Benefits While Working

The following is a description of the rules that the Social Security Administration enforces when a claimant decides to go back to work while collecting benefits. 

SSDI Benefits While Working

Trial Work Period: If you return to work for nine months (not necessarily consecutive), your earnings will not affect your Social Security benefit. If the nine months of trial work do not fall within a 60-month period, you may have even longer to test your ability to work.

Extended Period Of Eligibility: For at least 36 months after a successful trial work period, if you continue to work while disabled, you may receive a benefit for any month your earnings fall below the "substantial gainful activity" level (in 2003, $800 a month for people with disabilities, $1,330 a month for people who are blind).

Expedited Reinstatement Of Benefits: If you become unable to work again because of your medical condition within 60 months after your extended period of eligibility has ended, and your benefits were stopped because of your earnings, you may request reinstatement of benefits without filing a new disability application.

Continuation Of Medicare: If you have premium-free Medicare hospital insurance and you start working, you may have at least 8½ years of extended coverage (including the nine-month trial work period). After that, you can buy Medicare coverage by paying a monthly premium.

Impairment-Related Work Expenses: Certain expenses for things you need because of your impairment in order to work may be deducted when counting earnings to determine if you are performing substantial work.

Recovery During Vocational Rehabilitation: If you medically recover while participating in a vocational rehabilitation program that is likely to lead to becoming self-supporting, benefits may continue until the program ends.

Special Rules For Persons Who Are Blind: If you are blind, several special rules will help you work.

Help For Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries: If you get Medicare and have low income and few resources, your state may pay your Medicare premiums and, in some cases, other "out-of-pocket" Medicare expenses such as deductibles and coinsurance. Only your state can decide if you qualify.

Generally, you'll receive your full monthly Social Security benefit for a year after you return to work. If you continue to work beyond that while still disabled, your eligibility for monthly cash benefits will continue for at least another 36 months.

Here's how it works:

You usually can have a trial work period of nine months (not necessarily consecutive) during which your benefits will not be affected by your earnings regardless of how much you earn. A trial work month is any month in which your total earnings are more than $570 or, if you are self-employed, you earn more than $570 (after expenses) or spend more than 80 hours in your own business. When nine trial work months are successfully completed within 60 months, we review your work to see if your earnings are "substantial." (Generally, more than $800 per month is considered "substantial" earnings.) If they are, your benefits would continue for a three-month grace period and then stop.

However, if you are still medically disabled and continue to work in spite of your disability, your benefits can be reinstated anytime during the next 36 months. During this time, you will receive your full Social Security benefit for any month your earnings fall below $800. Benefits would continue as long as you remain disabled and your earnings do not exceed $800 a month.

Usually, earnings of more than $800 a month are considered substantial. If your earnings average less than $800 a month, your benefits generally would continue indefinitely.

If your earnings average more than $800 a month, this is considered an indication of your ability to work.

During the trial work period, there are no limits on your earnings. During the 36-month extended period of eligibility, the $800 level is the cutoff point. But, under another work incentive rule explained in the next answer, the work expenses you have as a result of your disability are deducted when we count your earnings to see if they affect your benefits. This means your earnings could be substantially higher than $800 before they affect your benefits. 

The Social Security Administration also deducts work expenses related to your disability from your earnings before the administration determines your continued eligibility for benefits. These expenses may include the cost of any item or service you need to work, even if the item or service also is useful to you in your daily living. Examples include a seeing eye dog, prescription drugs, transportation to and from work (under certain conditions), a personal attendant or job coach, a wheelchair or any specialized work equipment.

If you lose your job during a trial work period, your benefits are not affected. If you lose your job during the 36-month "extended period of eligibility", call your local Social Security Office and your benefits will be reinstated as long as you are still disabled. You do not have to reapply for benefits or undergo any "waiting period" as you did when you first applied for disability benefits.

If you become unable to work due to your disability within 60 months after you complete the extended period of eligibility, your benefits could be reinstated immediately without a new application or waiting period.

Your Medicare coverage will continue through the trial work period and may continue for at least 93 months after the trial work period if you are still disabled. During this period, your hospital insurance coverage is free. When your Medicare coverage runs out after this period and you are still disabled, you may purchase the same coverage for a monthly premium.

If you are likely to benefit from rehabilitation, you are referred to a state rehabilitation agency or private organization for rehabilitation services. Social Security pays for the services if you are successfully rehabilitated. If you recover from your disability while in an approved rehabilitation or training program that is likely to result in your becoming self-supporting, benefits will continue until the program is over. 

If you are a blind person who works while receiving Social Security benefits, special rules apply to you.

You can earn up to $1,330 a month in the year 2003 before your earnings affect your benefits.
If your earnings are too high to receive disability benefits, you are still eligible for a disability "freeze." This means that those years in which you had low or no earnings because of your disability will not be counted in figuring your future benefits, which are based on your average earnings over your worklife.

If you are age 55 to 65, a more lenient rule is used to determine your inability to work. It says that you can receive disability benefits if you cannot do the same or similar work you did before you reached age 55 or became blind, whichever is later. (The regular rule requires that a disabled person be unable to do any type of work in the general economy.) 

SSI Benefits While Working

Expedited Reinstatement Of Benefits: If your SSI disability benefits have ended because of earnings from work and you again become unable to work because of your medical condition, you have 60 months during which you may request reinstatement of benefits without filing a new application.

Continuation Of Medicaid Eligibility: Your Medicaid will usually continue even if you earn over the SSI limits if you cannot afford similar medical care and depend on Medicaid in order to work.

Plans For Achieving Self-Support: You may set aside income and resources toward an approved plan for achieving self-support (PASS).

Work Expenses Related To Your Disability: Certain work expenses you have because of your impairment may be subtracted from your earnings when we determine your eligibility and payment amount. If you are blind, the work expenses need not be related to the impairment.

Recovery During Vocational Rehabilitation: If you recover while participating in a vocational rehabilitation program that is likely to lead to becoming self-supporting, benefits may continue until the program ends.

Students With Disabilities: Most scholarships or grants used to pay for tuition, books and other expenses directly related to getting an education don't count as income if you go to school or are in a training program. You also may exclude up to $1,340 of earnings a month (up to a maximum of $5,410 a year).

Help For Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries: If you get Medicare and have low income and few resources, your state may pay your Medicare premiums and, in some cases, other "out-of-pocket" Medicare expenses such as deductibles and coinsurance. Only your state can decide if you qualify. To find out if you do, contact your state or local welfare office or Medicaid agency. For more general information about the program, contact Social Security and ask for a copy of the leaflet, Medicare Savings Programs. 

Here's how it works:

The amount of your SSI check is based on how much other income you have. When your other income goes up, your SSI check usually goes down. So when your earnings push your income over the SSI limits, your checks will stop for those months. (We discuss these limits in the answers to the next two questions.) But, your checks will start up again without a new application for any month your income drops below the SSI limits. If you're off both SSI and Medicaid for 12 months or more, and your disability ended because of earnings from work, you have 60 months to request a reinstatement of benefits without a new application

If your only income besides SSI is the money you make from your job, then we don't count the first $85 in earnings you get each month. One-half of what you earn over $85 is deducted from your SSI check.

If you have other income besides earnings (such as a Social Security check), then we don’t count the first $65 in earnings you get each month. One-half of what you make over $65 is deducted from your SSI payments. But, $20 of your other income, such as your Social Security check, is not counted either. 

If you have no other income besides earnings, you may earn up to $1,189 a month in 2003 before losing your entire federal SSI payment. But if you live in a state that adds money to your federal SSI payment, you may earn more. If you have other income, such as Social Security benefits, the amount you can earn before losing any payment may be lower. However, when you apply for SSI disability payments, we consider earnings of $800 or more an indication that you are able to do "substantial work" and you would not qualify for SSI on the basis of disability.

If you lose your job while you still are getting SSI, your payments will be increased because of your reduced income.

If you lose your job within 60 months after your payments stopped because your earnings were too high, and you are still disabled, your benefits will start again without an application. 

In general, your Medicaid coverage will continue, even after your SSI payments stop, until your income reaches a certain level. That level varies with each state and reflects the cost of health care in your state. (Your Social Security office can tell you the Medicaid level for your state.) However, if your health care costs are higher than this level, you can have more income and keep your Medicaid.

Also, for Medicaid to continue, you must:

-need it in order to work;

-be unable to afford similar health insurance coverage without SSI;

-continue to have a disabling condition; and

-meet all nondisability requirements other than earnings.

If you qualify for Medicaid under these rules, Social Security will review your case to see if you are still disabled or blind.

The Social Security Administration also helps you with work expenses. The rules work the same as if you were receiving Social Security benefits. Work expenses that are related to your disability are deducted from your earnings when we figure if they are high enough to affect your benefits. These expenses may include work equipment, such as a special typewriter or desk, or modifications to your car or home to help you get to and from work. This means you can earn well over the SSI income limits and still continue to get payments. 

Under SSI, there's a special rule called a "plan for achieving self-support," or PASS. A PASS permits you to put aside money and assets toward a plan designed to help you support yourself. The money set aside won't reduce your SSI payment. The goal of your plan may be to start a business or get a job.

If you have too much income to get SSI, a PASS may help you qualify. You may set aside the necessary income and assets to accomplish a work goal, and these funds will not count when we decide if you are eligible for SSI or how much SSI you receive.

In addition, as under Social Security, if you recover from your disability while you are in an approved vocational rehabilitation program, your SSI payments will continue until you have completed the program.

Anyone can help you with a PASS, including your vocational rehabilitation worker, employer or the Social Security office. In general, the following rules apply:

-the PASS must state a clear and realistic work goal;

-your goal must be a job or business that will produce sufficient income to reduce your dependency on SSI payments;

-the PASS must state the amount and sources of income or resources that will be set aside;

-the PASS must state how you will spend the money;

-you must be able to achieve the goal of the PASS within a specified period of time; and

-the PASS must be approved by Social Security.

For more information about setting up a PASS, ask for the leaflet, Working While Disabled—A Guide To Plans For Achieving Self-Suppor (Publication No. 05-11017). 

If you are blind, most work expenses you have (not just those related to your disability) may be deducted from your income when we decide if you are eligible for SSI. For example, special clothes needed on the job or special equipment needed to work can be deducted.    
 
Let Social Security Know    

Whether you're receiving Social Security or SSI disability payments, it's important that you stay in touch with Social Security while you're working. The people there will be able to help you plan your work effort and to show you how you can use other work incentives to achieve your work goals. You should immediately notify Social Security to report the following:

-improvement in your health;

-change in employment status;

-change of address;

-change in the number of people in your household;

-marriage or divorce;

-change in income;

-change in savings or investments, including selling your home, real estate, car or personal property;

-change in work expenses;

-travel outside the United States;

-development or change in a PASS; or

-admission to or release from a hospital or other institution.

Also contact Social Security if you start receiving worker's compensation (including Black Lung) or a public disability benefit or if the amount of these benefits changes.