The monthly Medicare Part A Hospital Insurance Base Premium is now $343, and the 45%

Reduction Premium is now $189. The Part B Supplementary Medical Insurance monthly Base

Premium is now $66.60.

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The SSA has modified and added regulations concerning how they will garnish wages to collect

overpayments in the Social Security and SSI programs. The new and modified regulations became

effective January 22, 2004. The SSA will use administrative wage garnishment (AWG) to collect

past due debts. AWG is a process whereby the SSA orders the debtor's employer to withhold

and pay up to 15 percent of the debtor's disposable pay every payday until the debt is repaid.

The employer is required by law to comply with the AWG order.

For purposes of AWG, the term ``disposable pay'' mean the amount equal to the total compen-

sation from an employer (including, among other things, wages or salary, bonuses, commissions

and vacation pay) after deduction of health insurance premiums and amounts withheld as required

by law (taxes) other than amounts withheld under court order.

The SSA will not apply AWG to recover debt while:

1.   Title II disability cash benefit is stopped during the reentitlement period (extended period of

        eligibility); or

2.   Medicare entitlement is continued because the beneficiary is deemed to be entitled to title II

        disability benefits; or

3.   The person is participating in the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program and the ticket

        is in use; or

4.    The person is reemployed for less than 12 months after involuntarily separating from a previous

         period of employment.

The new regulations allow the person to appeal the AWG and allow for a reduced garnishment when

the 15% places undue hardship on the person.

If you would like further detail on AWG, it can be found in the Federal Register, December 23,

2003 (Volume 68, Number 246), Pages 74177-74187. The Web site for the Federal Register is:

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html .

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The South Dakota Freedom to Work Project, funded in part by a Medicaid Infra-structure Grant,

will continue to provide benefit training programs throughout the state during 2004. The Freedom

to Work planning committee has decided to place emphasis school-to-work transition age benefi-

ciaries and native American communities within this year’s training cycle. This is a follow-up to the

highly acclaimed series of workshops conducted in 2003.

One-day workshops will conducted throughout the state during the weeks of: April 26-30; June

21-25; August 16-20; and October 11-15. The workshops are divided in morning sessions on

SSI and afternoon sessions focusing on title II (SSDI) benefits. The school-to-work focused

workshops will address integration of work incentives into planning for post-secondary education,

adult services and employment opportunities.

For additional information on specific dates and locations, contact Shelly Pfaff, Freedom to Work

Consumer Outreach Coordinator, 1-800-210-0143 (toll-free phone).

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                       2004 Edition of "The Guide" is Available

The 2004 version of "The Guide - Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental

Security Income (SSI), and Work Incentives," 12^th Edition is available. Each year we update

"The Guide" and the companion manuals on how to report and manage benefits. These are

extremely popular publications, with many organizations ordering new editions each year.

"The Guide" contains numerous examples of the application of each common work incentive and

the forms to use for reporting the use of these work incentives. For further information about the

publications and ordering information [click here].

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Creative Living Options of Sacramento, CA focuses on provide supports and services necessary

to assist individuals with disabilities to live a personalized lifestyle in a home of their choice. In

January, the organization hosted two workshops (basic and advanced) to enable care providers

(primarily parents) to learn about SSA benefits and related medical benefits.

Creative Living Options is now exploring additional training for care providers throughout the state

of California . The co-founders, Kathi Campbell and Joan Schmidt, believe every supportive living

provider should have a working knowledge of SSA and related medical programs.

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If you want to know what is occurring in your state, the SSA provides a listing of projects and

activities related to employment, benefits, and medical benefits. Topics covered in this chart (by

state) include: Benefits Planning, Assistance and Outreach Cooperative Agreement; Protection

and Advocacy Grant; Ticket To Work; Medicaid Infrastructure Grant; Systems Change Grant

for Community Living; Rehabilitation Services Administration - Systems Change Grant (in

appropriate states); and Employment Training Administration Grants (in appropriate states).

You can access this information at the following address:

http://www.ssa.gov/work/Beneficiaries/activity.html

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At training seminars, I am often asked about the SSA interest in school-to-work transition of

students with disabilities. In late 2003, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the

award of cooperative agreement contracts to test alternative SSI program rules to may encourage

SSI recipeints to work or increase their earnings. The project is named the Youth Transition

Process Demonstration (YTPD), and it will be conducted at seven locations in six states over

the next five years. Each site will work with youth aged 14-25 who receive SSI, Social Security

Disability Insurance (SSDI), or Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB) and those at risk of receiving

such benefits, or who have existing disabling conditions prior to age 18 but do not receive SSI as

a child due to parental income. Contracts were awarded in California, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland,

Mississippi, and New York (2 projects).

The SSA will be testing the following alternative SSI program rules to determine their impact on

employment outcome for the target populations:

1. An individual is no longer eligible for benefits, SSA will continue paying benefits for as long as

      the individual continues to be a YTPD participant.

2. The student earned-income exclusion will apply to all participants who meet school attendance

      requirements, without regard to their age or whether they are married or the head of a household.

3. A modified earned-income exclusion : in the YTPD the SSA will exclude the first $65 plus three-

      fourths of any additional earnings (normally half of the excess earnings over $65).

4. SSA will extend the SSI program's treatment of federally supported individual development

      accounts (IDAs) to IDAs that do not involve federal funds. (Similar to PASS accounts.)

5. The plan for achieving self-support (PASS) will allow for career exploration or postsecondary

      education as a goal (with an employment goal identified one year prior to completion of the

      program.

Additional details on these projects can be found in the Federal Register: October 7, 2003

(Volume 68, Number 194) [Page 57950-57953]. Federal Register:

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

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By serving as the host organization (or agency) for a workshop, the organization has ten free

seats at the workshop. This certainly reduces staff training costs, particularly when your program

is on a tight budget.

We ask the host organization to provide meeting space, for approximately 40 people in a class-

room setting. The host organization is responsible for providing light refreshments (coffee, soda,

snack foods). We also ask the host organization to distribute an advertisement of the workshop

to local contacts, as they have a better mailing list of contacts in the local area. We supply the

master copy of the ad by e-mail and/or mail.

Michael Walling and Associates, Inc. will provide the trainer, the training materials, and audio-

visual equipment. All travel costs and lodging costs are covered by our company. In addition,

we take care of registration matters and the confirmation of registrations.

We maintain a list of interested organizations and contact them approximately 3 months prior to

the week Michael will be in their area. Contact us if you would like to host a workshop during

If you would like to receive this newsletter and news alerts in the future, register at:

[distribution list].

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