Welcome
Welcome to the Benefits Planning Learning Community! Together we are working to remove the fear of loss of benefits as a barrier to employment for people with disabilities.
The purpose of this newsletter is to keep you informed, bring you the most up to date information about changes to benefits, highlight important resources, and help you have conversations, answer questions, and provide benefits planning to the people you support.
Key Messages About Work and Benefits
Five things everyone (and we mean everyone!) needs to know and communicate about work and benefits:
- Work and benefits can go together
- All public benefit programs in Minnesota support work
- People who work can earn more money than those who don't - even if their benefits change
- Benefits should not be the reason someone chooses not to work
- Benefits planning helps people see how work is possible, work to their full potential, save money, and get ahead financially
Upcoming Events
Quarter One Benefit Planning Learning Community Meeting - February 20, 2025
Want to increase your confidence in talking about work and benefits with the people you support?
Join the Benefit Planning Learning Community quarterly meeting to get accurate, up-to-date information on benefit policies, access to tools to help navigate and plan, and connect with colleagues doing similar work.
This quarter's topic include:
- Changes to Social Security Overpayment Policies
- MA-EPD (Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities) program updates
- New year benefit changes/updates
- New My Vault caseload transfer feature
- Incorporating agency strategies for reducing fear and confusion about benefits
- Your questions
We also want to hear from you about what you've been up to, your goals this year for increasing confidence talking about work and benefits, and success stories (we have a great one about a $40,000 overpayment that turned into a $17,000 underpayment!)
Hope to see you there!
Level 3 Benefit Coach Training - February 20 to April 25, 2025
Do you spend a lot of your time talking about benefits with co-workers and the people you support? Want to increase your knowledge and confidence about work and benefits? Start by completing Level 1 and Level 2 training in the Benefit Planning Toolkit. With Level 1, you'll learn the basics. Level 2 will give you a little deeper level of knowledge. After you finish Level 1 and 2, if you have a burning desire for more (yes, there are those of us who are benefits nerds) and want to be a resource for others in your agency, as yourself these questions:
- Do I spend at least 10 hours a week talking to people about benefits?
- Do I want to help others in my organization understand benefits?
- Do I have the time and effort to invest in more learning?
If the answer to those questions is yes, talk to your supervisor. With your supervisor's approval, you can complete the application and submit it along with the supervisor recommendation form to be added to the waitlist for the next Benefit Coach Certification training.
The next Level 3 Benefit Coach Training will begin on February 24, 2025. Go to Disability Hub MN - Benefits Coach Certification to learn more.
Benefit Updates
Changes to Social Security Overpayment Policies
Social Security has made key updates to make overpayments a little easier to navigate! Here's an overview of what went into effect in 2025.
General Changes:
- Default Withholding - Instead of taking a person's entire check to pay back an overpayment if they have not reached a payment agreement, Social Security will now default to only taking 10%.
- Repayment Window - Now people who get Social Security benefits have up to 60 months to pay back their overpayments, which is more than the previous window of only 36 months.
- Administrative Waivers - Instead of $1,000, now SSA will waive an overpayment of $2,000 or less without further review (unless there is an indication the person is at fault).
- Shifting the burden of proof - Instead of the person having to prove an overpayment wasn't their fault, now SSA has to prove it was the person's fault. Before this change, it was up to the person with the overpayment to prove they were not at fault for causing it. Now, the burden of proof has shifted to Social Security to prove that the person knowingly caused an overpayment. This means Social Security has to have evidence the person knew they were making incorrect statements that lead to the overpayment, knowingly withheld information or took payments they knew they shouldn't have gotten. This is a step in the right direction! Now, when people do their best to follow what SSA requires, it will be harder for them to be found at fault for overpayments. As benefit planners we can help people avoid overpayments by following reporting requirements, and if an overpayment occurs, help them resolve it.
Other Overpayment Issues to Note:
- Default the Purpose - Remember, people in certain financial situations can qualify to have overpayments waived if they are also found to be not at fault. If a person is found to be not at fault in causing the overpayment and their monthly income is only $250 more than their expenses and they have less than $6,000 in assets ($10,000 if a couple), they would meet this criteria. People can also be found to meet this criteria if they are getting "needs-based assistance." This definition recently expanded to include people who receive SNAP (food support) or Extra Help with Medicare Part D. Finally, people whose income is below 150% of Federal Poverty Guidelines also automatically meet this criteria.
- Against Equity and Good Conscience - The waiver may be approved if the person has to be found not at fault at causing the overpayment and something occurred to make it not right to collect on the overpayment. The most common situation and one that we see a lot is getting misinformation from an official source. This must be proven. Another good reason to help people understand how valuable it is to always keep record of the date, who they spoke to, and what was said when they communicate with Social Security or the county.
Paperwork Changes:
- Streamlined Form to Make Waiver Applications Easier - Social Security is going to use a new version of the Form 632 "Request for Waiver Overpayment." This new form will only be 2 pages and has minimal financial information required which is a significant change from the lengthy and detailed version. The new version has not yet been released, but we will keep you updated when we see the new version.
Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities (MA-EPD) Policy Updates
There are a few changes to MA-EPD policy that will make it even easier for people to access this work incentive.
- 12-month income verification - The first change is a shift from a 6-month income verification to a 12-month verification cycle. This means people on MA-EPD and eligibility workers will have less paperwork to manage.
- 30-day change report - The other change is that people on MA-EPD now have 30 days to report changes that affect eligibility rather than the typical 10 days. This gives people more time to report.
Annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) in Effect
Happy New Year! As many of us know a new year comes with new numbers to remember for things like Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA), the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE), Trial Work Period (TWP), and more. It also comes with an increase in benefits for many who we support. We highlighted the COLAs in our last newsletter, but wanted to note those numbers have all been updated in DB101 and can be found in Social Security's 2025 COLA Factsheet.
An important thing to note about SSA COLA's is that while they take effect January 1st, some state program income limits don't increase until July 1st. Because of this, there is a rule you may want to be familiar with called a "COLA Disrgard". To make up for the fact that a person's benefit increases in January but the program limits aren't updated until July, the annual increase to a person's benefit isn't taken into account when determining whether they would be eligible for MA from January 1st to July 30th. These details can be found in this part of the MA policy manual.
New Thresholds for 1619b in 2025
Social Security released the 1619(b) state thresholds for 2025. In Minnesota, in 2025, people with SSI can work, earn up to nearly $80,000 a year and keep their Medical Assistance through 1619(b). Learn more here. And remember, MA-EPD is an option if they earn more than that.
Tool Spotlight
Agency Strategies
Do you struggle with talking about benefits or answering questions with people you support? Want to ensure your staff have the information they need to answer questions about benefits and keep the employment process moving forward? If you and your agency want to increase your capacity for having conversations about benefits with the people you support, check out the Agency Strategies page in the Hub's Benefits Planning Toolkit.
It includes key messages, training plans for staff and supervisors, how to embed benefit conversations in your work, helpful tips when talking about work and benefits with people, and more. Get started improving your skills and embedding benefits planning as a key part of the service you offer today!
New Website Features
My Vault - Caseload Transfer Feature
People with professional Vault accounts can now transfer their contacts and associated My Vault files to another professional's Vault. We heard from supervisors and managers that it's important to be able to transfer files and whole caseloads from one professional Vault to another (e.g., when a professional leaves their position, or when a person switches workers).
Now you can! Just navigate to your Contacts tab in your My Vault account, scroll to the bottom for the "Transfer Contacts" button and select the contacts you wish to transfer to another's Vault. Note: The Vault you transfer them to must also be a professional account.