Work Incentives

The Basics

Work incentives are rules that make it easier for people with disabilities who get public benefits to become self-sufficient by helping them when they want to work. Work incentives can allow you to keep your benefits and save for your future while you work. They can help you start a business or save money to go to school. Work incentives also make it easier to start benefits again if you need them.

The first two pages of this article discuss how incentives can help you if you get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The article then looks at incentives that help you if you get Medicare or Medical Assistance (MA). Each page explains how these incentives function and how they help you if you get a job.

Which work incentives can help me?

Answer these questions to find work incentives that might apply to you.

I'm currently on (check all that apply):

SSISSDIMA (Medical Assistance)Medicare

I am 21 or younger.

I am blind.

Work Incentives for You

If you’re receiving SSI and Medical Assistance (MA), and then your SSI benefit goes to zero because you are working, a part of the SSI rules called 1619(b) allows you to keep your MA coverage while earning up to $84,208 per year (and possibly higher if you have very high medical expenses).

Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilitites (MA-EPD) covers the same services that standard MA does. To get MA-EPD, you must be certified disabled by the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the State Medical Review Team (SMRT), between the ages of 16-64, reside in MN, working, paying Medicare and Social Security taxes, earning more than $65/month, and pay a reasonable monthly premium that depends on your income and household size.

Once you become eligible for Medicare, you can continue to get Medicare coverage for at least 93 months after your SSDI Trial Work Period (TWP) ends, provided you are still disabled under Social Security’s guidelines. The 93-month (minimum) period starts the month after the last month of your TWP.

Allows you to try work out for 9 months and earn over $1,210/month without losing SSDI. Months in which you earn below $1,210/month do not count as TWP months and do not affect your SSDI benefit.

Once you’ve used up all nine Trial Work months within five years (60 months), your Trial Work Period is over and your three-year (36-month) Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE) begins. During your EPE, you will continue to get SSDI benefits during every month in which your gross monthly earnings are below the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level ($1,690 per month in 2026, $2,830 if you’re blind).

After you use up your Trial Work Period and Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE), your SSDI stops if you are earning above Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). Expedited Reinstatement (EXR) allows you to get up to 6 months of temporary SSDI cash benefits if your income drops back below the SGA level.

Your first $65 of earned income and the first $20 of unearned income each month doesn’t reduce your SSI benefit.

If you are going to school, you can earn up to $2,410 (with a cap of $9,730 per year) without reducing your SSI benefit.

Your work expenses are subtracted from your income when figuring out if your SSI benefit will be reduced.

You can get a higher SSI payment if you put SSDI money or earnings in a special account to pay for education, work, or self-employment costs.

Qualified work expenses related to your disability can help keep your SSI or SSDI payment higher than it would otherwise be.

If you create an unincorporated sole proprietorship for your business, the resources and assets used don't count against your eligibility for SSI.

The money used to fund an Individual Development Account (IDA), as well as the value of the IDA itself, will not be considered in your eligibility for SSI.

When others give you free help your self-employment business, or when a government agency or somebody else pays some of your business expenses, SSDI will subtract the value of that help from your net income when determining whether you've earned over SGA.

You can get free services to help you prepare for, find, get, and keep a job through Social Security's Ticket to Work program. While you're working with a Ticket to Work provider, you won't have a continuing disability review.

Work Incentives and Health Care Coverage

1619(b)

MA-EPD

Medicare Extended Eligibility

Work Incentives and Starting to Work

SSDI Trial Work Period (TWP)

SSDI Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE)

Medicare Extended Eligibility

Expedited Reinstatement (EXR)

Work Incentives and Income

Earned and Unearned Income Exclusions

Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE)