The Ticket to Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act Of 1999 (Public Law 106-170).   Under the ticket to work program a person with the disability will receive a ticket from the Social Security Administration to use with the service provider of their choice to obtain the items and services needed in order to return to self-sufficiency.  Social Security calls the service providers Employment Networks.  An employment network can be a private organization or a public agency that agrees to work with Social Security to provide vocational rehabilitation, employment, and other support services to assist the individual with a disability to return to work and leave the Social Security rolls. The new law also includes several improvements to Medicare and Medicaid coverage that began in October 2000.  The the new law extends Part A Medicare coverage for an additional 4 1/2 years for people who receive SSDI.  The new law also allows workers with disabilities who are covered under Medicare to suspend Medicare supplemental policies while they are covered by group health insurance plans provided by their employers and to regain coverage under their Medicare supplemental policies if they lose coverage under the employer's group health plan.  The new law expands state's options in funding for Medicaid.  States may choose to liberalize limits on resources and income from Medicaid eligibility for people with disabilities.  The states may also choose to permit an employed individual with a disability to buy into Medicaid even if that person is no longer eligible for SSDI or SSI because their medical condition has improved. The new law requires the Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to award grants to the states to develop and operate programs which will support people with disabilities who receive SSDI or SSI or both to better understand how return to work will affect their benefits.  These grants are known as Benefits Planting Assistance and Outreach grants.  Currently not every state is completely covered by entities to perform benefits planning assistance and outreach.  However, Social Security's vision is to have every state completely covered as quickly as possible. The Secretary of DHHS also approves applications from states to conduct demonstration projects to provide Medicaid type coverage for working individuals with potentially severe disabilities.  The demonstration projects will cover persons whose medical conditions are expected to meet the SSI definition of disability if the workers did not receive Medicaid services. New Employment Supports (formerly referred to as work incentives). Expedited Reinstatement of Benefits. Effective January 1, 2001 a person with a disability may request reinstatement of benefits if those benefits were lost because the beneficiary went to work.  The beneficiary must be unable to continue working because of his or her medical condition and requests reinstatement of benefits within sixty months of the time the previous benefits terminated.  The beneficiary may receive provisional payments for up to six months while Social Security makes a decision on whether that person is still disabled.  Those provisional payments do not have to be paid back if Social Security's decides that the person is no longer disabled. Changes to the Continuing Disability Review Process. Effective January 1, 2001, Social Security does not conduct the continuing disability review of SSDI or SSI beneficiaries medical condition while the beneficiary is using a Ticket to Work. Beginning January 1, 2002, Social Security will not conducted continuing disability review of the beneficiaries medical condition because the beneficiary is working if the beneficiary has received Social Security disability benefits for at least 24 months. Social Security must still conduct regularly scheduled medical reviews, unless the beneficiary is using a Ticket to Work.