Eric is 19 years old and majoring in computer science at Bakersfield College. He has Cerebral Palsy (CP), uses a wheelchair and has a busy life. Eric has been living with his parents while he finishes up his sophomore year classes. He has been accepted to UCLA and plans to start next year.

His love for computer science and his hard work have paid off. Besides making the Dean’s List at Bakersfield College, he was awarded a partial scholarship. Eric receives monthly income benefits of $825 from a Social Security Disability Income program called the Child Disability Beneficiary Program based on the earnings of his father. In addition to Social Security’s support, he has access to Medicare and Medi-Cal health coverage programs.

During the last two summers, Eric worked part-time at a local computer repair shop fixing and installing software – something he realized that he not only loved doing, but was really good at. The owner called him a “cracker-jack,” bragging to customers about Eric’s natural ability. “This guy can figure out any program!” And it seemed that Eric could. The pay was not much: about $300 per month. When he took the summer jobs, he was completely unaware of any consequences or complications on his other benefits, such as his Social Security and Medi-Cal, arising from his meager paycheck.

	Eric was offered a great new summer job. It was right up his alley.

This summer he was offered a job at Bakersfield College’s computer lab working at the help desk for $1,500 per month. “Yes!” Eric agreed, knowing this job not only paid better than his previous jobs had but would look great on his resume. What he didn’t realize is that this summer job wages were now enough to have an impact on his Social Security benefits and his Medi-Cal health coverage.

Focused on his future at UCLA, Eric attended a transfer-student fair, put on by his college’s student services. Amongst the credit card booths and academic advisors, Eric met Connie, an advisor for Disabled Student Services at one of the State Universities. After a lengthy conversation about college plans, Eric told her about his job and his career goals. Fortunately for Eric, Connie had some understanding about disability benefits through her job. “Your earnings might have an effect on your benefits,” she warned. “Send me an email and I’ll put you in contact with a trained benefits planner who can answer that question better.”

Eric feared that she might be right. He took her card knowing that this might be one “program” that an aspiring computer scientist might not be able to figure out by himself.

Past Employment

Via e-mail, Connie hooked Eric up with Kay, a benefits planner operating out of the Independent Resource Living Center in Santa Barbara. “I know I’m not right across the street, but we should be able to do this all over the phone,” Kay wrote Eric. “I work with a lot of people and agencies in Kern County.”

Working on the speakerphone, Eric and Kay quickly established that Eric’s main concerns involved his Social Security income support and his health coverage. “I have a lot of medical expenses,” Eric noted. “And this summer job doesn’t come with benefits.”

“Let’s work on the Social Security first,” suggested Kay. Kay asked first about Eric’s work history, saying, “That tells us when we have to start counting.”

Under the SSDI work rules, Kay explained, Eric can “put his toe in the water” and start working without immediately losing SSDI eligibility. Each month during which he earns more than $670 in 2008 is counted as a Trial Work Month, of which he can have nine – not necessarily in a row – before different rules start to apply. Kay referred to a chart she had on the wall to determine what Trial Work Months were for some of the previous years Eric worked. Some of the previous amounts for Trial Work Months were: $640 for 2007; $620 for 2006; $590 for 2005; $580 for 2004; $570 for 2003; $560 for 2002; $530 for 2001; and $200 for 2000.

	The $300/month Eric made in earlier summer jobs was too low to affect his SSDI status.

“My $300 months were in 2003 and 2004,” said Eric. “Great!” said Kay. That meant that Eric’s previous work wouldn’t count toward the nine trial work months.

Eric has maintained his eligibility for Medi-Cal through Medi-Cal’s Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level Program. “They told me that my $300 job didn’t affect that, but I never understood why. What’s the algorithm?” Eric asked. Kay explained that Medi-Cal doesn’t count all of your income when calculating your eligibility, using instead the countable income calculation. Kay explained that you “take your unearned income from your Social Security Disability Insurance benefit and subtract a $20 ‘any income dedcuction’.”

“So that's an $825 SSDI benefit minus a $20 any income deduction. So they will only count $805 of my unearned income?”

“That's right”, Kay replied. “Now onto your earned income. Take the amount of money you earned in 2004, subtract a $65 earned income deduction, and divide the remaining figure by two and that will be the amount of your earned income that is counted.”

“$300 minus $65 is $235...divided by two is $117.50,” came back Eric immediately.

“You’re good!” smiled Kay. She told him to keep that program in his head – he’d need it later. “Now for Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level Medi-Cal, we have to add that countable unearned income to your countable earned income” –

– “$117.50 of countable earned income plus $805 of countable unearned income is $922.50,” shot Eric –

–“And compare that to the maximum under the program. For you, with no children, that was $1,026 in 2004 and $999 in 2003. And that,” finished Kay, “is why they said your $300 job didn’t affect your Medi-Cal.” “Simple,” said Eric.

The New Job

“Now,” began Kay, “we need to look at this great new job.” With $1,500 a month from the new job, “we’re immediately talking trial work months,” explained Kay. Since Eric would only be working for three months at that level before going on to UCLA, and as he was planning to stop work while in school, there was no danger of using up the nine allowed trial work months right away. “So your SSDI stays put for now,” said Kay.

The Medi-Cal picture was more complicated. Eric had already done the countable income calculation in his head. “My $825 of unearned income from Social Security minus the $20 any income deduction is $805 countable unearned income. My $1,500 in wages, minus $65, divided by two is $717.50 countable earned income. So, adding $805 and $717.50, that’s, what, $1,522.50. But that’s more than the $1,028 you told me was the maximum. So I’m in trouble, right?”

	“There are all kinds of ways into Medi-Cal,” Kay reassured him.

“There are all kinds of ways into Medi-Cal,” Kay reassured him. She explained that yes, his new income did make him ineligible for Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level Medi-Cal. “If we do nothing, Medi-Cal will automatically enroll you in the Medically Needy Medi-Cal program, and I’m not sure that’s the right program for you. For one thing, you’ll be responsible for a bunch of your own medical costs.” “Uh-oh,” said Eric. “Give me the formula.”

“Very straightforward,” said Kay. “Even I can figure this out. Under Medically Needy Medi-Cal, you figure out the sum of your countable income the way you just did - $1,522.50,” referring to her notes. “They allow you to subtract a ‘maintenance level’ of $600. Then what’s left – $922.50 – is called your share of cost. That’s the amount of medical expense you’d be responsible for every month before Medi-Cal started paying.”

“Holy mackerel!” exploded Eric. “I can burn that up easily. What am I supposed to live on? I’m better off without a job!”

“Slow down, tiger,” soothed Kay. “I told you Medically Needy probably wasn’t the right program for you. There’s another way in.”

Kay told Eric about Medi-Cal’s 250% California Working Disabled Program. “This one provides full scope Medi-Cal coverage for workers with disabilities. It doesn’t give it away – but it gives you a way to buy in.” With Eric’s income of $1,500 a month, he’d have to pay a premium of $125 a month. “But that’s a heckuva lot better than a $922.50 share of cost!” said Eric. Kay told him he should call his Medi-Cal eligibility worker to get started on transitioning to 250% CWD.

Eric breathed a sigh of relief. “I get it now. ‘It’s so simple, a child could do it!’” he went on, quoting Dr. McCoy in Spock’s Brain.

Eric thanked Kay. “I know you’ll love UCLA. Call if you get work!” she joked.