Alert
Regarding Ticket to Work
Citizen Action Needed Now to Prevent
Further Delays
by Kathleen R. Hagen
Social Security Administration
(SSA) Deputy Commissioner Martin Gerry has recently announced yet
another delay in the issuance of final Ticket to Work regulations.
The first date was to be last spring. Then it was moved back to this
fall. Now we are being told that they want to further tweak the details
for final approval next spring.
The Ticket to Work Advisory Panel responded that people with disabilities
had already waited too long, and requested that the regulations to
be issued, with the understanding that certain provisions would be
re-drafted and amended later. If SSA does not act now, we can expect
still longer delays. The current Social Security Commissioner, Joann
Barnhart, is leaving in January. There will be a new acting commissioner
until a new commissioner is appointed.
If the new regulations
are not implemented, existing problems with the program will persist.
Currently, a provider of services, known as an employment network
(EN), isn’t paid for
providing help with placement and employment training until the person
is actually placed and is working. Under these regulations, ENs are
losing interest in providing service because they stand a good chance
of not ever being paid.
The new regulations would allow for periodic payments to ENs through
the whole process of finding work, thus giving ENs more incentive to
accept tickets. ![]()
Ticket to Work Regs: What Can You Do?
There is less than a
month left to urge SSA to implement regulations before January.
The time to act is now. Contact the White House and voice your
concerns today. Fax: 202-456-2461, e-mail: comments@whitehouse.gov
The message should be brief, not a form letter. Be sure to give your
name and address and whether you have a disability or work with people
with disabilities.
Here are some pointers,
but be sure to put it in your own words.
• On Feb 1, 2001 President Bush signed the New Freedom Initiative,
which called on the SSA to “swiftly implement the law giving
Americans with disabilities the ability to choose their own support
services and to maintain their health benefits when they return to
work.”
• Taking three years to implement needed improvements to the
regulations is not “swift implementation.”
• Because the current regulations and payment system cost ENs
more money than they receive to assist Ticket users, the majority of
current ENs are not “taking Tickets.”
• The wait has
been so long that each day the reputation of the Ticket to Work
as a failed program grows. People with disabilities had so much
hope when the Work Incentives Act was passed in 2000 with the interim
regulations in place. It will be unconscionable if their hopes
for independence are squelched by the dragging of feet on the part
of the SSA.
• It is imperative
that the final Ticket to Work regulations be published now.
Thank you for any assistance you can give. ![]()
Kathleen R. Hagen, Attorney-at-Law, Protection and Advocacy of Beneficiaries
of Social Security, Minnesota Disability Law Center
