An important work incentive for people who are receiving Social Security disability payments and participating in work rehabilitation programs can be a protection against benefits stopping due to a medical Continuing Disability Review (CDR). The Social Security Administration (SSA) is required to conduct periodic medical reviews of all Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability beneficiaries …
Employment Retention: Take the Challenge
In general, finding a job can be challenging for someone with a disability. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2012, 17.8 percent of individuals with a disability were employed in the U.S. In contrast, the employment-population ratio for individuals without a disability was 63.9 percent. For someone with a disability, it can be challenging not only …
Motivational Interviewing
Many have heard the buzz about motivational interviewing (MI) and its success for the past several years. However, beyond the buzz, many still have questions about what MI is or isn’t as well as how to incorporate concepts of MI into everyday client interactions. What is MI is not: a way of tricking people into doing what you want them …
Technical Entitlement
Technical Entitlement This is a topic I had learned about many times. I had seen it happen from afar or noticed it as something that happened before I worked with a person. I even had Ron Konkol from Social Security tell me fascinating stories about how Technical Entitlement can cause problems for people’s Medicare records. So, when I first saw …
Five Ways to Work Online Training Into Your Schedule (AND Make it Effective)
A Guide for Online and Blended Benefits Specialist Initial Trainings Many people today are required to do online professional development or training. Others fall into it or are coerced with some gentle arm twisting. Sound familiar? If so, read on. Online learning is part of a larger ongoing need for continuing professional development. Today, it is more the exception than …
Medicare for End Stage Renal Disease
I recently encountered my first case of someone getting Medicare as an End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patient. The beneficiary had only been on SSDI for 11 months in his first period of eligibility, and I was surprised that he already had Medicare. I had heard about this possibility, but until I had to research it, I didn’t understand what …
RMA: Not Just About Income
Retrospective Monthly Accounting, or RMA, is the process that Social Security uses to calculate Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. Let’s start by reviewing what RMA is and how it works… Social Security uses the income that someone receives in a month to calculate the eligible SSI payment two months later. For example, the income received in June will be used …
Age 18 Medical Reevaluations
To stay eligible for SSI once turning age 18, a Disabled Child (DC) needs to be found disabled under the adult standards for disability. Social Security through the state Disability Determination Bureau (DDB) conducts a medical reevaluation of the child near the 18th birthday. Unlike a regular medical Continuing Disability Review (CDR) in which DDB reviews a person’s case to …
Social Security Adds Website Feature to Read Web Pages Out Loud
Making websites accessible to the broadest possible audience not only benefits people with disabilities visiting your site, but can really benefit all visitors to your site. For example, Social Security recently added a new feature to their website called “BrowseAloud” that allows the content of their website to be read aloud. This feature might be useful for individuals many individuals …
Partnership Plus: A New Way of Connecting Social Security, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Networks
ERI has worked several years toward the idea that Employment Networks (ENs) and state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies (VRs) could partner successfully to serve common customers under the Federal Ticket to Work Program. Together, VRs and ENs could guide a Social Security beneficiary (Ticket Holder) through the various stages of employment to ultimately transition off of Social Security benefits. Under Ticket …