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Louisiana Association of Blind Students (LABS) |
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Supplemental Security Income and
Social Security Disability Insurance: Editor's Introduction: James McCarthy is the Director of Governmental Affairs for the NFB. During his time in the Governmental Affairs Department he has spent a lot of time dealing with various situations involving the Social Security Administration. He has drawn from his experiences to compile a few things that he believes every blind student should know about Social Security. Here is what he has to say. The Social Security Administration is a federal government agency that oversees two primary disability benefit programs. These are Supplemental Security Income, (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Although blindness or disability is an eligibility requirement for both programs, the SSI program is based on financial need, and the SSDI program is offered to those who have paid enough into the trust fund to qualify for benefits. Blind students can receive benefits from either SSI or SSDI, and sometimes from both programs. Although there are a few similarities between the two benefits, for the most part the programs have little resemblance to each other. In addition, most students will first receive SSI and later receive SSDI or a combination of the two. Therefore, I will first discuss the SSI program and next turn my attention to SSDI. I will finally conclude the article with a focus on working with the SSA which each of you will need to do from time to time while you receive benefits. Supplemental Security Income: Income: For SSI purposes, income is anything that can be used to acquire food or shelter. Therefore any money that you have will be considered income. In addition, housing that you do not pay for, or food provided to you at no cost will both be considered income when determining the extent to which you are eligible for SSI cash payments. The housing and food previously mentioned are known as in kind income to differentiate them from actual cash. I should note that income that results from job training activities, or vocational rehabilitation will likely be excluded from consideration by the SSI program. The SSI program classifies income as either unearned or earned with different rules for counting each. If you have no income either earned or unearned, you receive the full amount of SSI of the Federal Benefit rate which is adjusted annually. On the other hand, the more income you receive, the less SSI you will receive. Unearned income is income that you get from any source other than work. Social Security Disability Insurance is an example of unearned income. In another common unearned income situation, you may live at home with your parents, because this allows you to conserve money. However, if you cannot prove that you pay living expenses, you will have your SSI benefit amount reduced by one third. This rule is called (the value of the one third) or (VTR) and as its name indicates, when applicable, it reduces the amount you receive by one third. If you have unearned income, the first $20 is ignored, but the remainder is counted and reduces the amount of SSI to which you are entitled. Assume for example that you have $400 of unearned income. The first $20 is ignored, and the remaining $380 is subtracted from your SSI benefit. Earned income, income originating from work, is treated more favorably when determining the amount of SSI that you are eligible to receive. To determine your SSI benefit, total your work income; note that gross income and not net income is considered by the SSI program. The first $65 is ignored, plus up to $20 if you have no unearned income. Next, the remainder is divided in half. This amount is subtracted from the total SSI benefit and what remains, if any, is your SSI amount. There are two other important earned income exclusions. These are the student earned income exclusion and Blind Work Expenses. When the Student earned income exclusion applies, the amount excluded is subtracted first, prior to subtraction of the $65 and $20. Blind work expenses are subtracted from the total that remains after you divide by two, and these expenses can permit you to earn significant income while continuing to receive some SSI. For you students eligible to receive it, the student earned income exclusion can result in no earned income being counted against you, which means that you would receive your entire SSI benefit. You are eligible if you are regularly attending school, and are less than 22 years of age. The amount of earned income excluded is indexed and rises each year. All blind SSI recipients will have Blind Work Expenses, although the amount of these expenses will vary for each of you. These are expenses you will have because of your work which include blindness related equipment and services, as well as costs that arise simply because you work. Transportation to and from work, lunches bought while at work, readers, drivers, canes, dog guide care and feeding, and even income taxes are examples of Blind Work expenses you can claim to reduce the income that the SSA counts when determining your benefit amount. The final eligibility factor for the SSI program is limited resources or assets. Resources are those items that can be converted into cash such as bank accounts. In all months that the total of your resources is more than $2,000, you are not eligible for benefits, and all money received must be repaid. Social Security Disability Insurance Eligibility for SSDI is based on three factors. You must have worked contributing enough quarters of coverage to acquire what is called (insured status.) For young people 28 years of age or less, which should include most of you, the amount of quarters necessary is only six - a number that can be earned in as little as 1.5 years of employment. The second necessary factor for SSDI eligibility is disability or blindness. Because most of you are blind, you will meet this requirement. The SSDI program uses the same definition of blindness provided in the SSI section of the article. The final factor you need to obtain and maintain eligibility is that after use of a nine month trial work period, earned income must be beneath what is known as substantial gainful activity (SGA). When discussing SGA, there are two issues to note. The first is that the SGA amount for blind people is higher than that for others. The second is that not all income is counted. The SSDI program excludes from counting income equal to the value of assistance you require to complete work tasks. The income you use to purchase disability-related items and services necessary for work is also excluded from counting. The goal of these rules is to encourage blind and disabled people to work, which is why they are referred to as work incentives. However because most people find them confusing, and the penalty for too much earned income is total loss of benefits, the rational economic choice would be not to work. The work incentive I will discuss, which is most likely to apply to you is called impairment related work expenses (IRWE). The reasonable cost of items or services that you pay for because of your disability, that are necessary for you to work can be deducted from your monthly countable income. Although there is some overlap, please understand that these are not the same as Blind Work Expenses described in the SSI section. For example, above I listed lunches purchased during work as an expense that could be deducted, but lunches cannot be deducted as IRWE under the SSDI program. I also mentioned transportation to and from work as a blind work expense, but this may or may not be an IRWE depending on particular circumstances. Drivers, readers, canes, adaptive technology, and dog guide care and feeding are all deductible from your countable income as IRWE so long as you have paid the cost of these items or services yourself. Conversely, when rehabilitation pays for these items or services, you cannot deduct their cost from your countable income as IRWE. Working with the SSA How do you do this? Those of you who receive SSI may have reported work to your local worker, but SSDI workers are often hard to reach by phone. Nevertheless, it is my experience that most of the time you should report to your local office. This is in spite of the fact that the SSA will do all it can to get you to call the 800 number. Whether you call a local office or the 800 number, keep records of the date you called, the person with whom you spoke, and the essence of your conversation. This will help you if as often happens the SSA claims that you should not have received benefits and must therefore repay them. If that happens to you, there are two options. You can ask for reconsideration which means that you believe the SSA incorrectly applied its rule. The other option is to ask that the overpayment be waived, and you can ask for both at the same time. To seek an overpayment waiver, you assert that although your were overpaid, it was not your fault. In addition, you must show that repaying the amount would be a financial hardship. Because SSI is needs based, it is assumed that repayment would cause financial hardship, but you must still prove the overpayment was not your fault. If you receive SSI and the overpayment is less than $500, you should ask your SSA representative to waive it without completing a form. There is more I could explain, but there is no space to do so. For those with an interest, I have many suggestions of valuable resources. The SSA Web site is www.ssa.gov, and this site is very accessible, albeit crammed with material that makes it somewhat overwhelming. The Red Book on Work Incentives and If You are Blind or Have Low Vision: How We Can Help are two good publications of the SSA that are easily read and understood. The Red Book can be accessed online at www.ssa.gov/work/ResourcesToolkit/redbook_page.html. The SSA offers both publications I mentioned in several formats that include Braille. The SSA homepage offers a link to publications where (If you are Blind) can be accessed. To request any SSA publication, send an email to OPLM.OSWM.RPT.Orders@ssa.gov. Because many blind people receive benefits from SSI and SSDI, the NFB has written many articles about these programs over the years. For all amounts I mentioned above, and others I did not that are adjusted on an annual basis, consult either the December or January issue of the Braille Monitor each year. The January 2005 Braille Monitor contains an updated article focusing on SSDI benefits for self-employed blind persons which you should read if you are considering self-employment, or if you want a more detailed explanation of many SSDI provisions than I provided in this article. For quick reference the laws and legislation portion of the NFB web page always lists the SGA level for the present year. My final thought is this; when you are frustrated with a worker at the SSA, remember that SSI or SSDI benefits offer you financial support that many students do not have while you train for your future career, or a supplement to your work. Best of luck to you all in that pursuit. |
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