Benefits and work conversations in action: supporting informed choice. Professionals
who support people with disabilities in making an informed choice about work need
to give positive messages, accurate information,
and support about benefits in work.
Why is that important?
Many people with disabilities choose not to work or limit their work because they
worry about how employment might affect their benefits.
But understanding the facts can help them make informed choices and plan for
success.
You play a key role in helping them learn the facts about their benefits and work,
explore their options, make an informed choice,
and implement a plan to get ahead when working,
you have six key responsibilities to guide them in making an informed choice
about work and benefits.
One,
Know and use the five key messages to provide encouragement.
Two, help the person identify positive things about work. Three,
help the person confirm their current benefits. Four,
share basic information about those benefits and work.
Five, connect them to more help when needed, and six,
support them in reporting earnings when they work.
Let's see an example of these responsibilities in action during a
meeting with Ben, an employment specialist, and Diane,
a person who is interested in working.
Hi, Diane.
It's great to see you again.
Hello, Ben.
It's nice to see you too.
Last month we talked about the idea of working and I shared some information
with you.
The other day, your case manager let me know you had
some concerns about your benefits.
Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about working.
I'd love to have more money, but I don't want to mess up my benefits.
I get it.
That's a common concern.
The good news is that Social Security and all benefit programs in Minnesota support
work, so you will have more money when you work.
Really.
What do you mean you think it might be OK for me to work?
Yes, when you work you can have more money and
keep the benefits you need, including Medical Assistance.
Plus, there are so many other great things
about working.
You meet new people, learn new things, and get more connected to your community.
That's good to know.
I thought my benefits would stop if I worked.
I love the idea of having more money and I made a lot of friends when I worked
years ago.
We used to go out after work a lot.
I miss that.
OK, it sounds like you have a goal of working
so you can have more money and befriend some of your coworkers.
I can help you figure out what would happen to your benefits with different
hours and pay so you can make a plan.
Then I can help you with things like figuring out what you want to do for work
and start a your resume.
How does that sound?
That would be great.
The first thing we need to do is make sure we know what benefits you get.
Your case manager let me know you have a My Vault account on mn.db1o1.org?
Yes, she helped me set one up a while ago.
That's great.
You can request a list of your benefits from the Department of Human Services
through your My Vault account.
It takes a day or two for them to pull the list together.
I can help you request it today and then we can meet later this week to see how
much more money you'll have by working.
How does that sound?
That sounds good.
Great.
On this screen, you just need to type in your e-mail and
password to log into your My Vault account.
OK, now you're logged in and we can go to the
Vault planning activities to get a benefit
look up for you.
In this activity, you just need to type in a few details
like your name, your date of birth, and your street address.
When you're done, click submit to ask DHS to do a benefits
look up.
If you're OK with them sending the benefit look up to me too,
You can enter my e-mail address in this field.
Great.
Your benefit look up with the list of your benefits should be in your vault in
a day or two.
I'll be there too.
How about we plan to meet here in three days at the same time?
Sounds good.
I'll see you then.
Hi Diane, it's good to see you again.
Hi Ben, it's nice to see you too.
I got a notification that your benefits look up is done.
Let's have you log into your My Vault account on mn.db101.org
and go to the Benefits Look Up activity.
It looks like you get Supplemental Security Income or SSI and Medical
Assistance.
Does that sound right?
Yes, that sounds right.
Great, since you get SSI, let's watch a short 4 minute video about
SSI and work.
The video explains how you can work, have more money,
and keep your healthcare coverage.
Ben, the employment specialist, plays the video for Diane.
Wow, in that video the person earned $1500 a
month and still got some SSI.
Isn't that great?
There are some tools on DB1O1 that we could use to see what would happen to
your SSI if you earn different amounts.
Would you like to use one of those tools with me right now?
Yes, I'd love that.
The SSI article has a tool that does a quick estimate of what your income could
look like with SSI and work.
Let me pull that up.
All right, I'll type in your current SSI amount.
Now we need to put in an amount for earnings.
Have you thought about how many hours a week you would work?
I'm not sure.
Can we see what happens if I work 20 hours a week?
Of course, let's see what happens if you make $14.00
an hour, which would be $1218 of monthly earnings.
You can see you'll have about $650 more each month and you'll still have Medical
Assistance.
That's fantastic.
I would love to have that much more money.
Oh, one thing I wanted to ask about.
My neighbor had to pay back a lot of money to Social Security when she went to
work.
How do I make sure that doesn't happen?
We just need to make a plan for you to report your work to Social Security and
the county as soon as you have a job, which I can help you with as you move
forward.
If you have benefit questions that we need more help with,
we can also connect with other benefit experts who know more than I do.
That sounds amazing.
I'm so excited to get a job.
You can see from this example that by fulfilling these six critical
responsibilities, you can help a person make an informed
choice about work.