Addendum to the Supporting Statement for the Ticket to Work Program Evaluation

Addendum to the Supporting Statement for Ticket to Work Program Evaluation

OMB No. 0960-NEW

Public Comments on the Information Collection

60-Day Comment Period Federal Register Notice (FRN):

The 60-day Comment Period began on September 3, 2025, and ended on November 3, 2025, at 11:59pm. We received one anonymous public comment on the 60-Day Comment Period FRN. We acknowledge and appreciate the thoughtful feedback from the commenters, and we responded to the comments below:

• Comment:

Ticket to work doesn’t work for disabled people wanting to get off benefits.

SSA Response:

The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (Ticket Act) states the following purposes:

(1) To provide health care and employment preparation and placement services to individuals with disabilities that will enable those individuals to reduce their dependency on cash benefit programs.

(2) To encourage States to adopt the option of allowing individuals with disabilities to purchase Medicaid coverage that is necessary to enable such individuals to maintain employment.

(3) To provide individuals with disabilities the option of maintaining Medicare coverage while working.

(4) To establish a return to work ticket program that will allow individuals with disabilities to seek the services necessary to obtain and retain employment and reduce their dependency on cash benefit programs.

To be entitled to disability benefits, SSA must find an individual to have a medical impairment that prevents engaging in Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA), that is, employment that generates earned income at or above the SGA threshold.

The Ticket Act created three programs to support the work goals of people entitled to disability benefits: (1) Ticket to Work (TTW) wherein a disability beneficiary can exchange their SSA‑provided “Ticket” for services from an Employment Network (EN) or a state Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency; (2) Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) to help disability beneficiaries navigate work incentives and understand how earning income will affect their benefits; and (3) Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) to provide legal advocacy and representation for beneficiaries facing barriers to employment. Together, these three programs are intended to support goals (1) and (4) above.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) completed the first evaluation of TTW and WIPA in 2013. This evaluation revealed that 5.1% of TTW participants in 2010 experienced a benefit suspension or termination due to their work activity, compared to 2.7% of nonparticipants (Schimmel et al., 2013). Furthermore, the Government Accountability Office found that 9.7% of beneficiaries left the disability rolls within 5 years of beginning their participation in TTW, compared to 8.6% of similar non-participants (GAO, 2021). Recent research shows that after controlling for demographic and health factors, TTW participants have higher odds than non‑participants of experiencing a work-related benefit suspension or termination (Ho et al., 2025). Together, these studies show that TTW program participation can help beneficiaries achieve increased earnings and eventual benefit reduction or elimination.

While the TTW program has been successful for many of its participants, SSA maintains its commitment to continued improvement of the Ticket Act programs. We have undertaken this current evaluation to identify the extent to which all three programs (TTW, WIPA, PABSS) are achieving their legislative intent to allow individuals with disabilities to seek the services necessary to obtain and retain employment and reduce their dependency on cash benefit programs. To the extent that SSA can improve these programs, the results of the proposed new data collection activities, in conjunction with the analysis of existing SSA data, will provide the evidence base for potential programmatic changes or other proposals to maximize program effectiveness.

30-Day Comment Period Federal Register Notice (FRN):

The 30-day Comment Period began on February 2, 2026, and will end on March 4, 2026, at 11:59pm. We will review and respond to any public comments we receive during the 30-day comment period FRN. If we receive any comments in response to this Notice, we will forward them to OMB.