VCU-BARC

The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA) of 1999 created an important work incentive called Expedited Reinstatement (EXR). EXR is a way to return more easily to Social Security disability benefits when work is significantly reduced or stopped because of an individual’s original disabling condition. EXR also permits individuals to receive provisional payments while the EXR request is being processed.

Who is Eligible for Expedited Reinstatement?

1. EXR is available to former Social Security disability beneficiaries including those who received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Child- hood Disability Benefits (CDB), or Disabled Widow(er)’s Benefits (DWB); and persons who received SSI payments based on disability or blindness.

SSDI Beneficiaries have insured status as former workers and meet SSA’s definition of disability. These beneficiaries are entitled to a disability benefit based upon their own work record.
Childhood Disability Beneficiaries (CDB) are adults with disabilities who may not have sufficient work credits for insured status, but receive a benefit based upon a parent’s insured status. To be eligible for CDB, individuals must be at least 18 years old, disabled by SSA’s definition before the age of 22, the child of an insured worker who is either retired, disabled or deceased, and not married( except to another Social Security Title 2 beneficiary). This program was previously referred to as “Disabled Adult Child” or DAC benefits.
Disabled Widow(er)s are the surviving spouses of deceased insured workers. The widow(er) must either have been married to the worker at the time the worker died, or must have been married to the worker for ten years prior to a divorce. These applicants must be over age 50, must meet the disability standards, and must not have remarried before age 60. Once the applicant is entitled to benefits, the rules for Disabled Widow(er)’s benefits follow those of the SSDI program. The beneficiary has a five-month waiting period for benefits, a 24-month waiting period for Medicare after benefits begin, and access to the full range of work incentives available to the SSDI and CDB programs.

2. The individual’s prior entitlement must have terminated due to work activity. Substantial Gainful Activity for Social Security beneficiaries and earned in-come (or a combination of earned and unearned income) for SSI recipients.

3. Individuals requesting EXR have to be performing work valued below the current SGA level.

4. To be eligible for EXR, individuals must have experienced a reduction or cessation of earnings because of the same disability (or a related disability) that entitled them to benefits in the first place.

5. Finally, the EXR request must be made within 60 months of the last month of entitlement.

For more information on Expedited Reinstatement, refer to the VCU-BARC briefing paper, Expedited Reinstatement (EXR) Vol. 5, April 2002 (Updated 2005).