Social Security expands program, incentives for disabled to find jobs

The federal "Ticket to Work" program has expandedThe new program is designed to:
eligibility to help more disabled people find work. The- Expand the eligible population to include beneficiaries
Summary below explains the benefits of this newwho are expected to medically improve.
program.- Increase financial incentives for participating service
Summaryproviders to boost participation.
Social Security's Ticket To Work (officially called the- Enable beneficiaries to take advantage of the
Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program) is aservices of both state vocational rehabilitation agencies
federally sponsored program for individuals withand employer networks.
disabilities who have the desire and ability to re-join the The Program's History
workforce. It was also intended to reduce theOriginally established under the Ticket to Work and
participants' dependence on Social Security benefits.Work Incentives Improvement Program Act of 1999, it
The new Social Security Administration Ticket towas first rolled out in 2002, though with not much
Work regulations are designed to help people who aresuccess. A 2007 report to Congress by Mathematica
receiving Social Security disability benefits findPolicy Research, concluded that while the numbers of
employment, vocational rehabilitation and other supportindividuals using employment services increased slightly,
services from public and private providers, employersit did not produce a corresponding increase in
and other organizations. While a revamped Ticket tobeneficiary earnings or a reduction in benefit payments.
Work training program has initially targeted 16 states,They suggested that further shifts in beneficiary
the program's enhancements are available in all 50behavior would be needed to produce the desired
states.decrease in benefits.