Working While Disabled — Social Security Can Help
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: July 15, 2021
For millions of people, work isn’t just a source of income. It’s a vital part of who they are – it gives them purpose and pride. It’s a connection to community. We’re here to help you get back to work if you’re disabled.
If you’re getting Social Security disability benefits, we have good news for you. Social Security’s work incentives and Ticket to Work programs can help you if you’re interested in working. Special rules make it possible for people receiving Social Security disability benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to work – and still receive monthly payments.
The Ticket to Work program may help you if you’d like to work. You can receive:
- Free vocational rehabilitation.
- Training.
- Job referrals.
- Other employment support.
You can read more about working while receiving disability benefits on our Ticket to Work Program page.
Work incentives include:
- Continued cash benefits for a time while you work.
- Continued Medicare or Medicaid while you work.
- Help with education, training, and rehabilitation to start a new line of work.
If you’re receiving Social Security disability benefits or SSI, let us know right away when you start or stop working. This is also important if any other change occurs that could affect your benefits.
If you returned to work, but you can’t continue working because of your medical condition, your benefits can start again. Plus, you may not have to file a new application.
You can learn more about the Ticket to Work program by reading our publication, Working While Disabled: How We Can Help.
Part of securing today and tomorrow is giving you the tools to create a fulfilling life. Getting back to work might be part of that. We’re here with a ticket to a secure tomorrow.
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Tags: Disability, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security benefits, social security disability benefits, SSI
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Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
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Gwen
Im on SSI bc I recirved s kidney aftet 3 urs of dialisis. It ends soon nut I will not be able to afford my med,for YHE REST OF MY LIFE. Im afraid bc I have real bad anxiety attacks that haplen when I least expect them. I also feel like I have PTSD with my past of being molestef from 4yrs by my biological fathe. Then my mom divorced when I was 8 yrs old and my step father started thevsame thing. My mom didnt do anything about it and it haunts me today, ive been with the best man ove ever met in my life and i dont want to so sex bc I wrny forever not doing it, what will happen? Will I qualufy for Medicade?
Gerald D.
I’d love to work, but I got screwed on my medicare I tried to get a extended plan, ended up with a replacement. And I wanted a doctor a days surgeon that was 50 or older with military training that knows pain management. No I got a dumb kid in his 30s that couldn’t hit the nerve that needed killed. Now I have scoliosis and walk with a limp can’t stand on my feet for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time I might get lucky and I walk for 30 minutes now you tell me that you’re actually helping us I think you people are full of s***. It’s just a money game I’m a Tradesman I got 11 trades under my belt. A card for all of them I use them everyday when I can f****** work can’t have nothing in my bank then I get. So all I do is just sit on my ass and hurt so what you going to do about that they sent me to a Goddamn to shrink yeah funny thing is he studied all that Freud s*** child molester womanizer cocaine addict and he’s trying to tell me how to run my life is b******* now you got my two cents my opinion how to make it day today thank God for my neighbors that are older than me I help them out there are fixed incomes to give me money to buy parts for their cars trucks and it shows up on my deposits as an income I’m screwed again now how do we fix that s*** yeah you’re really there to help us thanks f****** Obama’s goddamn Obamacare anybody over 60 years old as in pain or incurable disease make them feel better till I die and is opiate b******* that’s just cuz God damn doctors won’t teach how to take over 7 days and give them enough for 12 days cut in half so that go through withdrawals and I think that’s just another way God trying to get rid of overpopulation on this Earth we got too many people on it two thirds of need to be f****** wiped out then we might have something pharmaceutical companies on FDA since 1992 Obama puts his stupid people in there for natural cures that could be cured like answers different diseases like that oh yeah it’s all hidden yeah you want my opinion I’ll survive without you
Gabriel J.
I would like to know about programs that social security office have to train me on working while disabled?
Gabriel J.
I like to know how I can work while disabled. What programs do Social Security have?
Harry L.
Thank you for an excellent article. I believe a
A portion of those which are receiving S.S.I/S.S.D.I. is shrouded by a myth that they will lose Medicare/Medicaid if they work. With such fear, the will read the details and see a sentence which etches a bias on the article’s message(s). In other words, if they do not understand how going to work affects their benefits, they should call S.S.A and ask them. If two of the three representatives tell them the same effect, then the representatives should send that section in the rules, codes, and regulations. I do not know if they can ask them a close-ended question. or leading question. If they can lift the spirit of working again outside of the call, then this would be an effective way of giving the caller the will to dig deeper so the caller can be certain of the benefits of working again. Most importantly, like most issues, subjects, and places, once a person researches the issue at hand.they end up saying,” wow, I did not know that this was the reason for that; wait till I tell Bob; Oh I better not; they will laugh at me”. This article reminds me of one day in High School when the teacher showed how a rumor got started. The principal slipped and broke his leg on the ice and this was witnessed by two students. Three months later The story was that the principal broke his leg from a car accident that totaled all three vehicles involved in the accident, which occurred three days later. Understanding that this was a small high school of 156 students, most of the students saw the principal drive the same car before the accident and there was not a blemish on the car. For some reason, the rumor kept on perpetuating even after the perpetrators saw his car in fine shape. The rumor was the truth, and the non-scratched car did not trigger any disbelief. In other words, if we can lift the myths and rumors that surround working while on S.S.I/S.S.D. by using a clever and well-executed operation, then we can bring down the unconscious barriers and blinders that surround the notion of, ” working while on ‘public’ assistance’ is a bad idea. I apologize for the quick comment. I hope you can follow the theme. Important personal matters should thoroughly be researched by those interested in those matters rather than asking yourself, your friend, or simply overhearing a reason for something and saying to yourself,” that must be the reason. Jeez, it sounds like everything I believe so far, so it must be true.” FIND THE REAL REASON CAMPAIGN”; “how”; ” Well there are three websites that we have dedicated to answering myths and rumor.’
All we ask is that you read how the rumor was spread incorrectly about the rumor. Well I am just brainstorming
David G.
Help me seek work what I receive is just not enough
R.F.
Hello David. The Ticket to Work program provides Social Security disability beneficiaries who want to work with access to free employment support services. Please check it out!
william h.
I am disability and unable to work.
Mark F.
I want to go back to school (college). But need gov’t financial help/grants/FASFA. Can someone please explain to me the process before I’m too late to enroll. Want to work but my disabilities hinder me at times. PLEASE HELP Me and my family.
Pat Z.
Does SOC SEC help disabled people find jobs suitable for their disability?
R.F.
Social Security – Ticket to Work/Work Incentives.
Suzan M.
I’m very much intertested in this. I’m a 56 year old woman and have had MS for 32 years and am wheelchair restricted.
V.V.
Hi Suzan. We pay disability benefits through two programs: the Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. To qualify for SSDI benefits, you must have worked long enough and recently enough in jobs covered by Social Security (usually within the last 10 years). The (SSI) program is a needs based program that gives cash assistance to disabled individuals with limited income and resources. We pay disability benefits to people who are unable to work because of a medical condition that is expected to last one year or more or to end in death. If you think you may be eligible to receive disability benefits and would like to apply, you can use our online application.
Applying online for disability benefits offers several advantages:
• You can start your disability claim immediately. There is no need to wait for an appointment.
• You can apply from the convenience of your home, or on any computer; and
• You can avoid trips to a Social Security office, saving you time and money.
If you are unable to file online, please call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday to make an appointment. For more information visit our “Frequently Asked Questions” web page on disability. Thanks!