Benefit Planning and Assistance
The fear of losing benefits can be a major obstacle for people with disabilities who wish to go back to work. But now experts are available to reduce that fear by explaining exactly what is going to happen to your benefits, if you go back to work. These experts, known as Benefits Specialists, know many ways that can help you keep Medicaid and other public benefits. Then you can slowly ease off of benefits into a more independent life!
Want to learn more about what will happen to your benefits if you want to return to work or increase your work hours?
For an example of how different earning would effect SSI benefits, take a look at the following document which gives examples of different earning levels and the impact on benefits. This tool was created by Christy L. Burke the Benefit Planning Assistance and Outreach Program in Iowa.
Levels of benefits assistance available:
- Information and Referral - is limited to brief telephone contact with a beneficiary to answer the most basic questions about benefits, work incentives, and where to get more detailed information.
- The Benefits Analysis or plan- involves an examination of all benefits, entitlements, subsidies and services, and the impact that work will have on 1) the level of payment, and 2) continued eligibility. Click on the Benefits Analysis link earlier in this paragraph to see an example of what a plan or analysis looks like.
- Benefits Counseling/Advisement is the process of sharing with the beneficiary the information learned through the analysis. A complete, written summary is presented to the beneficiary in one or more meetings.
In Benefits Planning and Follow-Along, each individual is provided assistance with accessing work incentive provisions made available through the Social Security Act, Housing and Urban Development, Adult Public Assistance, etc. When work begins, the new employee can plan ahead for changes in benefit status, avoid overpayments and underpayments, and be assured that critical benefits, such as health coverage, are maintained.
If you are interested in benefit planning services and would like assistance to connect to a trained planner, contact Ken Hamrick or Jennifer Jones at 907-272-8270 or toll free at 1-800-243-2199.
Cost of Living Adjustments for 2007
The following documents require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader and are approximately 195K in size. For those who have access to Microsoft Word, it is posted in that format as well.
The Social Security Administration has made the COLA or Cost of Living Adjustments available for 2007. The following word document has all the new numbers for 2007. Happy planning!
Please note that the federal benefit rate or FBR is referred to as federal payment standard in this document.
COLA 2007 - PDF
The threshold for Medicaid for 2007 is $50,685
The following are the state Adult Public Assistance Payment standards. To find out if you are eligible for APA, check the following numbers to see if you are in the payment range.
APA Payment Standards - WORD
Information for Benefit Planners
We have developed this site to help Alaskan Benefit Planners access current information about Alaskan and federal benefits as well as to provide easy access to technical assistance and training. Please let us know if there is information you need that we have not yet included in the site.
If you would like basic information about benefit planning services or how to become a benefit planner in Alaska, go to the topic page on Benefits Planning in this site.
This page is for Alaskan Planners and will require a log in to access. If you need assistance, contact Jennifer Jones at 907-264-6259.
Use the following link to log in: http://www.alaskaworksinitiative.org/planners/