411 ABLE/STABLE ACCOUNTS  (FAM)

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ABLE/STABLE-NH Accounts are a tax-advantaged savings account plan for individuals who are blind or disabled. Funds from ABLE/STABLE-NH accounts (distributions) can be used to pay for Qualified Disability Expenses (QDE). (See FAM Glossary Q-words for examples of QDEs)

Treatment: Excluded Resource

ABLE/STABLE-NH Account Contributions

Individuals can contribute their own resources, including resources that would otherwise be countable to their own ABLE/STABLE-NH account. Doing so would reduce their countable resources when determining eligibility.

Example 1: John contributes $3,000 of his own personal resources into his ABLE/STABLE-NH account from his IRA account. After the transfer of resources to the ABLE/STABLE-NH account, John’s personal countable resources are now reduced when determining his eligibility.

If an individual is contributing their own income to their ABLE/STABLE-NH account that income is still used in determining eligibility, there is no reduction in countable income when determining eligibility.

Example 2: Jose receives SSDI of $2,500 a month, he contributes $2,000 monthly from his SSDI benefit to his STABLE-NH Account. When determining his countable income for all BFA programs we would still count his SSDI of $2,500, because there is no reduction in his countable income. However, we would not count the $2000 added to his STABLE-NH account as a countable resource.

Third party contributions to an ABLE/STABLE-NH account as well as disbursements from an individual’s Special Needs Trust or Pooled Trust to an individual’s ABLE/STABLE-NH account are not counted as a resource or income for that individual.

Example 3: Martha receives a $10,000 contribution from her families Pooled Trust that was established for her in her youth. The transfer of funds from the Pooled Trust to her ABLE/STABLE-NH account are not counted as a resource or income for Martha.

Note: There is no special treatment for contributions made to another person’s ABLE/STABLE-NH account. Therefore, someone contributing to another individual’s ABLE/STABLE-NH account and then applying for Medicaid coverage for themselves may find that their contribution would constitute a transfer of assets.

ABLE/STABLE-NH Account Distributions

Distributions from ABLE/STABLE-NH accounts are not counted as a resource or as income as long as they are used for a QDE for the individual.

Estate Recovery

Funds remaining in an ABLE/STABLE-NH account upon the death of the account beneficiary are subject to existing estate recovery policy.

References: 26 CFR 529A; 74 USC 722.500; 42 USC 722.50