““What About My Benefits?”What About My Benefits?”

The Importance of Benefits Planning & Assistance The Importance of Benefits Planning & Assistance in Customized Employment Servicesin Customized Employment Services

for Persons with Disabilitiesfor Persons with Disabilities

Presented byPresented by“Whatever It Takes”“Whatever It Takes”

A Collaborative Effort of HempsteadWorks and Abilities, Inc.A Collaborative Effort of HempsteadWorks and Abilities, Inc.

Background

The fear of losing benefits (particularly medical coverage) is the primary barrier preventing individuals with disabilities from entering or returning to meaningful employment.

The Social Security Administration (SSA), as authorized by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, awarded 116 cooperative agreements to a variety of community organizations called Benefits Planning, Assistance, and Outreach (BPAO) projects. These BPAO projects provide all SSA beneficiaries with disabilities (including transition-to-work aged youth) access to benefits planning and assistance services. Cooperative agreements were awarded throughout every State, The District of Columbia, and the U.S. Territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

The Role of the Benefits CounselorThe Role of the Benefits Counselor

Provide work incentives planning and assistance to SSA`s beneficiaries with disabilities to better enable them to make informed choices about work

Conduct outreach presentations to those beneficiaries (and their families), who are potentially eligible to participate in Federal or State work incentives programs

The Product: Benefits AnalysisThe Product: Benefits Analysis

The Benefits Counselor can provide the consumer (and their service provider) with a Benefits Analysis Report.

The purpose of the report is to clearly illustrate for the consumer what will happen to their benefits if they decide to go to work. The consumer is presented with the

available options to help them make a more informed choice about future work activities.

Contact InformationContact Information

To locate the BPA&O project nearest you:

Phone Call 1-866-968-7842 or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY/TDD) for the hearing impaired.

Webwww.socialsecurity.gov/work/ServiceProviders/BPAODirectory.html.