Savings Accounts for Disabled People Are Expanding. Do You Qualify?

[Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.]

Starting in January, millions of disabled Americans will become eligible to save and invest for current expenses and future needs without jeopardizing their federal benefits like Medicaid.

About six million more people, including about a million veterans, may qualify for the so-called ABLE accounts run by most states, according to an estimate by the National Disability Institute, a research and advocacy group. The accounts have been available for roughly a decade, but a federal law passed in 2022 expanded the program’s qualifying rules, which will take effect in 2026.

ABLE accounts, modeled loosely on 529 college saving accounts, are named for the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, the 2014 law that created them. Funds in the accounts can be saved and invested and withdrawn tax-free when spent for disability-related needs.

Even though 46 states and Washington, D.C., offer the accounts, their growth has been relatively slow — in part, because they were initially limited to people who became disabled before age 26.

Next year, the age for a qualifying disability rises to 46. That means people can be eligible if they become disabled later in life from, say, an accident, war wounds, the onset of mental illness or a disease like multiple sclerosis.

“This is a huge change for our community,” said Mark Raymond Jr., national outreach coordinator at ABLE Today, an initiative of the National Association of State Treasurers that promotes awareness of the accounts.

For more information see Ann Carrns “Savings Accounts for Disabled People Are Expanding. Do You Qualify?” The New York Times, December 5, 2025.