MAY 3, 2010 VCU WEBCAST Services Provided By: Caption First, Inc. >> Hi. I'm Cathy Healy with the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center. We are here today with VCU RRTC to bring you information about transition for students with disabilities out of secondary school into life. Our program NEXT STEPS training is in partnership with the VCU-RRTC, and we are funded by a grant from the Rehabilitation Services Administration with the U.S. Department of Education. Our organization, PEATC, has been around for about 30 years. And we talk to families every single day about issues related to special education and general education, and how families can be better support systems for their children and young adults with disabilities. We invite your phone calls at 800-869-6782, or locally in northern Virginia, 703-923-0010. Today's program is one of the series of Webcasts that we have produced related specifically to the issues of transition for students with disabilities. We offer to professionals CEUs and CRCs, and to parents we offer a certificate of training. If you would like more information for either of those programs, we ask you to please inquire with Teri Blankenship at VCU or with me at the PEATC office. At the end of today's presentation, we will ask you to fill out a short evaluation. And if you are interested, we invite you to participate in a web board presentation discussion with the presenter, where she is happy to answer any of your questions. We are very excited today to have Sallie Rhodes, who is a Ticket to Work Program specialist. The Ticket to Work Program is a program that has been around for about ten years from the Social Security Administration. It's a program that not a lot of families are even aware of. But they believe that when their children leave high school, that they themselves have to figure out how to get their children jobs, but there are lots and lots of partners and lots and lots of public departments and agencies that are there to support that youth who wants to get a job. And using the vocational rehabilitation system and working with the Social Security benefits programs, your son or daughter actually could get a job and keep a job and become pretty self-sufficient in their future as adults. So we really wanted to bring this information to families, and to the providers who work with families, and to the youth with disabilities themselves. Even those students who are attending college right now might be eligible for some of the programs that are available. We encourage you to stay tuned, listen closely to what Sallie has to offer us, take down all of the phone numbers. The information will certainly be repeated on our various Websites. But mostly, we just want to encourage all of you that work is possible, that it is totally possible for youth with disabilities to enter the work force, stay there, be contributing citizens, pay taxes like the rest of us, but also find some financial independence. Thank you, Sallie, for being here. And I'd like to turn over the program to her. >> SALLIE RHODES: Thank you, Kathy. And hello to everyone out there. It's a real pleasure to be here today to be able to talk to you about some Social Security's programs that are designed to help people on disability benefits go to work. What you will see in the presentation today or you will hear about is you will learn how young people receiving Social Security disability benefits can access multiple community partners to achieve their employment goals. You will learn how young people with disabilities receiving benefits can obtain services and support to get and keep a job, and how they can participate in the Ticket to Work Program and work towards greater financial independence. The ticket can be a wonderful resource for young people with disabilities who are interested in going to work. You will also learn about work incentives programs that are available to help you reduce your countable income and continue receiving disability benefits while you explore work. Social Security disability benefits and work, you have probably heard a lot about it, and you have probably heard a lot of misinformation. I encourage you not to believe everything that you hear. These programs are complex. There is many of them. It's very important to get the facts. I strongly encourage you to learn about Social Security work incentives, and to take advantage of the many community partners that are out there to help you explore work. Again, I encourage you to get the facts. There are many myths, much misinformation out there about disability benefits and work. One of the myths you are often going to hear is, "If I go to work, I will lose my healthcare coverage." For most people, this simply is not true. Under the ticket legislation, there is an extension of Medicare coverage, and under a couple of pieces of legislation there is extensions of Medicaid coverage. Beneficiaries can continue to receive healthcare coverage while they explore work. The ticket legislation allows for up to 93 months of extended Medicare coverage after a beneficiary goes to work. Even after that 93-month period is up, there is a way to continue with the Medicare coverage by paying a premium for many people. The Medicaid extensions come under a couple of different programs. Many people are eligible to keep their Medicaid coverage after they have gone to work when they are on SSI benefits. To continue receiving Medicaid coverage, a person must still have a disability, and they must have earnings that are below the amount that is set by each state. If the above does not apply, then there are two other programs that provide for extensions of Medicare coverage that are referred to as Medicaid buy-in programs. I encourage you to find out more about both these programs, Medicaid and Medicare programs, and the way you can extend the coverage after you go to work. Another myth about disability benefits and work is, "If I go to work, get off benefits, and later lose my job, I will have to reapply and wait a long time before I can get back on benefits." Under the ticket legislation, there is a new program that provides for a quick reinstatement to benefits, so if a person who is receiving disability benefits goes to work and later loses that job as a result of their disability, there is what they refer to as an expedited reinstatement to benefits. This allows for quick access to up to six months of provisional or temporary benefits, while Social Security conducts a review of the person's medical history to determine if they continue to be eligible for disability benefits. Even if that review that Social Security conducts determines that the person is no longer eligible for benefits, the beneficiary can, does not have to pay back those provisional benefits that they received unless there is a situation of fraud. I've talked about Medicaid medical coverage, and now let's talk about some of the Social Security work incentives. Work incentives are Social Security rules that help people keep their disability benefits while they explore work. By using work incentives, a person can make more money, gain new skills, and achieve greater independence through work. I'm going to go over just a few examples of work incentives, but I encourage you to find out information about all of them that are available. One of the ones I'm going to cover quickly is called the trial work period. This work incentive is only available to people who are receiving Social Security disability insurance. And what it does, it allows the person to have earnings, substantial earnings, for a nine-month period and continue to receive their disability checks. There is also something called an extended period of eligibility for people receiving Social Security disability insurance. This provides for 36 months of an extended period of eligibility after the trial work period, that if a person loses their job, they can quickly restart their Social Security disability benefits without having to submit a new application, go through a disability determination or go through the waiting period. Another work incentive that you should be interested in is called the earned income exclusion. This one is only available for people who are receiving supplemental security income. Under this, they first allow the person to set aside 65 percent of their earnings, and there is no exclusions for that. The rest of the earnings that they have, they take what we call a 2 for 1; for every $2 the person earns, $1 is deducted from their SSI check until the check gets to zero. There are two other work incentives that I wanted to cover very quickly that are of particular interest to youth with disabilities. One is called the impairment-related work expenses. Under this, Social Security deducts certain costs of associated with impairment related items and services that the person needs to go to work. The deduction is taken from their gross income. And it allows them to reduce their countable income, so when SSA is determining what they call substantial gainful activity, they can actually continue to work and get their disability check for a longer period of time. The other one of particular interest to youth is called the student earned income exclusion, only available to people receiving supplemental security income. This allows for generous earnings exclusions for youth under the age of 22 who are regularly attending school. I strongly encourage you to learn more about disability benefits and work. You can learn more about the supplemental security income program and the Social Security disability insurance program by visiting the Social Security Website at www.socialsecurity.gov. You can also read about all of the various work incentives that Social Security has available for people receiving disability benefits with the Social Security Redbook. This book provides a brief overview of all the various work incentives, including who is eligible for each, and the Redbook can be found on the link that you see on your slide. I also encourage you to take advantage of some of the community partners that provide supports for people with disabilities as they are exploring work. One of the most critical services that you should be considering is called benefits planning. There are two sources of benefits planning that are made available through Social Security. One is through the work incentives planning and assistance program. You may have known it several years ago as the benefits planning assistance and outreach program. The other is Social Security specialists who have been trained to do benefits planning. They have area work incentives coordinators and what they call work incentives liaison specialists that are there to help you understand work incentives. You can also access advocacy services, both information and advocacy, through the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security program. Let me tell you a little more about the WIPA project, work incentives planning and assistance programs. SSA provides funding to local community partners who have their staff be trained to be specialists in work incentives. This staff are available to explain how a young person on Social Security disability benefits, how work and earnings will affect their benefits. They are also there to let you know about other state and local benefits that are likely to affect the affected -- be affected by work. WIPA staff are familiar with the community services and supports available to help individuals with disabilities who are seeking employment. You can find the WIPA program in your local community by visiting the link provided. The SSA specialists that I mentioned, the area work incentives coordinators and the work incentives liaisons, are a team of specialists within Social Security that are there to provide accurate information about returning to work and assistance in processing information about work activity. People who are on disability benefits when they go to work and start having earnings, they should be reporting those earnings to Social Security. This is particularly important for the supplemental security income program, because of the offset, the two-for-one offset I mentioned earlier. You can find the area work incentives coordinator serving your local area by visiting the link provided. I mentioned a protection and advocacy system. Social Security provides funding to the state and security protection program to provide services to people with disabilities. They are there to provide information, advocacy services and legal rights to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities, including youth receiving Social Security disability benefits. They are also there to provide information and support when a person is looking at the job application process, and following job placement. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the employment related services that are being made available by Social Security. There are two SSA programs that provide compensation to service providers who assist beneficiaries with disabilities in entering and maintaining employment. One is called the cost reimbursement program and one is called the Ticket to Work Program. The cost reimbursement program is, has been around since 1981, and it's only available to state vocational rehabilitation agencies. What it does is, it reimburses a state vocational rehabilitation agency for the cost of services provided to a beneficiary, when those services result in the beneficiary being able to work and have earnings during a nine-month period that are above what is referred to as substantial gainful activity. And this nine months must occur within a 12-month period. The Ticket to Work Program is the newer program. It was passed in 1999, and it's a different approach to service delivery than the cost reimbursement program. It's an outcome-based program. It is not reimbursement for the cost of services provided. The ticket program is designed to provide beneficiaries with disabilities increased access to a variety of service providers, so they can get services and supports to go to work. Who can participate in the Ticket to Work Program? Individuals ages 18 through 64 who are receiving Social Security disability benefits, under either supplemental security income programs or the Social Security disability insurance program. We refer to these people as ticket holders. Young people will not receive their ticket until they have gone through their 18-year-old redetermination for SSI benefits based on adult standards. So it may be that they will not receive the ticket until they are about 19. How does the ticket program work? SSA pays participating employment networks and state vocational rehabilitation agencies when the ticket holders that they are working with receive services, go to work, and achieve certain work-related milestones and outcomes. The goals of the ticket program are to increase self- sufficiency of beneficiaries with disabilities, to reduce or eliminate reliance on Social Security disability benefits, to increase the independence of beneficiaries, and to improve their quality of life. Some key features of the tickets program would be of particular interest to ticket holders. The ticket program is voluntary. There is no penalty if a person decides not to participate. When they receive their ticket, they can decide not to participate or they can wait three years to participate. The program is also free. Employment networks and state vocational rehabilitation agencies cannot charge for the services they provide under the ticket program. While I said there is no penalty for not participating in the ticket program, there is a benefit of participating. A person who is participating in the ticket program will have their regularly scheduled medical reviews postponed, and that for many people is a nice benefit. This brings up another myth that you are going to hear, you often hear: "If I go to work, Social Security will conduct a review and I will lose my benefits." Social Security does conduct periodic medical, continuing disability reviews, to determine if a person continues to be disabled and to be eligible for benefits based on their disability or medical condition. Participation in the Ticket to Work Program, which means either having your ticket assigned to an employment network or working with the state vocational rehabilitation agency, and progressing towards your employment goals, will postpone those medical continuing disability reviews, so you would get to keep your benefits longer. Some other features of interest to ticket holders would be, in addition to having the choice of whether or not to use, whether and when to use their tickets, ticket holders get to choose where to seek assistance. They can go to the state vocational rehabilitation agency. Because of their long history of working with Social Security under the cost reimbursement program, the state vocational rehabilitation agencies were made automatic employment networks under the ticket program. And, or they can go to an approved employment network. Employment networks are organizations that Social Security looks at and approves to provide services to beneficiaries. These organizations could be service providers. They could be public, private, for-profit, non-profit, traditional and non- traditional service providers. Government agencies are signing up to be employment networks, state and local. A federal agency can't be an employment network. Educational institutions are signing up to be employment networks. This includes community colleges, four-year colleges, career and technical schools, and some high schools and some local education agencies have signed up to be employment networks. Even employers are signing up to be employment networks. What type of services would you expect to see from an employment network? The services are very broad. But no employment network is required to provide any particular service. SSA does not mandate the services. What we want them to do is provide the services that they are qualified to provide. This could include counseling, guidance, career exploration, education and training, vocational, technical, post-secondary. It could be job placement or job search services. It could be job coaching and ongoing support services for someone in supported employment. It could be work adjustment counseling, job retention services and follow-along services or other types of services and supports based on individualized needs. That could be transportation. It could even be child care. It is what the person needs to succeed in the work force. What about employment networks that are working with youth? I think that when a young person goes to an employment network and assigns their ticket, the first thing they are going to have is probably a discussion about what are their interests, what are their skills and abilities and aptitudes . They are probably going to discuss prior education, any prior training and any prior work experience. Then the employment network representative will probably continue to talk and maybe explain about the labor market, and talk about specific jobs that are in line with the individual's interests and their skills and abilities. I'm imagining the employment network representative would talk about any fears a beneficiary has about going to work, and talk about any misinformation, and provide them with the facts and information about disability benefits and work. Then finally, the employment network probably would be working with the young ticket holder, and they might be working to help coordinate independent living skills, financial management training, orientation and training, mobility training for a person who is blind or visually impaired, and maybe transportation to and from work. Finally, they would be looking at how do you get this young person who has a ticket job-ready. They would identify strategies to overcome barriers to employment. They would help the person develop confidence in their skills and abilities. They would assist the person to develop appropriate personal and work habits. These are often referred to as soft skills, and they are important when a person is looking for a first job. The employment network would provide opportunities to gain experience through volunteer work, part-time work or internship. Research has shown the best indicator of the success in the work force for young people is prior work experience. You might be wondering, how does a person who is a ticket holder participate in the program? First of all, tickets are going to be mailed out as soon as the person is determined eligible for disability benefits. You would probably get the ticket in the mail about a month after the benefits were approved. However, you do not need a paper ticket to participate in the ticket program. You can confirm your eligibility for the ticket program by calling MAXIMUS. There is two numbers available, one for voice and one for TTY. MAXIMUS is the organization that Social Security pays to be, to help with the operation of the ticket programs. And MAXIMUS maintains the list of people who are eligible to participate, and a list of everybody who has a ticket available for assignment. How does the ticket holder find an employment network? A ticket eligible youth can go to the MAXIMUS Website, www.yourtickettowork.com, and click on your state. And then it would bring up a list of all the employment networks in the state, and you would narrow it down to those that are close to you. It would include some employment networks that serve people nationally. You would then probably call several, one or two or three of these employment networks and talk to them. I encourage ticket holders to talk to as many employment networks as they want prior to selecting the one they are going to work with. What you are looking for is a good match between the person's goals in employment, and what the services and supports they need to achieve those goals are, and what the services and supports the employment network is offering are. When you find that good match, then you talk about assigning the ticket. One of the big changes that happened in the new ticket regulations that were passed in 2006 was some changes in how the state vocational rehabilitation program participates in the ticket program. Under the prior ticket regulations, SSA would either compensate the state vocational rehabilitation program for successfully serving a beneficiary, or they would serve an employment network or the state VR agency under the ticket program for successfully serving a beneficiary. But they would not compensate both VR and an EN for serving the same beneficiary. Under the new ticket regulations, SSA can now provide compensation to both vocational rehabilitation and an employment network for the services and supports that are provided on behalf of the same ticket holder and the same ticket in certain circumstances. And the two key issues about those circumstances are the VR agency must choose to serve the person under the cost reimbursement program. Vocational rehabilitation got special treatment in the ticket legislation because of their long history with the ticket and Social Security, and they are allowed to choose on a case by case basis between serving a person under cost reimbursement or under the ticket program. When they choose cost reimbursement, then this opportunity for an EN to also serve the person after case closure comes up. The idea is that Social Security is providing compensation for the provision of sequential, not concurrent services. So while VR has the case opened, if a service provider is working with the beneficiary, they would probably be working under a vendor or fee for service contract and being paid by VR. After VR closes the case, the service provider, if they are an approved employment network, can get the ticket assignment and get paid under the ticket program. This new service delivery option is refused to as partnership plus. It has removed some of the competition that was felt over ticket assignment under the prior regulations, and allowed VR agencies to work with people, close the case, and employment networks to pick up the beneficiary's ticket and provide ongoing services to help the person maintain employment over the long haul. To help you understand this a little bit better, I thought I would provide a couple of case examples. So we have Bridgette. She is a 24-year-old ticket holder. She is receiving supplemental security income. She has cerebral palsy. And she is a recent high school graduate. She assigned her ticket to WU high school district, which is an employment network. WU works with Bridgette to do a person-centered planning session. And in that session, they found out that Bridgette was interested in computers, and had good organizational and communication skills. WU and Bridgette developed what is called an individualized work plan, and in that Bridgette stated her goal was to become a customer services representative. WU referred Bridgette to the WIPA project to get benefits planning assistance. Then WU provided job development services and placement services and intensive services coordination. In this case they might have been helping her coordinate independent living services, and possibly transportation to and from work. WU placed Bridgette in a customer services position. Bridgette continues to work. And as she reaches the designated levels of work in earnings, WU will submit for payments under the ticket program and receive milestone and outcome payments as Bridgette continues to work and advance in employment. Another case example, John is a 22-year-old young man, ticket holder, who is receiving supplemental security income. He has Down syndrome. He completed high school a year ago. He assigns his ticket to WU high school district. Once again, WU is an employment network. WU does their person- centered planning session with John. John identifies his goals that he wants to work and live in his own home. WU again refers for benefits planning through the WIPA project. WU connects John to a number of internship opportunities, to help him learn about soft skills for work and different types of skills, learn his different skills. Then he was enrolled in some workshops provided by WU; could be resume-writing, interview skills, appropriate work behaviors. WU provides a lot of different types of services and workshops to help people go to work. John is eventually placed in a grocery store where he bags groceries, retrieves carts, picks up and delivers products to designated areas and assists with stocking selves. WU continues working with John to help him identify the bus routes, so he can get to and from work. He helps John apply for a reduced bus fare card, and again, as John continues to work, and reaches certain levels of work and earnings, WU would be able to apply for a milestone and outcome payments. There is a lot of information involved in work incentives and about the ticket program. I've given you a very high level overview. Many people are not aware of the work incentives. Many people have never heard of the Ticket to Work Program. Social Security is outreaching to beneficiaries through what they call work incentives planning, work incentives seminar events. These are conducted by your local work incentives planning and assistance project. During these events, they will schedule the event. They will send out invitations to about 1,000 to 1,500 beneficiaries that live within about a 40-mile radius. Local employment networks, the state vocational rehabilitation agency, representatives of other community partners such as the protection and advocacy agency are also invited to attend. During the WISE event, the beneficiaries will hear about Social Security work incentives in detail. They will learn a little about the Ticket to Work Program. After the presentations, the beneficiaries that are there will be encouraged to go and meet with their representatives of employment networks, the CWIC that has been invited, community work incentives coordinator, AWICs and representative's community partners. If you want to find out about upcoming WISE events in your area, you should visit the site listed, http://www.CESSI.net/WISE. Or you can call 877-743-8237. These are wonderful opportunities for not only beneficiaries but also service providers to learn about work incentives and the ticket program. For more information about disability benefits, visit the Social Security Website, socialsecurity.gov. And for more information about the Ticket to Work Program, Social Security has what they call a work site. It's www.socialsecurity.gov/work. CESSI, the organization that I work for, also has a Website that has a whole lot of information and resources for beneficiaries and for employment networks. The Website is www.CESSI.net/TTW. Or you can call CESSI at 877-743-8237. You can also get lots of information on the ticket program from MAXIMUS. That's the operation support manager for the ticket. Their Website is www.yourtickettowork.com, or you can call MAXIMUS at 866-968-7842. MAXIMUS is in February going to be implementing a new service that they have. It's called a work incentives information and referral center, where they will have a well- trained unit that knows all about work incentives that can provide additional information on work incentives, and refer you to a work incentive planning and assistance program to get personalized information about your personal situation, and how work and earnings would affect Social Security disability benefits. I also, I wanted to end, the other day I was looking through my E-mails and I heard about a new book called, "Jobs" by John Janda who is with the workplace in California. And the book starts with a poem that I think is very relevant here: Work is a stage on which we are invited to perform, a canvas on which we are invited to paint, a milieu in which we can grow. Work allows us to exercise our various talents and develop new ones. It offers standards of measures for our success. Work often asks us to be more than we were just the day before. I think that you can agree there is lots of value to work. Social Security is committed to helping people on disability benefits go to work, keep their benefits while they explore work, and eventually gain greater self-sufficiency and independence. And I thank you very much. ****** 10