Ticket to Work

Under the Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities (HWD) program, people with disabilities can earn more money but still receive Medicaid benefits by paying premiums based on a sliding income scale. At this website, the state offers eligibility information, instructions on applying for HWD coverage, and links to further information. The presentation gives detailed eligibility and application information and includes a tutorial on using the website.

The Center for Workers with Disabilities prepared this report for the Virginia MIG advisory committee. It contains an analysis of the ways states provide personal assistance services (PAS) through a personal care Medicaid State Plan Option (SPO) to persons in Buy-In programs. It looks at specific legislation, State Plans and amendments, administrative rules, and implementation manuals. It ends with recommendations from an analysis conducted for Iowa on whether to implement this option there.

For people with psychiatric disabilities that receive SSDI and/or SSI in Vermont, benefits counseling was found to improve earnings by $1,256 annually. The authors found that this form of support helps overcome significant barriers to employment, such as a fear of a loss of benefits resulting from increased earnings. This article was published in the Psychiatric Services Journal.

Should a state use the cost reimbursement or milestone-outcome payment options in their Ticket to Work (TTW) programs? Vermont commissioned this study to answer this question and to predict future TTW income for the state and for employment network partners.

Through the Work Ability program, Utah provides employment support such as personal assistance services and the Medicaid Work Incentive health insurance benefit. The attached brochures outline these specific services, and the website provides more detail on all available benefits. Also posted here is a brochure that highlights the advantages for employers of hiring workers with disabilities and points them towards resources that can help them do so.

Here is a brief profile of an innovative program that combines palliative care with employment services to help people with chronic pain acquire or keep employment. Learn how core teams of nurses, social workers, and pharmacists coordinate healthcare services and provide referrals to employment services. The profile examines the history and development, program goals, funding, and keys to success of the program.

This online tool enables current or potential Ticket to Work (TTW) employment networks to estimate revenue they might earn through the program. Estimates are based on the number of TTW participants that will begin work each month, that receive only SSI, and that achieve certain milestones in each phase of the program. The tool is provided by CESSI, an accessibility consultant company.

These are the final rules on the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program published May, 2008 by the Social Security Administration. The changes were authorized by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. The rules affect the areas of eligibility, funding for employment networks, and reimbursement allocation and sharing between employment networks and state vocational rehabilitation agencies, among others.

The first of these two presentations is for volunteer partners who help persons with disabilities and their families integrate employment transition into individual education plans (IEP). It is broad in scope, touching on the rights of the individual and family, employment and training resources, and state supports available. The second training focuses on the policy level and describes the goals, participants, outcomes, and keys to success of a statewide youth transition program.

Find here a profile of enrollment, employment, and earnings in the 32 states with both a Medicaid Buy-In program and a Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) in 2006. Specifically, the report identifies how employment and earnings are influenced by the characteristics of participants and state programs.