Ticket to Work Program

Nope! The Ticket to Work Program is free and voluntary for anyone receiving SSDI. The Ticket Program provides you with vocational services and support at no cost to you. Social Security pays the Employment Network you choose as you achieve certain milestones and outcomes associated with work and earnings.

Yes! State VR agencies provide a large variety of services to help people with disabilities return to work, enter new careers, or enter the workforce for the first time. You do not lose access to these services when entering the Ticket program.

Work Incentives are disability program rules that allow you to reduce your countable income so that you can continue to receive a cash benefit while you explore work or look for a job that is right for you. Examples of Work Incentives include the extension of Medicare and Medicaid coverage while working, impairment-related work expenses, and Plans for Achieving Self-Support.

As long as you keep receiving a benefit check of any amount, you will keep your health insurance. If you earn enough that your SSDI checks stop, Medicare can continue for up to 93 months.

If you currently receive Medicaid, you should be eligible to continue receiving Medicaid even after you stop receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits due to work. To be eligible you need to meet certain requirements, which include earnings below a threshold amount set by your state. Even if your earnings exceed the state threshold, you may still be eligible and should talk to your state Medicaid office.

Social Security does review your medical condition from time to time to see if you’re still disabled, using a process called the medical Continuing Disability Review, or medical CDR. 

If you participate in the Ticket program with either an Employment Network or your State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, and make “timely progress” following your individual work plan, Social Security will not conduct a review of your medical condition.

If a medical CDR has already been scheduled for you before you assigned your ticket, Social Security will continue with the medical CDR.

A beneficiary may have his or her Ticket placed into “Inactive Status” at any time by submitting a written request to Social Security. Inactive Status will begin on the first day of the month following the month your request is received. 

Remember, once your Ticket is inactive, you will no longer be protected from medical Continuing Disability Reviews and Social Security can review your file during those months your Ticket is inactive if you are due for a medical Continuing Disability Review.

Absolutely not. You will not need to reapply if your benefits ended within the past five years due to your earnings and you meet a few other requirements, including that you still have the original medical condition or one related to it that prevents you from working. This is a work incentive called Expedited Reinstatement.

You may even be able to receive up to six months of temporary cash benefits in addition to Medicare or Medicaid coverage while SSA conducts a medical review to determine if your benefits can be reinstated.

The Social Security Administration cannot perform a medical Continuing Disability Review while you are participating in the Ticket Program and progressing toward your employment goal. Every 12 months after you assign your Ticket to Work to an Employment Network, the SSA must decide if you are making the expected progress toward your vocational goal. The administration looks at progress such as completing certain education or getting and keeping a job. This is referred to as “Timely Progress Review.”

Certainly! If you’re interested in pursuing a self-employment goal, let your Employment Network know early in the process. Be aware, however, that ENs are not required to accept all Ticket assignments and they may not elect to work on a self-employment case.

This provision allows a person who is under age 22 and regularly attending school to exclude earnings from income. 

In 2022, the Student Earned Income Exclusion increased by 5.9% to $2,040 per month, but not more than $8,230 for the year.

Anyone who is under the age of 22 and a student regularly attending school, college, or training to prepare for a paying job.

Regular attendance means taking one or more courses of study and attending classes:

• 12 hours a week in grades 7-12.
• 8 hours a week in a college or university.
• In a course of training to prepare for a paying job for at least 15 hours a week if the course involves shop practice or 12 hours a week if it does not involve shop practice. This includes anti-poverty programs such as the Job Corps and government-supported courses in self-improvement. 
• Home school education in accordance with the home school law of the state or other jurisdiction in which a person resides.

A person who is homebound because of a disability may be a student when he or she:

• Studies a course or courses given by a school (grades 7-12), college, university, or government agency; and
• Has a home visitor or tutor from school who directs the studying or training.

PASS is a Supplemental Security Income (551) work incentive that allows a person with a disability to set aside income and/or resources for a specific period of time to achieve a work goal. For example, a person may set aside income and/or resources for obtaining an education, job coaching, or other support services, transportation, job-related items or equipment to start a business.

Anyone who receives 551 benefits or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSOI) and could qualify for SSI can have a PASS plan.

You must be under the age of 65, meet SSA’s satisfaction of disability or blindness, meet all 551 eligibility criteria with the exception of the income and resources test, and have earnings, unearned income, deemed income, in-kind support, or resources to set aside in the PASS.