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MEDICAL SERVICES POLICY MANUAL, SECTION E

E 600 Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Program

EXAMPLE: Previously Excluded Distribution Used for a Non-QDE: Sam takes a distribution of twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000) from his ABLE account, with the intent to modify a specially equipped van in May. He pays a deposit of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) on the van modifications. While waiting for the delivery of the van, Sam takes a trip to a casino in July where he loses one thousand dollars ($1,000) of his ABLE distribution while gambling. The one thousand dollars ($1,000) he lost gambling is a countable resource in July. The other fourteen thousand dollars ($14,000) that Sam retains continues to be an excluded resource as long as it meets the requirements in this section.

EXAMPLE: Previously Excluded Distribution Used for a Housing Related QDE: Jennifer takes a distribution of seven thousand dollars ($7,000) from her ABLE account in June to pay her college tuition, a qualified disability expense (QDE). Her tuition payment is due in September. However, she has to make an advance rent payment of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) for her college apartment in August. She uses seven hundred fifty dollars ($750), of the distribution she took in June, to make the rent payment which is a housing related QDE. The seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) is a countable resource in August. The remaining six thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($6,250) continues to be an excluded resource as long as it meets the requirements in this section.

EXAMPLE: Change of Intent on the Use of a Distribution: Jennifer takes a distribution of seven thousand dollars ($7,000) from her ABLE account in June to pay her college tuition, a qualified disability expense (QDE). Her tuition payment is due in September. In August, Jennifer gets a job offer and decides not to return to school. Since she no longer intends to use it for tuition, the seven thousand dollars ($7,000) becomes a countable resource in September, unless Jennifer redesignates it for another QDE or returns the funds to her ABLE account prior to September.

A special rule applies when the balance of an SSI recipient’s ABLE account exceeds one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) by an amount that causes the individual to be over the resource limit, whether by those funds alone or with other resources. When this situation occurs, the Social Security Administration will place the recipient into a special SSI suspension period where:

• Social Security will suspend the recipient’s SSI benefits without a time limit as long as the individual remains otherwise eligible; • The individual retains continued eligibility for health care; and • The individual’s eligibility does not terminate after twelve (12) continuous months of suspension.

During the period SSI benefits are suspended, the designated beneficiary will be treated as if the individual continued to be receiving payment of the SSI benefits. The individual’s regular SSI eligibility will be reinstated for any month in which the individual’s ABLE account balance no