Eligibility to participate in a qualified ABLE program

Section 103 applies to individuals who have an ABLE account in a qualified ABLE program. Eligibility for an ABLE account is open to an individual of any age who has blindness or a disability, provided, however, that the individual’s blindness or disability occurred before the age of 26. An individual is permitted to have only one ABLE account. The individual may open the account in the program of the state of which the individual is a resident, or in another state’s ABLE program. The determination of eligibility for an ABLE account is the responsibility of the ABLE program in which an individual seeks to establish the account.

Under section 102(a) of the ABLE Act ( codified at 26 U.S.C. §529A(e) ), an individual is eligible for an ABLE account if the individual is receiving SSI or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits based on a disability or blindness that occurred before age 26. Alternatively, an individual (or a parent or guardian acting on the individual’s behalf) may establish eligibility by filing a disability certification (and obtaining a signed physician’s diagnosis) with the qualified ABLE program indicating that the individual has a medically determinable impairment meeting certain criteria that occurred before age 26. However, while sufficient to establish eligibility to participate in an ABLE program, section 102(a) of the ABLE Act provides that “no inference” may be drawn from a disability certification for purposes of establishing eligibility for Medicaid.