RISEI Lab · Policy Brief No. 2026-04ABLE for Families
This brief summarizes preliminary findings from "ABLE Accounts and the Household Economic Response to Asset-Test Relief" (Yin, 2026, RISEI Working Paper, July 2026). All numeric estimates below are illustrative and rounded; the working paper is a draft and specific magnitudes may change in later versions.
What This Brief Says
- The $2,000 SSI asset limit is a savings cliff. Before ABLE, if a person on SSI saved more than $2,000, they could lose their entire monthly benefit check and their Medicaid coverage the next month. The limit has not moved since 1988.
- ABLE lets eligible people save money without losing benefits. Funds held in an ABLE account — up to about $100,000 — do not count toward the SSI resource test. Funds of any size do not count toward the Medicaid asset test in states with an ABLE program.
- The eligibility gate is age of onset. The disability has to have begun before the person's 26th birthday. Starting January 1, 2026, this threshold moves to before age 46 — adding roughly six million newly eligible adults.
- Early evidence suggests real financial gains. Our research at RISEI Lab indicates that in states that launched ABLE programs, adults with disabilities saw modest but meaningful improvements in disposable income, wages, and employment. The effects appear to be several times larger for younger workers.
- Take-up is the main constraint. Roughly 3 percent of eligible people have an ABLE account. The policy works for people who open one. It cannot do anything for people who do not.
This brief walks through what an ABLE account is, who can open one, how it protects SSI and Medicaid, and what our preliminary evidence indicates about the financial improvements families see. It closes with a plain checklist for families considering opening an account.
The Problem ABLE Was Designed to Solve
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal cash benefit for adults with disabilities who have little income and few assets. In 2024, it paid roughly $940 per month for a single person. For many adults with disabilities, SSI is not just cash. In most states, being eligible for SSI is the pathway into Medicaid, which covers doctor visits, prescriptions, and long-term services and supports.
To keep SSI, a person's countable resources have to stay below $2,000. Any month those resources exceed $2,000, the monthly SSI check stops and, in most states, Medicaid ends. Because the $2,000 limit has not moved since 1988, its real value has been eroded by inflation to roughly $1,000 in today's purchasing power.
An Illustrative Example
Maria is 22. She has cerebral palsy, receives SSI, and lives with her mother in Ohio. She works part-time at a public library and takes home about $600 per month. Her grandmother wants to give her $3,000 for her birthday to build an emergency fund for wheelchair repairs. Under the old rules, accepting the gift would push Maria's savings above $2,000, and she would lose her SSI check — worth roughly $11,000 per year — and her Medicaid coverage. Her grandmother asks the family what to do. Under an ABLE account, Maria can accept the full $3,000 and keep every dollar of her SSI and Medicaid. The gift goes into her ABLE account, which does not count against the $2,000 limit.
Before ABLE, the answer was often to turn the gift down, or to spend it immediately on something perishable. Both options work against the family's long-term financial stability. ABLE lets Maria's family plan for a future that includes savings.
What ABLE Does
Congress passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act in December 2014. It borrows the structure of the 529 college-savings program that families use for education costs, and applies it to disability. States started opening programs in 2016.
The Three Core ABLE Rules
Rule 1
Save without losing SSI. Balances up to roughly $100,000 in an ABLE account do not count toward the $2,000 SSI resource limit. If the balance goes above $100,000, the SSI check pauses but does not end permanently.
Rule 2
Save without losing Medicaid. ABLE balances of any size are excluded from the Medicaid asset test in states with an ABLE program. This is a stronger protection than the SSI rule.
Rule 3
Contributions cap at the gift-tax exclusion. Annual contributions are capped at the federal gift-tax exclusion amount — roughly $18,000 in 2024 — plus additional room for workers under the ABLE-to-Work provision.
Who Qualifies
Three conditions have to be true for a person to open an ABLE account.
1
Qualifying disability
under SSA rules,
or physician's certification
2
Onset of disability
before age 26
(before age 46 from Jan 2026)
3
Current age does not matter.
A 55-year-old whose disability
began at 20 qualifies today.
Roughly 8 million working-age adults are eligible under the current pre-age-26 rule. Starting January 1, 2026, the ABLE Age Adjustment Act of 2022 raises the onset threshold to age 46. That change adds approximately six million more adults to the eligible pool. Adults whose disability began between ages 26 and 45 have been waiting for this change since 2022, and are newly able to open accounts.
RISEI Lab · Policy Brief No. 2026-04ABLE for Families
What the Early Evidence Suggests
Different states launched their ABLE programs in different years. This staggered rollout lets our team compare states that launched early with states that launched late (or have not launched yet). Our preliminary analysis at RISEI Lab uses three complementary data sources — household income surveys, labor-market surveys, and Social Security Administration records — to estimate what happened after states launched.
The results are still under review, and the specific numbers may change. But the direction and rough magnitude of the effects are the following:
Illustrative Effects of a State ABLE Launch
💰
~1–3%
Higher disposable income
for adults with disabilities
in launcher states
📈
~5–10%
Higher wage income for
adults with disabilities
👕
~1 pp
Higher employment and
labor-force participation
🌟
Much
larger
Effects for young adults
ages 18–25, who satisfy
the eligibility rule
automatically
Illustrative rounded estimates from Yin (2026, RISEI Working Paper, preliminary). Specific magnitudes are subject to revision.
Two features of these results matter for families. First, the gains come primarily through higher labor earnings and less reliance on cash transfers. People with disabilities in launcher states appear to be working more and drawing down cash benefits less. Second, the effect concentrates among younger workers, precisely the group the eligibility rule targets. This is the sharpest evidence that ABLE, and not some other state policy change, is driving the improvement.
What the Evidence Does Not Say
A Careful Note on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
Some earlier commentary suggested that ABLE reduced enrollment in Social Security Disability Insurance. Our updated analysis is careful about this claim. State-level SSDI counts have been declining since well before ABLE existed, and states without an ABLE program show the same downward trend. Once we account for those pre-existing trends, we cannot conclude from state-year data alone that ABLE lowered SSDI enrollment. The improvement in disposable income and labor supply is what the evidence supports.
A Checklist for Families
1
Check Eligibility
Confirm that the person's disability began before age 26 (or before age 46 starting January 1, 2026). A physician's certification may substitute for a formal SSA disability determination.
2
Compare State Programs
Most states run their own ABLE program. Twenty-four offer a state income-tax deduction on contributions to the home-state program. Ohio's STABLE Account admits residents of any state.
3
Open the Account
Applications take about 15 minutes and are handled online. No minimum balance is required at most programs. The account holder or a legal representative can be the "account owner."
4
Start Small
Even a $500 emergency-fund balance meaningfully changes the family's financial security. Funds can be used for housing, transportation, health, education, employment support, personal-support services, and legal fees.
Where to Learn More
The ABLE National Resource Center at the National Disability Institute (ablenrc.org) maintains a state-by-state comparison of program features, contribution limits, tax deductions, and fees. It is the most complete public directory of ABLE programs and is independent of any single state program.
For our team's independent state-year comparison of program launches and preliminary evidence, see the RISEI Lab ABLE Resource Center at riseilab.org/able-resource-center.html. We coordinate with, but are independent of, the ABLE National Resource Center. Our role is the state-level evidence layer.
The policy works for the families who open an account. The 3 percent take-up rate is what binds the population-level effect.
Working paper. Yin, Michelle. 2026. ABLE Accounts and the Household Economic Response to Asset-Test Relief. RISEI Lab, Northwestern University. Draft dated July 7, 2026. Preliminary. Magnitudes shown in this brief are illustrative and rounded.
Statute. Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-295, IRC \00A7 529A). ABLE Age Adjustment Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-328, Div. T, Title I, Sec. 124), effective January 1, 2026.
Contact. michelle.yin@northwestern.edu · risei@northwestern.edu · sites.northwestern.edu/risei