In prior blog posts we told you about the ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) Act. The 2014 legislation allows individuals with qualifying disabilities to save in tax-advantaged accounts. The main advantage of the account is that it allows eligible individuals to possess over $2,000 in assets, yet still qualify for means-tested federal benefits such as Medicaid and SSDI. Prior to this legislation, individuals dependent on these important federal programs had to keep their assets under $2,000, effectively impoverished, to qualify for these benefits.
Also, one of the rules is that the beneficiary of an ABLE account must have developed his/her disability before age of 26. Since the introduction of the legislation, public pressure has mounted to raise the age of onset. Raising the age limit would allow those who have developed chronic debilitating medical conditions after that age, or those who have been disabled as a result of accidents sustained after that age, to open an ABLE account.
To remedy this problem, the “ABLE Age Adjustment Act” (Senate Bill 817) has been introduced in Congress. If passed, it will raise the threshold for disability onset from age 26 to age 46. You can read more about the bill and follow its progress by clicking here.
For details on how ABLE accounts work, see my prior blog post here. Read about the Florida ABLE program here.
