Copyright: Copyright ® DisAbility Works, Inc. 1995


Contents

Introduction

The PASS Plan Estimator was developed to provide a tool for Vocational Service Program Administrators needing to develop sources of new revenues.  By entering information regarding the benefits and wages received by persons in your service programs, you can calculate the maximum potential dollars that could be available to pay for vocational services from PASS Plans.  This is meant only to provide an estimation of a potential funding source.  Any use as a budget planning tool or as a method to project future dollars is done at your own risk - knowing dollars are available and developing appropriate strategies to secure these dollars are separate issues.

Procedures

Adding New Estimates
Reviewing Saved Estimates
Printing Estimate Reports


Adding New Estimates
Adding New Records

From the File Menu on the main screen, select Add.  The new data entry form is presented with the cursor in the name field and New Agency already entered.  Type the name of your agency, contact person, phone, etc.  Use TAB or the Mouse to move between fields.    Use the mouse or the spacebar to choose the services provided by your agency.

Enter the number of persons involved in your vocational program.  Consider all persons you anticipate working with in the next year.

Determine the number of persons receiving Title II benefits such as SSDI or SSDAC.  Generally these funds arrive on the third of the month. Some of these persons will also be receiving SSI.  The SSI field is for those only on SSI.

Enter the average award amount for persons receiving Title II benefits.  This number should reflect the average award amount before the deduction of any medicare premium.

Enter the number of persons in your program that are currently reporting wages.

Enter the number of  new persons you anticipate getting jobs and reporting wages during the next 12 months.

Finally enter the average amount of monthly gross wages persons with disabilities in your vocational services program are earning.

Now use the mouse or TAB to click on the Calculate PASS Funds button.


Assumptions

When developing the PASS Funds Estimator, it was necessary for me to make a number of assumptions.

1)  After entering the total number of persons interested in your agency's vocational services, you are asked for the number of persons receiving a Title II cash payment.  In developing the formulas in the PASS estimator, I have assumed that potential customers fall into two categories - a) those who receive unearned income (SSDI, SSDAC, etc.) and might or might not be concurrently eligible for SSI and b) those who are eligible only for SSI.

2)  The formulas used for persons in the category of working today assume that individuals will work an average of  9 out of the next 12 months.  This keeps our estimations on the conservative side and realistically recognizes employment turnover.

3) The formulas for new workers assume that persons gain employment on a steady basis throughout the year.  This would mean that the same number of persons would get jobs in January as would find work in December.  I therefore calculated that persons in this category would be employed an average of 6 months during the year.

4) In evaluating the usefulness of the numbers calculated as total available PASS dollars, realistic consideration should be given to the amount of funds that will be used by customers to pay for such items as lunches, clothing, car payments and  insurance, etc.  Much policy development is needed to determine the relationship between work incentive dollars and other vocationally related funding sources.

Tom Emmons
Developer


Installation Directory

In the test - trial - beta version you need to install into the C:\ESTIMATE subdirectory.  Call if you need custom installation instructions.


PASS Plans

PASS Plans (Plans for Achieving Self Support) were included in the original legislation creating the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program of the Social Security Administration.  Designed as a work incentive, a PASS allows a person with a disability to set aside income and resources to help pay for items and services needed to reach a vocational goal.  Money set aside under a PASS plan is not counted when determining a person's eligibility for SSI or the amount of their SSI payment.  PASS Plans can pay for such items as Evaluations, Job Development, Job Coaching, Transportation and Case management services.  In most cases, a person with a disability will have more money to live on,  in addition to receiving funds to pay for vocational services.


Persons in Supported Employment
Persons in Supported Employment''

You should list all persons that might potentially be seeking some form of Supported Employment service from your agency.  This can include persons already working in the community as well as persons in sheltered settings waiting for integrated employment opportunities.


Print Documentation

Data Collection and Calculation Sheets are provided in Windows' write.exe format (*.wri).


Printing Estimates
Printing Reports

From the File Menu on the main screen select Print.  Make sure your printer settings are correct and click on Print.  Scroll through and select the Estimate Name you want to print.


Reviewing Estimates

From the File Menu on the main screen, select Review.  You will be presented with a listbox of previously saved PASS fund estimates.  Scroll through the list and either click on the name or on the OK button.  The data is presented in a read only format.  Changes are not allowed.


Windows Group

It is suggested that you create and install to a new Windows group called PASS Planning.  This can be used for future Work Incentive software.  Just make sure the name of the group is what you want and the group will be created with the icons aleady installed.