Supplemental Security Income: Calculating the Impact of Earnings on Benefits

The purpose of this guide is to educate New Yorkers with disabilities about the impact of earnings on Supplemental Security Income benefits

Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare And Work: A Review of the SSDI and Medicare Rules Related to Work Activity. Guidelines for Proactively Using the SSDI and Medicare Work Incentives to Help Individuals with Disabilities Maximize Independence Through Work

This policy-to-practice brief will focus on issues related to benefits and work for the SSDI beneficiary. After first explaining what SSDI is and the differences between SSDI and SSI, we will explain two historical work disincentives: the substantial gainful activity (SGA) rule and the continuing disability review (CDR). We will then explore a number of work incentives or special rules that seek to encourage work by either allowing benefits to continue for limited periods while working (trial work period (TWP), extended period of eligibility (EPE)), or allow individuals to quickly return to benefits status when a work effort stops or wage levels dip below the SGA level (expedited reinstatement). We will also explain special rules for either ignoring some short-term employment efforts (unsuccessful work attempts) or reducing countable monthly wages to be measured against the SGA amount for the year in question (impairment related work expenses, subsidies, paid time off)

Medicaid & Work: Keeping your Medicaid While You Work

The purpose of this guide is to educate New Yorkers with disabilities who receive SSI about how they can go to work and keep their Medicaid

The Medicaid Buy-In for Working People With Disabilities: Individuals With Disabilities Can Earn Significant Wages and Qualify for This Important Health Care Benefit

This policy-to-practice brief provides an in-depth illustrated description of the Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS) work incentives. This brief reviews how the PASS can be used to promote a work goal; the criteria for approving a PASS; and how the PASS can be used in conjunction with other programs to promote and achieve vocational success. Throughout the brief, examples are used to illustrate principles and provide an example in the appendices to show how to propose a PASS that meets all of SSA’s criteria for approval. Extensive citations to law, regulation, and policy appear in footnotes to maximize the usefulness of this publication to benefits planners who are engaged in writing PASS proposals for individuals

Ticket to Work: Choosing the Right Employment Network

The purpose of this guide is to educate New Yorkers with disabilities who have a Ticket to Work from the Social Security Administration on how to secure the services and supports to go to work by choosing an Employment Network

WORKING: The Newsletter of the New York Makes Work Pay Initiative

WELCOME to the inaugural issue of Working, a print and elec¬tronic newsletter produced by the New York Makes Work Pay Initiative. This Initiative is a Comprehensive Employment Ser¬vices Medicaid Infrastructure Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and its management partners the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syra¬cuse University and the Employment and Disability Institute (EDI) at Cornell University. The New York Makes Work Pay Initiative is currently funded for calendar years 2009 and 2010 and will provide an array of services to individuals with disabilities, the agencies and advocates that serve them, and employers, helping to remove obstacles to work and pave the way to self-supporting employment

The “New” Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program: Enhancing Economic Self-Sufficiency of Beneficiaries through Work Opportunities and Public/Private Partnership

Discusses the history of the Social Security Administration’s Vocational Rehabilitation and describes the intents and functioning of the Ticket to Work and work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. This publication is based on federal Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) laws, regulations and policy. Following Sections I and II pertaining to historical context and evolution of SSA and the Ticket, information presented regarding the operations and structure of the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program is based exclusively on the new 2008 regulations

Canagliflozin and Renal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to 300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m 2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to &lt;90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], &gt;300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of &lt;15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P&lt;0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P&lt;0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years