Why Work is Good

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Going to Work While Getting SSI Benefits

By Ed Wrona, SSA Area Work Incentive Coordinator

‘If I go to work, I’ll lose all my benefits!” - “I can’t afford to lose my Medi-Cal and I will, if I go to work!”

 “If I go to work my record will get all messed up and I’ll be overpaid!”

These are a few of the things we hear from people who think that going to work will cause too many problems with their SSI. However, most of what we hear is just not true!

SSI - Supplemental Security Income – is a “needs based” program administered by Social Security. Because it is based on need, any income (paycheck, gifts) you get can change how much your SSI check will be - or even if a person qualifies for SSI. But, not all of the income received by an individual counts when we figure the amount of the SSI payment.

Let’s look at the statements one-by-one to see why they might not be true.

“If I go to work, I’ll lose all my benefits!” – Not all of the income a person has will count when we figure the SSI payment. Let’s look at an example:

 

$585   (gross wages - before taxes and other deductions)

               -20   (general exclusion – 1^st $20 earned)

$565

                                       -65   (earned income exclusion)

                                    $500 ÷ 2 = $250 of countable income

 

IF your SSI check was $830.40, it will be reduced to $580.40.  BUT your total income is higher

than just SSI:  $585 (wages) + $580.40 (SSI) = $1,165.40 TOTAL.

 

NOTE: You would have to earn $1,745.80 gross wages a month to completely lose the basic SSI payment.

“I can’t afford to lose my Medi-Cal and I will, if I go to work!” – Even if a person earns enough to cause him/her to lose their SSI check, SSI has a special provision that allows for Medi-Cal eligibility to continue, just as if they were still getting an SSI payment. This provision is called Section 1619B. There is no share-of-cost or premium that needs to be paid. A person can earn up to $35,023 a year before they could potentially lose Medi-Cal under this provision. Even then, there are ways for a working disabled person to keep Medi-Cal at no or low cost.

            “If I go to work my record will get all messed up and I’ll be overpaid!” – It is true that overpayments may happen. It is the responsibility of the claimant and/or their representative payee to make sure SSA is notified of any changes (in income). By reporting the wages every month, overpayments can be lessened, and often eliminated. ANY changes – in income, resources, living arrangements, etc. – must be reported to SSA by no later than the tenth day of the month following the month of change. If you get one paycheck a month, you can report as soon as you receive it; if you get more than one, report when you receive the last payment of the month. Even a little change in wages must be reported. By reporting right away, SSA has a chance to update a record so that payments are correctly computed, and overpayments are minimized. SSI tries to estimate future income at a higher rate to help prevent possible overpayments.

There are a number of websites that provide information on benefits.

Besides SSA’s award-winning website at: www.socialsecurity.gov, another valuable site is: www.db101.org. This is a consumer friendly website established by the World Institute on Disability, and is backed by Social Security and the State of California. DB101 provides information on all of SSA’s “work incentives” for both SSDI and SSI. It also has easy to use benefits-planning information and great calculators to help you find out how work will affect your benefits.

About the author: Ed Wrona has worked for Social Security for 38 years. He is currently an “Area Work Incentives Coordinator” for the Northern Area of the San Francisco Region, covering 21 offices from Sacramento to the Oregon border. He has been involved with SSA work incentive training since the early 1980s, many times working in cooperation with the State Departments of Rehabilitation and Mental Health. He has served on the boards of Caminar and Northern Valley Catholic Social Services, and has been a member of the Butte County Coordinating Council on D.D. for over 20 years.