are so happy you shared that with us.
Chris, as acting director for the ABLE National Resource Center, we very much appreciate you taking the time to be with us today.
We know how enthusiastic you are about the ABLE Act and about ABLE accounts.
Thank you for that.
We're just about out of time.
Please remember that we want to hear what you think, so tell us what you think.
Remember to take our survey.
A pop-up link will pop up right after this webinar or you can also visit www.choosework.net/surveys/wise.
Thank you very much and have a great rest of the day.