MUSIC (00:12):
(music)

Joe Murphy (00:17):
Welcome to Networks for Training and Development's Employment for All podcast. I am your host, Joe Murphy. This podcast is dedicated to real work and real pay for all citizens.

(00:34):
Welcome back to episode two of our Benefits Planning podcast. We will again be joining a conversation with Suzanne Erb from Networks for Training Development and Martine De Lorenzo from Disability Rights PA.

Suzanne Erb (00:52):
Hi, I'm Suzanne Erb. I'm glad to be back with you all.

Martine De Lorenzo (00:57):
Hi, I'm Martine De Lorenzo.

Suzanne Erb (01:02):
Hi, Martine. I receive SSI payments and I'm starting a new job next week. What do I need to know?

Martine De Lorenzo (01:16):
Okay, so the first thing people need to know is that, so supplemental social, supplemental security income makes cash assistance payments to the aged, the blind, and disabled persons, including children who have limited income and resources. This is a poverty benefit. It is unlike the entitlement, which is SSDI. The federal government funds SSI from general tax revenues. Many states pay a supplemental benefit to persons in addition to their federal benefits. In Pennsylvania, recipients get another $22 and 50 cents from the state. In Pennsylvania, that comes in a separate check, so you probably get two checks, right? So now that we understand what SSI is and we know that it's a poverty benefit, it is very important that you report immediately to Social Security that you are working. So when you know that you're working, you're gonna call them right away and tell them that you're working. Don't call before that.

(02:20):
Make sure that you're actually on the job. You don't want them to think you're working if you're not, and then you're going to want to call the Ticket to Work. That number is 866-968-7842. The TDD number is 866-833-2967. When you call Ticket to Work, they'll ask you some questions and then they will send you a referral to the WIPA program. We're the Work Incentive Planning and Assistance Program. We work in the southeast region of the state. There are other WIPAs in the state, but we take care of the people down here. So the Ticket to Work program ensures that you are sent to the right WIPA program. Then we contact you. We will send you a packet of information, you'll have things in there from Social Security, you'll have items in there from us. You're gonna send things back to us, like your consent forms and an intake form, and then we'll have some conversations. Alright? So if you're worried about getting your Social Security payments, we can help you with that.

Suzanne Erb (03:34):
Oh, great. Um, how do I know how much I can earn and still collect SSI payments?

Martine De Lorenzo (03:43):
So Social Security uses a calculation to determine how much money you will get in your check. So let's just say for example, you're earning gross $1,085 a month. Social security doesn't count the first $20 of that. That's the general income exclusion. So then we bring that income down to 1,065. So then Social Security doesn't count $65 of what they call an earned income exclusion. So that brings your countable income down to a thousand dollars. So overall, immediately, right off the top, they don't count the first $85 of your earnings. Then whatever's left over, and in this case, that's $1,000, they divide that in half and they only count $500 of your earnings. So they subtract that from your Social Security check, which would come to $283. So you would still get your social security check of $283, and then you would get the $1,085 from your income. So your income's actually higher than if you were not working. So this is going to encourage people to work obviously. You're going to have more money, right?

Suzanne Erb (05:13):
Oh, that, that sounds really good. But what about my, what about my, um, medical assistance card?

Martine De Lorenzo (05:22):
So suppose you're earning enough money so that you don't even get a Social Security check. Your Medicaid stays in place. There's a mechanism called 1619-B by which Social Security notifies the County Assistance Office that you're a person who has a disability and who needs your Medicaid to continue working. Therefore, you keep your Medicaid unless your income goes above $38,000 a year.

Suzanne Erb (05:54):
Wow.

Martine De Lorenzo (05:56):
Yeah.

Suzanne Erb (05:58):
That's, so, so you're, you're, but how do you know that, you know, like what if they forget? What if they forget to call? Will they do that automatically or do I have to let them know?

Martine De Lorenzo (06:11):
They do do it automatically. However, if you get a notification saying you are losing your Medicaid, please contact your WIPA. The benefits counselors can help you navigate any problems that you might have with the County Assistance Office.

Suzanne Erb (06:33):
Okay, that's good to know. So, um, I guess my final question is that, uh, how, when and how do I report my earnings to Social Security?

Martine De Lorenzo (06:48):
Well, typically I would tell people to go into their local Social Security office. However, during the pandemic, the offices are closed to the public. So what I've been telling people to do is to contact their local office. I can find the phone number and the address and a fax number for anyone who needs that information for his or her local office. You're going to call the office and you're going to ask them how they want you to report your income. Again, you don't wanna report that you're working before you're working, because things happen and you don't want them to think that you're working if you're not. So it's best to wait until you're actually working.

(07:31):
You call them, let them know that you're working, ask them how they want you to report your earnings. You can usually mail your earnings to them, your pay stubs. You can open a My Social Security account online and submit your wage slips that way. If you have SSI and a smartphone, you can download an app and report your wages that way. Usually, the-

Suzanne Erb (08:02):
Ooh.

Martine De Lorenzo (08:02):
... social Security office... Yeah, it's pretty exciting.

Suzanne Erb (08:05):
There's an app? There's an app for that?

Martine De Lorenzo (08:07):
There's an app for that (laughs).

Suzanne Erb (08:09):
Oh, that's cool. So do, do you-

Martine De Lorenzo (08:11):
[inaudible 00:08:11]. It's only for SSI though.

Suzanne Erb (08:14):
Oh, man. Okay.

Martine De Lorenzo (08:16):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But you'll wanna make sure that you report your wages on a monthly basis and you wanna let them know what your wages are from the month before by the 10th of the month. So if you're working in August, you're finished working, you get all your pay stubs from August within the first two weeks of September, then you submit those to Social Security within those first two weeks. That way they can keep track of whether or not they need to adjust your check, because if you don't let them know that you're working and they don't adjust your check, you could get an overpayment and we're trying to avoid that, right? Social Security, it doesn't always keep up with things. So we have to, as beneficiaries, do our part to understand what they need to do, because you don't wanna get a check that you're not supposed to get.

(09:16):
Also, if you have to stop working for some reason because of your disability, you wanna let them know that you're not working anymore for the same reason. You need your check back. You need your check increased to what it was. So you don't wanna let things slide. You need to be on top of communication with Social Security. Right now, some of the offices are sending envelopes to people that are postage paid that might have a person's name on it, and then you can send your wage slips in that way. So that's fairly easy, but I can help you as a benefits counselor navigate all of that and check in those first, especially in those first critical few months when you start working and you're worried about things and you're afraid of not being able to keep up. We can make sure that you understand what you have to do on your part to keep up with your check and your, um, information to Social security.

Suzanne Erb (10:20):
Oh, thank you so much, Martine. That makes me feel a lot better. Um, I still have questions about Medicaid and other things. Can, are we gonna have another podcast? I sure hope so.

Martine De Lorenzo (10:36):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. We can talk a lot about Medicaid.

Suzanne Erb (10:41):
Great. Thank you so much, and I'm looking forward to our next podcast.

Martine De Lorenzo (10:47):
You're very welcome. I am also.

Joe Murphy (10:54):
Thank you for listening to episode two. If you have missed any episodes of this series, please feel free to go back and listen to them. New episodes of this series are coming shortly.

(11:09):
Thank you for listening. We hope the information we provided was useful. If it was, please subscribe to our podcast channel. You can find all information about Networks for Training Development at our website, www.networksfortraining.org.

MUSIC (11:27):
(music)