Contributions by a third party

For MAGI and SSI-based eligibility determinations, under section 103, third party contributions to an ABLE account are disregarded in determining Medicaid eligibility. This is different from the treatment of such contributions in determining financial eligibility using SSI-based methodologies and, in narrow circumstances, different from the treatment of such contributions under MAGI-based methodologies.

Under SSI-based methodologies, applied to most non-MAGI eligibility groups, money contributed by a third party to an account which an individual can access generally is considered countable income in the month in which the contribution is received and, if not spent, a resource in the month following. Per section 103, however, third party contributions to an ABLE account are not either counted as income or included in total resources of the account beneficiary.

Some ABLE account beneficiaries may also be a beneficiary of a special needs trust (SNT) or pooled trust, as described in section 1917(d)(4) of the Act. Distributions from such trusts made on behalf of the trust beneficiary to the beneficiary’s ABLE account should be treated the same as contributions to ABLE accounts from any other third party. While disbursements from an SNT or pooled trust can be considered in some circumstances as income to the trust beneficiary, disbursements from an SNT or pooled trust to the ABLE account of the trust beneficiary are not counted as income under section 103. Therefore, states should disregard as income a distribution from an SNT or pooled trust that is deposited into the ABLE account of the SNT or pooled trust beneficiary.