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VA DRS Financial Participation in Cost of Services

Depending on your family's ability to pay, you may be required to pay part or all of the cost of many Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services or other Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS) services.

Exceptions

No matter what your income, if you meet the non-financial DRS eligibility criteria, DRS will provide you with the following services at no cost to you:

·             Eligibility determination assessment and vocational rehabilitation needs assessment;

·             Vocational rehabilitation counseling, guidance, and referral services;

·             Personal Assistance Services (PAS) necessary for you to participate in the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program;

·             Job-related services, including job search and job placement assistance, job retention services, follow-up services and follow-along services;

·             On-the-job training;

·             Auxiliary aids, interpreter for the deaf services or other reasonable communication accommodation for you to participate in the VR program (however, hearing aids, telecommunication systems, assistive listening devices, alerting devices, and other goods are subject to consumer financial participation);

·             Unpaid work experience; and

·             Support services such as transportation and maintenance, that are necessary for you to access diagnostic and evaluation services.

Individuals receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), General Relief, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are not required to share in the cost of DRS vocational rehabilitation services.

Determining your Ability to Pay

Income and resources of the family are to be used when the individual is part of a family. For purposes of consumer financial participation, "family" means the family members (including any dependents) reported on the most recent Federal income tax return. (There are detailed instructions in the DRS policy manual for determining family membership for families that have not filed Federal tax returns.)

In order to decide if you must share in the cost of the services that require financial participation, DRS calculates your "Client Resources" and then uses a table based on family size to determine the percentage of the cost of the "fee-for-service" charges that you must contribute in order to receive the services you need.

Calculating Client Resources:

1. Take your "Total Income" from your previous Federal Income Tax return.

2. Add any non-taxable income not included above.

3. Subtract any Taxes, Medical Insurance, IRA or pension fund contributions paid.

4. Subtract any SSI or SSDI amounts included above. The result is your "Total Adjusted Annual Income."

5. Add up your liquid assets and subtract $5,000. The result, your "Net Cash Assets," cannot be less than zero. (Liquid assets include checking, savings, and money market accounts, bonds or CDs maturing within 6 months, stocks, life insurance net cash value, mutual funds, but not retirement accounts.)

6. Add together your "Total Adjusted Annual Income" and your "Net Cash Assets" and subtract your "Living Expenses Exclusion," an amount based on family size that increases each year.

NOTE: All of the below tables are valid from July 1, 2008 thru June 30, 2009. (After June 30, 2009 see Chapter 12 FORMS, RS-13 Client Financial Statement available in the DRS Policy and Procedure Manual at: http://www.vadrs.org/FRS/FRSmanuals/frsmanual.asp for updated numbers.)

7. Subtract any disability related expenses. (Such expenses can include special nursing care, attendant fees, extraordinary transportation costs incurred by the significantly disabled, incurred medical expense for purposes other than the ordinary maintenance of good health, tutors, tape recorders, rehabilitation technology devices, hearing aids, assistive listening devices (i.e. personal loop), alerting devices, telecommunication systems (i.e. TDD), etc.)

8. The resulting amount is your "Client Resources."

Calculating "Client Percentage":

Use the tables below to find the Client Percentage that corresponds to your family size and Client Resources.

Note: In the Family Size Column find the number of dependents. Move across the Percentage Columns until the family size intersects with the income range that contains the income amount. The percentage listed at the top of the appropriate Percentage Column is the individual's (or family's) percentage of participation in the cost of the individual's vocational rehabilitation.

The various vocational rehabilitation and other employment services have different fees attached to them. For example, Supported Employment job coaching may vary in cost depending upon the fees negotiated with each service provider.

Your DRS Rehabilitation Counselor can tell you in advance the estimated cost of the services that could help you reach your employment goal.

See Also:

Eligibility for Services

Employment Services

WWRC Services

Community Based Services

Assistive Technology Services

Nursing Home Outreach

Department of Rehabilitative Services Overview

Back to:

Virginia Benefit Information System Welcome and Introduction

Source:

For more details see Chapter 12 FORMS, RS-13, Client Financial Statement, available in the DRS Policy and Procedure Manual at: http://www.vadrs.org/FRS/FRSmanuals/.

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