Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

People with disabilities face unique financial challenges that make it difficult to build savings. In the U.S., people with disabilities often benefit from programs (e.g., Social Security Insurance (SSI) and Medicaid) that support consumption and defray costs of care but also impose strict limitations on the level of assets beneficiaries can hold.

In 2014, the U.S. government allowed states to implement ABLE Accounts – special savings accounts available to people with disabilities that are not included in asset tests for SSI or Medicaid eligibility. Despite offering their owners the opportunity to build savings, just 1% of qualified individuals have opened an ABLE account.

We have conducted two studies. The first study uses data from the first wave of the 2019 Household Financial Survey (HFS), which was administered to 14,956 low-income individuals after they filed their 2018 income taxes. The study examines levels of ABLE Account familiarity among low-income households that have members with disability (HDMs). We find that fewer than 15% of households were aware of ABLE Accounts, though awareness varied across different household characteristics.

The second study reports findings from an experiment implemented in the second wave of the 2019 HFS (N=4319). This experiment, administered to respondents who lived in HMDs or benefited from certain public benefit programs (e.g., SSI), tested how the presence of annual fees and minimum balances affected the likelihood of saving in an ABLE-type account. Although minimum balance requirements had no measurable impact, the presence of annual fees significantly reduced interest in the account.