JANUARY 30, 2007
VCU
WEBCAST

Captioning Provided By:  Caption First, Inc.
				
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    >> Teri Blankenship: We have two presenters today, Jennifer 
McDonough and Lucy Miller.  Jennifer is a faculty member at VCU.  
She has worked in the field of employment for people with 
disabilities for over ten years.
     
    She is a training associate of VCU's Rehabilitation Research 
and Training Center where she provides training and technical 
assistance on Social Security benefits and work incentives. 
    
    In addition, she is the technical assistance liaison for the 
Region III CRP/RCEP serving West Virginia and Virginia.  I'll be 
introducing Lucy Miller in the second half of the webcast. 
    
    >> JENNIFER McDONOUGH:  Thank you for joining us today.  We 
would like to spend time talking about how paid employment 
affects Social Security, disability benefits.  We are going to 
cover the top ten myths that most people encounter when they are 
working with individuals to help them find employment.
     
    I want to start by saying that when Lucy and I do this 
training normally, or do a training on Social Security benefits 
normally, we spend a lot of time with individuals.  We spend 
three 8-hour days with face-to-face training, working with 
people to understand all the complexities of the Social Security 
disability benefits and their work incentives.  Then we spend 
about 16 hours in a web course that follows that face-to-face 
training. 
    
    Once someone finishes the web course that we offer, then we 
give them a case study or an assignment to take home and work on 
that.  It usually takes people anywhere from 16 to 20 hours to 
complete that.  In all, we are talking about 60 hours of time 
spent with participants to understand all of the benefit 
programs and the work incentives. 
    
    Today, we have 40 minutes.  So, as you can imagine, we are not 
going to touch on everything that you might encounter when you 
are working with an individual.  But what we thought we would do 
is spend some time to dispel some of the things that you hear 
most often that are incorrect, and hopefully get some good 
information out to all the providers and as well individuals 
with disabilities who encounter issues with their benefits. 
    Let's get started. 
    
    Myth number 1:  The first myth is something that we hear a 
lot.  I work for a CRP program.  I provide job coaching and 
employment services.  Understanding Social Security disability 
benefits is not part of my job.  Do you feel this way?  Have you 
heard your coworkers say this?  Unfortunately, this is wrong.  
And it's dangerous to customers who are receiving employment 
services.  The fact is that CRPs, employment specialists, job 
coaches, they need to understand the basics of Social Security 
disability programs.  I know.  Your job is to find an individual 
a job and to help them become successful in that job.  However, 
I should tell you that as a new employee at VCU many years ago, 
I spent my time as a job coach and worked with a lot of 
different individuals on finding jobs in the community.  And you 
don't have a lot of time to work with individuals on their 
benefits. 
    
    But, finding the job is the easy part.  It's the benefits that 
is very complex and very frustrating for many individuals.  We 
need to address their concerns and questions that they have 
regarding their benefits, because if we don't, either they will 
not work, they won't even try work, or they will spend all this 
time looking at what their skills and abilities are, and how we 
can be successful in a job placement, help them find a job, get 
them settled into their job, train them in their job 
responsibilities, and then they will get that letter from Social 
Security that says, we have some questions about your work.  And 
they panic.  They quit their job. 
    
    So all of that time that you spent with an individual has just 
gone down the drain.  We really need to look at what their 
concerns are up front. 
    
    Looking at an individual's concerns and questions should be 
the first step on their path towards employment. 
    
    And how do you make that first step with them?  How do you 
help them understand their benefits?  And what will happen when 
they go to work?  Well, the key is to educate yourself. 
    
    You need to sit down with an individual and talk with them 
about what benefits are you receiving?  Are you getting Social 
Security benefits?  If so, what type?  How long have you been 
receiving them?  As well as, are there other benefits that you 
are receiving?  TANF, HUD, food stamps?  What about those 
benefits?  Because work will affect those benefits as well. 
    
    Once you have gathered all this information, it is not going 
to do you any good to have this information unless you know some 
of the basics about how work will affect them. 
    
    So, you need to participate in trainings like this, enjoy this 
webcast training, and learn as much as you can.  You can also 
look on-line.  There are tons of publications by the Social 
Security Administration, as well as VCU and other entities out 
there, that can help you learn more about Social Security 
benefits and other benefits and what work will do to those. 
    
    Since you can't spend an enormous amount of time with 
individuals sometimes, you need to know who is out there in the 
community that can help.  Who are your local experts?  Where can 
you turn when you don't know the answer?  There are several 
places.  The first is Social Security.  An individual who is 
receiving disability benefits can contact their local Social 
Security Administration, and set up an appointment to discuss 
what their questions and concerns are.  And clear out any 
information that they might have that might be incorrect, and go 
ahead and look at what work will do to those benefits before 
they begin a job.
     
    Now, you will also find individuals who are scared to go to 
Social Security, or don't feel comfortable contacting Social 
Security regarding their work.  So, for individuals such as 
those, they can contact their local work incentives planning and 
assistance projects, or WIPA is the acronym.  These are newly 
funded through the Social Security Administration, and replace 
what was previously known as benefits planning assistance and 
outreach projects, or BPAOs. 
    
    The goal of these projects is to support the successful 
employment of individuals with disabilities.  These projects can 
provide detailed benefits planning regarding questions 
individuals have when they go to work, or while they are 
currently in work. 
    
    And they are located all over the country.  Every community 
has a WIPA that they can contact. 
    
    I have to say that there are a few areas of the country who do 
not have a WIPA  project assigned to them at this moment.  
However, Social Security is working with projects to determine 
or to finalize those projects, and that information will be 
available real soon.  However, there is a temporary project for 
those locations. 
    
    To determine where the WIPA  project is that you should 
contact in your locality, you can go to WWW.SSA.gov. 
    The best part about their services is that they are free.  
It's another service that you can access that you don't have to 
worry about who is going to pay for this. 
    
    Okay.  Now that we are clear that understanding an 
individual's benefits are a part of your job, let's look at myth 
number 2:  Social Security disability benefits are all the same.  
And that if you have seen one benefit, you've seen them all.  
Well, unfortunately, this is not the case.  And nothing could be 
farther from the truth. 
    
    The fact is that Social Security has two different benefit 
programs.  They are called Title II and Title XVI.  Have you 
ever heard of these programs before?  Or heard of them referred 
to in this way?  Title II and Title XVI are true Social Security 
terms.  Most of you don't hear them referred to in that way.  
Now, Title II encompasses three disability programs, childhood 
disability benefits or CDB.  And this is for children who are 
receiving benefits on a parent's work record, and that parent is 
either disabled, retired or deceased.  The second program 
available under Title II is Social Security disability 
insurance, or SSDI.  This is what many of us are familiar with.  
This is what we have heard of before, and what we are 
comfortable with.  This benefit is received when an individual 
has actually worked and paid into the system and then they 
receive a benefit off their own work record.  The last is DWB.  
This is a benefit that an individual receives off of a deceased 
spouse's work record.  The other program is called Title XVI or 
supplemental security income, SSI.  A lot of you heard this, I'm 
sure.  It's a benefit of last resort.  It's for individuals who 
have limited income and resources.  If a single individual has 
more than $2,000 in resources, he or she will not be eligible 
for this Title XVI or SSI benefit. 
    
    Resources include anything that an individual can exchange for 
cash or change into cash for food and rent.  Some examples of 
resources include savings accounts, stocks, retirement funds.  
Let's look at what some of the differences are in these two 
programs. 
    
    All right.  Remember, we only have 40 minutes here, not 60 
hours.  So we are just going to touch on the highlights.  Many 
of you are thinking, she didn't cover everything.  Well, I know.  
I'm doing the best I can in a very short amount of time. 
    
    First, Title II benefits and that is the CDB, SSDI and DWB, 
are all or nothing benefits.  Either you receive the benefit, 
the full amount of that cash benefit, or no check at all.  There 
is no gradual reduction in an individual's benefit.  So, one day 
or one month they may receive their full cash amount, and the 
next month they may not.  Oftentimes, you will hear of this 
referred to as the benefits cliff, where one day they are 
getting it and the next month, they are not. 
    
    Now, with Title II benefits comes Medicare.  This is an 
excellent program for individuals or excellent medical benefit 
for individuals who have disabilities and many of them hold onto 
this very tightly, because it's more important to them than 
their actual cash benefit. 
    
    Now, the key to Medicare is that you remember that there is a 
24-month waiting period.  So once an individual becomes eligible 
for a Title II benefit, they are going to have to wait 24 months 
before their Medicare will actually be available to them. 
    
    Title XVI or SSI benefits are totally different.  These 
benefits are gradually reduced as a person's earnings increase, 
and if the individual's earnings decrease, then their cash 
benefit will increase.  It's very similar to a scale, where as 
one side goes up, the other side goes down. 
    
    With SSI comes Medicaid.  This is a clincher for many people.  
They need their medical benefits and they are absolutely 
terrified of losing that medical benefit.  The same goes for 
Medicare and Title II.  They are terrified of losing that 
medical or Medicare benefit. 
    
    Now, the important thing to know about Medicaid for Title XVI 
is that there is no waiting period.  This is a great way to, for 
individuals when they become eligible for SSI, they get that 
Medicaid as opposed to having to wait for it to become active.  
The last thing I want to touch on, on this slide, is that there 
are individuals called concurrent beneficiaries.  Those are 
people who receive both a Title II and a Title XVI benefit.  
This is not uncommon.  There are individuals that I've worked 
with in the past who began receiving SSI when they were young, 
and never worked before.  I assisted them in finding a job, and 
working a few hours a month at a relatively small wage per 
month, and they worked for several years, and all of a sudden 
they became eligible for a Title II benefit.  Now they are 
receiving a Title II benefit on their own work record and a 
small reduced SSI benefit. 
    
    These individuals are called concurrent beneficiaries.  
Oftentimes, they have complex cases.  So it's, these cases are 
oftentimes a little bit more difficult for individuals to 
navigate with their benefits. 
    
    Okay.  Are you ready for myth number 3?  I know you all have 
heard this one before.  If an individual works at all, they will 
lose their Social Security disability check.  This is something 
I hear all the time, and not only from individuals with 
disabilities, but from individuals who have family members who 
have disabilities, service providers, lots of people feel this 
way and think that this is true.  Let's try to get to the facts. 
    
    The fact is that income affects each program.  And with Title 
II, beneficiaries receive one trial work period, and one 
extended period of eligibility.  And these are oftentimes 
referred to as TWP, and EPE.  A trial work period is nine 
months, not necessarily consecutive, in a rolling 60-month 
window. 
    
    This is a time where individuals can try out work and work and 
earn as much as they want, without having to fear the loss of 
their Title II cash benefits.  They can work and earn a wage, 
and they won't lose their Title II benefit. 
    
    Once the trial work period ends, the extended period of 
eligibility begins.  It lasts for 36 months or three years.  
During the extended period of eligibility, Social Security looks 
at whether an individual is earning a substantial wage.  Now, if 
an individual is earning what Social Security considers a 
substantial wage, then the individual will not receive their 
benefit check for that month.  If the earnings are not 
determined substantial, then they will receive their benefit 
checks for that month. 
    
    So remember, it's that all or nothing.  Now, you might be 
wondering what is considered substantial?  Social Security says 
that an individual is earning a substantial wage in 2007 if they 
are earning over $900.  And, you might be wondering, aren't 
there work incentives that are available to an individual who is 
receiving a Title II benefit?  And there are.  Those are 
cessation and grace period, impairment related work extents, 
subsidy, extended Medicare and expedited reinstatement or EXR.  
Unfortunately, we don't have time to review all of these today.  
But we do have a link in your materials to the Social Security 
red book that gives you an overview of this information. 
    
    Now, let's move on to SSI.  With Title XVI or SSI, earned 
income or wages affect them differently.  Remember, this is the 
program that has a gradual reduction for, as an individual's 
earnings increase.  For SSI, Social Security counts less than 
half of an individual's earnings.  And they use a very specific 
calculation to determine what an individual's benefit payment 
will be for each month.  And in that calculation, they take into 
consideration several work incentives and exclusions.  Those 
work incentives and exclusions include 1619 A and B, earned 
income exclusion, student earned income exclusion, or SEIE, 
impairment-related work expense or IRWE, blind work expense 
sometimes referred to as BEWE, and plan for achieving self-
support or PASS.  We can't go into all of these different work 
incentives.  However, Lucy will touch on a few of them later on 
in this webcast.  But there is information in the red book that 
is listed in the resources section of your webcast training 
page. 
    
    A myth 4:  If an individual loses their check, because of 
work, they are going to lose their medical insurance too.  Well, 
like myth 3, this is very common, and very misunderstood by many 
individuals.  And most people feel that if they lose their 
medical benefits, they have no other options, and that this is 
very disturbing to individuals, especially individuals who have 
disabilities who have very high medical expenses. 
    
    The fact is that substantial wages may cause the loss of 
benefit checks but not their medical coverage.  For Title II 
benefits, when an individual loses their check, then they will 
be able to keep their Medicare coverage.  For Medicare part A, 
this is an individual's hospitalization, and individuals will 
get to keep this benefit for 93 months past the end of the trial 
work period.  So 93 months after an individual's trial work 
period ends, they will get to keep their Medicare part A.  This 
is called extended Medicare coverage. 
    
    Once extended Medicare ends, an individual still gets to keep 
their benefit, but they will have to pay a premium and have to 
actually purchase it.  There is a monthly premium associated 
with that.  Medicare part B covers an individual's doctor's 
visits.  Social Security will bill an individual for these on a 
quarterly basis, and there is a monthly premium of about $80 per 
month. 
    
    For individuals who receive SSI benefits, there is a safety 
net called 1619(b), that protects them from the loss of their 
Medicaid when they go to work.  1619(b) is available for 
individuals whose SSI decreases to zero due to work earnings, 
due to their wages, not anything else but from their earnings.
     
    In addition, an individual must continue to meet all of the 
other SSI eligibility requirements, such as continue to be 
disabled, as well as meet that resource limit of having no more 
than $2,000 available. 
    Individuals can keep their 1619(b) benefit up to the point in 
which they earn their state's threshold amount.  The state's 
threshold amount can range from nearly $16,000 in the northern 
Marianna islands to $50,000 in Alaska.  It depends on where you 
live.  Here in Virginia where I live, it's $27,000, or around 
$27,000. 
    
    In order to find out exactly what your state's threshold 
amount is, you can visit the Social Security Website.  Okay.  
The last myth that I'm going to cover today is myth number 5:  
If an individual loses their benefits, they can never get them 
back again.  Not true! Not true.  First, we need to determine 
why an individual lost their benefits.  Or, if they were 
suspended or terminated, that's the big question. 
    
    If an individual lost their benefits because they were in 
their extended period of eligibility, and they earned a 
substantial wage, then their benefits have been suspended, not 
terminated. 
    
    If the individual loses their job or reduces their hours 
during the extended period of eligibility, they simply need to 
contact Social Security, explain the situation, and Social 
Security will rein-state their benefits. 
    
    Individuals on SSI who lose their cash benefits through 
earnings are still eligible due to 1619(b), and still connected 
to their benefits.  Their check has just been suspended as well.  
So, if this is the case, then they lose their job due to -- or 
lose their job or reduce their hours, they simply need to 
contact Social Security and let them know the situation, and 
then Social Security will rein-state their benefits.  On the 
other hand, if an individual's benefits are actually terminated 
because of work, there are two ways to get them back. 
    
    The first is called expedited reinstatement, or EXR.  
Expedited reinstatement is available to individuals who received 
either SSI or Title II benefits, and their benefits stopped due 
to Social Security, or their benefits stopped by Social Security 
due to their work or earnings. 
    
    Individuals are able to request that their benefits start 
again without having to go through that whole reapplication 
process.  While Social Security determines if they are eligible 
for benefits again, they can receive up to six months of 
provisional or temporary benefits.  Individuals who are eligible 
for expedited reinstatement are Title II beneficiaries or SSI 
beneficiaries who stopped receiving benefits because of work 
earnings, are unable to work or cannot work due to their 
disability, or unable to work or cannot work at a substantial 
level, continue to be disabled and that disability relates back 
to their original disability, that they were originally found 
eligible for benefits, and they make the request within five 
years from the time that their benefits were terminated. 
    
    Now, if we are past the five years from the point in which an 
individual's benefits have been terminated, then the only choice 
an individual has is to reapply.  This requires that an 
individual goes through that whole process again of the 
reapplication. 
    
    Now, we are halfway through our myths.  And at this time, I'm 
going to turn it over to Teri, and Lucy will finish up our last 
five myths.  Thanks for having me today.  I hope to talk to you 
in the chat room. 
    
    >> TERI BLANKENSHIP:  Thank you, Jennifer.  Our next presenter 
today is Lucy Miller.  Lucy has over 16 years of experience in 
supported employment for adults with severe disabilities.  Lucy 
has presented on job development strategies for persons with 
severe disabilities, one stop centers and Social Security 
benefits and work incentives.  Lucy is a technical assistance 
liaison for the region III CRP/RCEP serving the State of 
Delaware.  Let's get started with Lucy for the second half of 
the webcast on myths about paid work and benefits.  Lucy? 
    
    >> LUCY MILLER:  Good afternoon, everybody.  My turn now.  
Poor Jennifer.  I stuck her with the yucky myths, the ones that 
required the detailed explanation that takes 60 hours to train 
benefits planners or work incentive specialists on.  I get the 
fun myths.  Let's start with these.  We are on myth number 6.  
This is something you hear all the time.  CRP staff will say, 
part-time work is always the best way to make sure that SSA 
beneficiaries will keep their cash payments and their medical 
insurance coverage and be able to work.  That would include 
Medicare and Medicaid. 
    
    The problem with this myth, the reason we see this is that CRP 
staff are so insecure about their knowledge of the work 
incentives, that they tend to be far too risk aversive.  This 
myth is actually true.  It is true that part-time work for the 
most part will keep a SSI beneficiary as well as a Title II 
disability beneficiary from losing cash benefits as well as 
their medical insurance coverage.  The problem is, in many 
cases, full-time work is also allowable.  So this myth while it 
is true is seriously unfortunate, because it causes us to reduce 
the amount of work for the people that we are working with.  It 
causes us to encourage them to work less and not more, and 
generally for nothing, for there is no reason that the 
individual could not work full time. 
    
    For the Title II disability beneficiaries, if you are working 
part time and those earnings remain under substantial gainful 
activity.  There is that yucky acronym, SGA, and remember as 
Jennifer indicated, that in 2006, the SGA amount for a nonblind 
individual is $900, that is before taxes, gross, in a month.  
Part time work that is under the SGA level will allow for the 
ongoing continuation of cash payments with no problem there at 
all.  But the unfortunate part, the second bullet, is in many 
cases full time work will also be perfectly fine.  One size 
doesn't fit all.  When we are telling everybody, just work part 
time and you will be fine, we are missing some people that could 
engage in more work, earn more money, have more fun, I'm getting 
out of the house, and they are needlessly holding their earnings 
down. 
    
    Even though we haven't had time to teach you some of the more 
complex work incentives like subsidy which you see mentioned on 
this slide, and impairment-related work expenses, which when you 
get crazy like we are, you refer to as IRWEs, you can apply 
these work incentives and even earn more than the SGA amount 
without losing your cash payment or your medical insurance.  Not 
only is part time work not necessary, but it's even possible to 
go over that SGA amount and still retain those cash payments and 
critical health insurance.  Pull up that red book which is one 
of the links that we have given you for this webcast.  It will 
talk to you a lot more about IRWEs.  As a review, the purpose of 
IRWE and it can be applied to both Title II program and 
(indecipherable) what is it?  IRWEs is a recognition from Social 
Security that sometimes a person with a disability is going to 
have extra expenses that they incur in order to go to work that 
a nondisabled individual is not going to have.  And in the red 
book, hopefully you will click on the link and pull that up, it 
will give you numerous examples of IRWEs.  It is very common for 
a beneficiary to have impairment related work expenses and 
because we are not informed about the use of this incentive, 
they oftentimes are not applied to reduce those countable 
earnings. 
    
    The deduction of the cost of those items or services reduces 
accountable earnings for a SGA determination, but in the SSI 
program, because your benefit check is actually reduced as you 
earn more, an impairment related work expense can allow you to 
keep more of your SSI cash payment.  Again, allowing you to work 
more and keep more of your benefits, all a good thing. 
    
    You can with the SSI application, there is no form that you 
have to fill out rather with the IRWE, you simply write a 
letter.  You indicate why you think the expense you are 
incurring is an IRWE and Social Security will approve that and 
they can begin to deduct that on your earnings.  Subsidy, we can 
teach a two-hour training on subsidy and not teach you 
everything you need to know.  This is a work incentive that 
applies to the Title II disability programs only.  It is a 
recognition on Social Security's part that sometimes a person 
with dais ability can be paid more in their earnings than the 
value of their work.  A SGA determination in the Title II 
program is not about what a person received in their paycheck as 
much as it is about the value of the work effort.  Subsidy 
allows you to look at extra supervision, extra time given to 
complete a function at work, a variety of things.  It allows you 
to put a value on that.  You can deduct that value off of the 
earnings to lower countable earnings. 
    
    The whole point is that if you get fixated on part-time work, 
part-time work, you are going to deny some of the people you 
work with that opportunity to work more, to earn more, to have a 
better quality of life.  So one size doesn't fit everybody at 
all.  In the SSI program, also as Jennifer indicated, it isn't 
necessary to keep your cash payment in order to keep your 
Medicaid.  She introduced the concept of 1619(b).  That is that 
extended Medicaid coverage.  Part-time employment will allow you 
to keep some of your SSI payment and your Medicaid but again, 
full-time employment is also in most cases perfectly acceptable 
and appropriate.  It may cause the complete loss of the SSI cash 
payment, but the way it works, you don't give up a dollar for 
dollar.  They are only going to take a dollar away for every $2 
you earn.  It is a truism in Social Security that you do always 
come out ahead by working in the SSI program.  Even after you 
lose your SSI cash payment, you don't lose your Medicaid until 
your earnings start to approach your state threshold amount.  
That can range from $16,000 a year up to $50,000 in the State of 
Alaska. 
    
    The downside of part-time work, sometimes it causes people to 
become concurrent beneficiaries.  Jennifer touched on that as 
well.  A concurrent is someone who gets both SSI and Title II 
disability benefits.  It's not the end of the world but it can 
complicate matters.  You have two sets of work incentive rules 
which can be difficult.  The best way to avoid becoming a 
concurrent beneficiary isn't to work part time.  It's to work 
full time and have those earnings actually over that current SGA 
amount.  Again, that is about another hour-long explanation as 
to why that is the case.  You are going to have to trust me, and 
maybe that will entice you to get more training in this area so 
you can explain why that is the case. 
    
    Myth number 7, we hear this one.  People will say, I've heard 
about this thing called Pass, plan for achieving self-support.  
I heard it's a panacea and can solve every problem a beneficiary 
might encounter but you have to know how to work it, like there 
is some trick involved in this and if you are smart and 
experienced, you can use this Pass to do these things.  Pass is 
a wonderful work incentive, but it isn't magic.
     
    Let's look at the purpose of a Pass.  It's to allow an 
individual who has a work goal, a career goal that they have 
identified, to set aside income whether it's earned or unearned 
or resources in order to purchase the services or supports that 
you would need to achieve that work goal. 
    
    It actually works by having that income or resources not count 
in either a SSI eligibility determination, or for a person 
already on SSI, it wouldn't count when Social Security is 
figuring out the reduction in their check.  It allows you to 
either become eligible for SSI, when before this, you had too 
much income or resources, or, it can allow you to keep more of 
that SSI cash payment once you go to work.
     
    Pass is not a magic wand.  There are some things that it 
doesn't work for.  It is not a way to reduce countable earnings 
for a SGA determination, for a Title II disability.  It doesn't 
work that way.  Not every beneficiary is a good Pass candidate.  
If you are on SSI only, and you don't have any income or 
resources to use to set aside in your Pass, it doesn't do you 
any good.  If you are someone who isn't interested in working, a 
Pass isn't going to help you.  It is about setting aside income 
or resources to achieve a work goal.  Pass involves time and 
effort.  There is a required form you have to fill out.  It's 
lengthy.  It's wonderful for a lot of people but it isn't 
something that everybody who gets Social Security disability 
benefits is going to be able to use or even want to use.
     
    It is what I call the mother of all work incentives, meaning 
that it's the most complicated one.  I want you to get some help 
from your local WIPA, work incentives planning and assistance 
project to help you learn what a good Pass candidate is, and how 
to help facilitate a Pass.  Myth number 8, we are going to 
switch to some myths that you will hear from beneficiaries.  
This is common.  I've been working for a while.  I did report my 
earnings to Social Security when I first went to work.  But I'm 
still getting the same Social Security disability check I always 
got.  I figure Social Security knows what they are doing and I'm 
entitled to that check.  You know what they say about 
assumptions.  They are dangerous.  Assuming that your unchanged 
check is correct is not a good idea in the world of Social 
Security.
     
    For SSI recipients, by now you should realize that even a 
little bit of work is going to cause a reduction in your check.  
If you are a SSI recipient and you go to work and you report and 
you don't see any change at all in your check, that probably 
means something went wrong, like the person you reported to 
didn't enter that data into the system.  It's not being acted 
upon.  The rule of thumb is for a SSI recipient, if you are 
earning more than $85 in a month, you should be seeing a change 
in your check.  We have to work with beneficiaries to take more 
control and responsibility in this area, rather than being so 
passive and assuming that whatever they are getting is the right 
amount. 
    
    In the SSI program also it takes two months for you to see a 
change in your check.  That is something to be aware of.  If you 
are getting payments you are not entitled to, that is not a 
gift.  Eventually, Social Security is going to figure that out.  
Then you have a back payment.  That is no fun.  In the Title II 
program, as Jennifer indicated, there is no gradual reduction of 
your check.  You are either entitled to your full check or no 
check at all.  For some people, not having a change in their 
check when they go to work is totally fine.  But for other 
people, it's an indicator that Social Security doesn't 
understand what is going on with your earnings.  If your 
countable earnings are over the current SGA, substantial gainful 
activity amount, consistently, this year that's $900 gross per 
month, as we have said for a disabled individual, and $1,500 a 
month for someone who is getting disability because of 
blindness, if you have been doing this consistently, you 
probably are supposed to be losing your cash payment.  As this 
slide indicates, if you have been working at the SGA level or 
above for more than a year and you are still getting a cash 
benefit, it's likely that you are getting checks that you are 
not entitled to.  You need to go down to the Social Security 
Administration and rattle some cages, make sure they understand 
that you are engaging in SGA so that check amount can be, or 
check will be stopped is what will happen.  You will move into 
suspension status.  In the Title II program, in order for Social 
Security to stop your payment, because of work, it means you 
have to have had a work CDR, that stands for continuing 
disability review. 
    
    They are often behind in those.  Just because you are getting 
your check doesn't mean that the world is good.  It means that 
Social Security may not be aware that you are in fact engaging 
in SGA and that is not good news.  Work closely with your local 
WIPA  program to make sure the beneficiaries you are supporting 
in employment are getting the benefits that they are entitled to 
and not being overpaid. 
    
    Here is myth number 9.  This is an unfortunate problem that we 
see.  Sometimes our beneficiaries think if they don't report the 
income they get, or if they work in a manner that we call under 
the table, you probably know what that means, where, sort of 
cash, that Social Security is never going to find out about it 
and no harm, no foul and I can keep my benefits forever.  
Frankly, this is an extremely dangerous process to assume.  I'm 
sorry to say that I have seen some CRP professionals encourage 
beneficiaries to work for cash rather than in a legitimate 
economy. 
    
    That is really not good.  Beneficiaries are required to report 
all changes in income.  The problem is our folks often don't 
know what they are supposed to report.  In your packet, you 
should have a handout that indicates the reporting areas that 
are required for both Title II and the Title XVI beneficiaries.  
It's a couple pages long.  Be sure you review that, so you know 
what needs to be reported for both programs.  There are some 
significant differences.  Something we all need to discuss with 
beneficiaries is the fact that willfully choosing not to report 
your earnings is considered to be fraud or can be considered to 
be fraud by Social Security.
     
    That is against the law.  You can actually be terminated from 
your benefits if there is a proven indicator that you are 
engaging in fraud.  We need to remind our clients that there are 
requirements that have to be fulfilled and we need to fulfill 
those.  The other issue is that Social Security does not just 
report on beneficiaries' self-reporting of income.  They don't 
rely on that.  They have numerous ways to determine when an 
individual is working.  First and foremost are those FICA 
deductions.  We know what those are.  They come out of our 
paycheck every time we get those.  Social Security is the agency 
that administers that.  They are going to know.  They also have 
access to the IRS records, something people don't understand, 
and finally, many of the Social Security areas have a way to tap 
into the unemployment insurance data.  They can cross-reference 
with that on about a quarterly basis. 
    
    Trying to manipulate how you are paid by doing things like 
working under the table or purposely suppressing your wages, may 
also be considered fraud by the SSA and we need to warn people 
about that. 
    The other problem with doing things like working under the 
table is that in the long run, it actually hurts beneficiaries, 
because to the extent that you are accepting cash for work that 
you are performing, you are not paying your taxes.  That is not 
a good thing.  You are not making those FICA contributions, so 
when you reach age of retirement, you are not going to have that 
retirement benefit to draw upon. 
    
    Remember too that payment manipulation, like the taking of 
money under the table, you can have some nasty ramifications 
from some other federal departments like the IRS and nobody 
wants to be in trouble with both Social Security and the IRS.  
You even have to remember that employers are required by the 
Department of Labor, that is what DOL stands for, to abide by 
some stringent wage and hour laws.  By having an employer pay a 
beneficiary in cash, those laws can be violated and that 
employer can actually get in trouble. 
    
    You, the community rehab professional, should never be 
involved in condoning or facilitating, certainly not arranging 
one of these kind of questionable environments.  My attitude is, 
why would you ever want to cheat, when you can get great 
outcomes by being honest? 
    
    The impact of wages on people's benefits are generally not 
that negative.  It's very possible to work in the legitimate 
economy, contribute to FICA, keep some of your benefits, 
whatever that individual's goals are, and my attitude, it's 
better to be honest and report and sleep easy at night, than it 
is to kind of play games, and always be worrying about problems 
in the future of getting caught.  There are certainly legal and 
ethical ways to achieve those financial and benefit goals.  The 
best way to find out about that is to make that appointment, 
meet with that local WIPA  projects.  Talk about your goals, 
you, the beneficiary, and figure out a plan for achieving those. 
    
    Here is our last myth.  Jennifer beat you up on the front end.  
I'm going to beat you up on the back end.  Here is myth number 
10.  I've now completed a one-hour webcast on Social Security 
disability benefits and work incentives.  I know everything 
there is to know that I need to know about how paid employment 
affects benefits.  Well, I'm sorry to say that all Jennifer and 
I have done for you in this 50-minute broadcast is make you a 
little dangerous.  We have given you an inch-deep, maybe not 
even that, maybe a millimeter deep understanding of the Social 
Security benefits.  That can be a dangerous thing.
     
    My challenge to you is go to back to your home office and to 
figure out ways for you to get more information.  Don't just 
count on those WIPAs.  If you are putting people to work, you 
need to know about the work incentive issues yourself.  You 
don't need to know everything but you need to have a solid 
understanding of the impact of earnings on those benefits and be 
able to explain those to the people that you are working with. 
    
    I don't want you to think that your job is to provide in depth 
benefits counseling.  It isn't.  But you do need to understand 
it.  I hope that our challenge for you today is to keep 
learning.  If you want to arrange some additional training, 
through the CRP/RCEP, contact the state liaison.  I'm the 
liaison for the safety Delaware.  Jennifer works with Virginia 
and West Virginia.  If you go to the CRP/RCEP Website, you can 
find your liaison.  If this is an area you want additional 
training, contact that person and ask to be signed up.  We will 
make that happen for you.  That is the quick and dirty.  I hope 
we have dispelled at least ten of the most common myths about 
the impact of paid employment on Social Security disability 
benefits.  Have a great afternoon. 
    
    >> TERI BLANKENSHIP:  Thank you, Lucy.  We hope you enjoyed 
this webcast.  And you will find it beneficial in your job.  The 
next webcast in the series is on February 27 on transition from 
school to careers for youth with disabilities.  And the 
presenter will be John Miller.  We invite you to join us in the 
chat room where you can submit your questions for Jennifer and 
Lucy.  And please don't forget to take a few minutes to complete 
the on-line evaluation.  Thanks again for joining us. 

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