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STABLE accounts explained
CANFIELD
Advocates for people with disabilities learned about accounts that enable disabled people to save and invest money without jeopardizing their eligibility for public benefits and without paying federal or Ohio income tax on it.
Tanya R. Rutner, financial literacy director with the office of Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, gave presentations Wednesday on STABLE accounts at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
The program was sponsored by the Mahoning and Trumbull County boards of developmental disabilities.
The audience of several dozen people for the morning program included parents of disabled people, lawyers and DD board officials.
William Whitacre, Mahoning County DD superintendent, said the DD board sponsored Rutner’s presentation “just to give families another tool in preparing for the future for the individuals with developmental disabilities.”
STABLE accounts are available to eligible people with disabilities, whose onset was before age 26, under the federal Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act. STABLE is short for State Treasurer’s ABLE plan, Rutner said.
This year, Ohio was the first state to implement such accounts, which allow disabled people to save and invest up to $14,000 a year without losing eligibility for programs, such as Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability.
“The assets in this account do not affect any eligibility you might have for any sort of means-tested benefits such as SSI or Mediciad,” Rutner told the audience.
STABLE account earnings are not subject to federal or Ohio income tax if they are spent on qualifying disability expenses, such as housing, medical, educational, transportation and assistive technology.
“It’s really defined as anything that can help with your quality of life,” Rutner said of qualified expenses.
STABLE account money won’t affect Medicaid eligibility.
SSI benefits, however, may be suspended if more than $100,000 accumulates in such an account, and they will resume when the balance falls below that level.
STABLE account enrollment is done online at stableaccount.com.
A loadable pre-paid debit card, known as a STABLE card, is available to everyone with a STABLE account and can be used wherever Mastercard is accepted.
Parents or other authorized legal representatives for someone with a STABLE account may request a companion card for the disabled person.
Limits can be placed on the amount of money the cardholder can access at any given time.
STABLE accounts are not guaranteed or insured by any state agency; and account holders could lose money on investments within those accounts, state officials warn.
Account holders have five savings and investment options to choose from, four of them mutual fund-based. The fifth is a savings option insured by the Federal Deposit insurance Corp.