As an extreme example of this, a person with a disability who is less than 24 years old is already insured for SSDI with only six credits. SSDI is considered to be a more desirable benefit than SSI because it is not reduced at all for unearned income and is not reduced at all for countable earned income below the SGA threshold. More about that word "countable" later. Moreover. although SSI eligibility generally leads to Medicaid eligibility, SSDI eligibility generates Medicare eligibility after 24 months and Medicare is by far the stronger health insurance plan. A person can apply for disability benefits, be awarded SSI due to lack of work history, work while receiving SSI, accumulate the necessary credits and then transition to SSDI. You can never lose benefits by making this transition, because if your

SSDI is less than the SSI you had been receiving, you will continue to receive a small portion of SSI to keep the benefit the same.

Third, most people with disabilities have more income when they both work and receive benefits. For people that receive SSI, this is because earned income (unlike unearned income) does not offset SSI dollar for dollar. For people who work, the first $65 of earned income (or $85 if they have no unearned income) is excluded from the calculation of payable SSI. After that, only have of the remaining earned income is applied to offset SSI. So, for example, a person who earned $585 in the month would see her his SSI payable reduced from the maximum of $841 (2022) to $841- $85 $250 = $506. So, they would have $585 in work income and $506 in

WORKING IT OUT : EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SECURITY WORK INCENTIVES

A person who has demonstrated disability by providing evidence that they are limited in their capacity to work has, by obtaining SSI or SSDI benefit, opened to themselves a number of Work Incentives within the Social Security regulations that are designed to help people with disabilities start to work, return to work or find a better paying or more fulfilling job. Here are some of these work incentives:

THE TICKET TO WORK

The Ticket to Work is a suite of services that are paid for by the Social Security Administration and thus free to the users with disabilities. These services include skills assessments, assistance with resume and cover letter writing, assistance locating and screening employment opportunities, assistance applying for jobs, assistance requesting reasonable accommodations from employers and assistance understanding and managing the impact of work income on one's benefits.

IMPAIRMENT RELATED WORK EXPENSES (IRWE)

In a previous paragraph, I inserted the word "countable" before the phrase earned income. A worker can request that the SSA deduct certain expenses before the administration counts her/his monthly income. In order to be considered an IRWE, the expense must be for a good or service the worker requires due to her/his disabling condition(s), requires, in order to work (although it may also be necessary in another facet of life), and pays for out-of-pocket. Examples of potential IRWE are the co-pays for doctor's visits, therapies and medications, the cost of assistive technology or service animals and the costs of specialized transportation. IRWE must be submitted to the SSA and approved. Once approved, the SSA will deduct the IRWE from monthly income until alerted that the IRWE is discontinued or changed.

EMPLOYER SUBSIDY

Employer subsidy is another way to reduce how much of earned income is countable. Employer subsidy is essentially a quantification of reasonable accommodations. It is the SSA's attempt to count towards SGA the value of actual work performed rather than the value of wages paid. If, for example, a worker with a disability is allowed to take additional breaks, is not required to perform all the tasks usually subsumed under that job description, is provided "natural support" by coworkers or supervisors, or is permitted to do less work or work more slowly, the SSA considers that the employer is paying the worker with disability more than the value of the work they are producing. Employers can use a certain form to attest that they make these accommodations and to quantify that, due to the accommodations, the employee with a disability is less than 100% as productive as an employee with no accommodations who holds the same job title. For example, if the employer attests that a worker is only 80% productive, then only 80% of that worker's monthly earned income will be countable.

UNINCURRED BUSINESS EXPENSES

This is a benefit for SSI and SSDI recipients who elect to start their own businesses. If a

third party covers business expenses on behalf of the entrepreneur with a disability and the IRS would have allowed the entrepreneur to deduct that expense if s/he had paid it her/himself, then the expense may be deducted before the SSA evaluates what they call "net earnings from self-employment."

TRIAL WORK PERIOD

We noted above that, in the case of SSI, once a person starts working and earning income, their income after the initial exclusion reduces their SSI payable by 50 cents on every dollar. If their work income grows to the point where that formula reduces their SSI payable to $0, they remain technically eligible for the benefit as long as their medical condition does not improve. SSDI applicant, however, go through a multi-stage evaluation as they begin to work and the SSA reviews whether they are performing SGA. During the first stage, called "Trial Work," the worker continues to receive her/his SSDI benefit no matter how much s/he earns. However, every time his/her monthly earnings exceed the Trial Work threshold, s/he accumulates a Trial Work Month. For 2022, the Trial Work threshold is $970/month. It does not matter if the Trial Work level is exceeded by $1 or $10,000. Either way, it generates a Trial Work Month. Once the Worker has accumulated nine Trial Work Months in a rolling 60-month (5-year) period, s/he has completed the Trial Work stage.