ADA Anniversary

Emailing them directly.
Calling their Washington, D.C. offices.

The Details:

In 2014 Congress passed the ABLE Act, which authorized the creation of savings accounts for people to save money for disability related expenses without jeopardizing their eligibility for public benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. These accounts are important because people with disabilities can lose their eligibility for public benefits if they accumulated more than $2,000 in assets if they do not have access to an ABLE account. In contrast, assets saved in an ABLE account do not count against public benefits up to the gift tax limit. The gift tax limit changes every year but is currently $15,000. While the ABLE Act performs a valuable service, it currently has age restrictions that are counter-productive to the goal of the law.

Specifically, the accounts are only available for people whose disabilities occurred before they reached the age of 26. The age restriction is creating an implementation problem by making the pool of people eligible for accounts too small for states to keep their ABLE account programs viable. The ABLE Age Adjustment Act addresses this challenge by increasing the age cut-off to 46 years of age. This would allow an additional 6 million people with disabilities to be eligible for ABLE accounts and live fuller lives without fearing to lose their benefits.

Ultimately, ABLE Accounts give people with disabilities a more equal financial footing to live life like everyone else – which is at the heart of the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please spend 2 minutes today either emailing or calling Congress to keep the promise alive.