Can ABLE Accounts Bring You Financial Relief?
Managing your finances in today’s economy is a challenge, even if you are healthy and steadily employed. You never know when the next price increase or natural disaster is going to throw off the delicate balance that enables you to live from paycheck to paycheck, with a few cents left in your bank account at the end of each pay period. Some people make a career out of grumbling about the recipients of government benefits, but if you have ever received them, you know that beneficiaries are in an unenviable position. If you have a chronic health issue, you deal with even more financial uncertainty than able-bodied people do. Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with disabilities have the right to pursue gainful employment and to receive reasonable accommodations at work when they need them. Several publicly funded programs are available for people whose disabilities restrict their income-earning potential, but if you receive benefits, you are always in limbo, because the benefits give you just enough money to survive on a meager income, but if your income rises above this meager level, you lose your benefits and struggle to make ends meet. Proposed changes to the ABLE accounts program may bring some relief to working adults with disabilities, but for the time being, most are struggling with debts. For help coping with your debts unless and until the ABLE account expansions arrive, contact a Miami debt lawyer.
What Are ABLE Accounts?
The A Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act has been around for about ten years. This federal law enables eligible people with disabilities to keep money in ABLE accounts, which are interest-bearing accounts that are exempt from the calculation of the account holder’s assets for purposes of government benefit eligibility. According to the CNBC Personal Finance news website, approximately 171,000 people have ABLE accounts, and the average account balance is $11,000. Originally, the only people who were eligible were those diagnosed with a disability before age 26, but now you are eligible if your disability began before you turned 46.
Proposed Legislation Could Make ABLE Accounts Even More Beneficial to Account Holders
This year, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), one of the authors of the original ABLE Act, has proposed several new laws that would make it easier for people with disabilities to benefit from ABLE accounts. These are some of the proposed changes:
- Enabling government programs to match beneficiaries’ contributions
- Allowing employers to contribute to beneficiaries’ accounts
- Allowing direct deposit of paychecks and government benefit checks into ABLE accounts
- Providing funds for the advertisement of ABLE accounts
- Requiring federal and state agencies to inform applicant to certain disability-related programs about ABLE accounts
Even before these changes take effect, establishing an ABLE account can help you make your modest income go farther.
Work With a Debt Lawyer About Debt Relief for People With Disabilities
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if you are struggling with debt and are a beneficiary of a disability-related benefit program. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Miami, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
cnbc.com/2024/08/01/new-bills-aim-to-make-it-easier-for-disabled-individuals-to-save-money.html
