Recently, Dom Evans posted about ABLE (Achieving a Better Life) accounts on Facebook. When ABLE accounts began, they were touted as a way for disabled people to save money without losing their Medicaid and SSI benefits.
Funds are not taxable if they go towards qualified disability expenses (QDEs). A qualified disability expense can include costs related to housing, healthcare, food, and education, among other things. Since the inception of the ABLE program, account holders have saved more than $2 billion in assets. As of 2024, over 187,000 disabled people had opened an ABLE account. Each account contains an average of more than $11,600 in savings and investments.
However, as Evans points out there are still rules, and regulations that account holders must follow. In some states, there are fees associated with ABLE accounts. In Michigan for example, there is a $45 annual maintenance fee for MiABLE accounts.
Contributions to ABLE accounts are subject to yearly and cumulative limits. They are considered gifts for federal gift tax purposes.
ABLE accounts represent progress, but they also show how far we still have to go. The fact that disabled people must navigate strict rules, pay fees, and worry about contribution limits just to save for basic needs highlights the unfairness built into our financial system. True equality means more than creating programs with restrictions. It means dismantling barriers that keep disabled people from achieving the same financial freedom nondisabled people take for granted.
ABLE accounts should be seen as a stepping stone. Disabled people should be able to save and spend their money as nondisabled people do. Being disabled shouldn’t mean being forced into poverty or following antiquated rules. Until then, ABLE accounts remain both a tool and a reminder of the work still ahead in the fight for economic justice and disability rights.
Sources:
“How Can Funds Be Used?” ABLE National Resource Center, ABLE National Resource Center, 10 Feb. 2021, https://www.ablenrc.org/get-started/what-can-funds-be-used-for/.
Kelly, Annemarie, and Lewis Hershey. ‘A 50-State Review of ABLE Act 529A Accounts’. Journal of Financial Service Professionals, vol. 72, no. 2, 2018.