1300 I Street, NW, Suite 825, Washington, DC 20005 1300 I Street, NW, Suite 825, Washington, DC 20005When President Biden signed the FY23 Omnibus bill into law on December 29, much of the media attention focused on the fact that Congress and the Administration had avoided a government shutdown and would not need to pass another continuing resolution.
Lost in that coverage, however, was an important victory for Americans with disabilities. Included in the wide-ranging spending bill was legislative language for The ABLE Age Adjustment Act, which made impactful changes to the The ABLE Act.
Originally signed into law in 2014, The Able Act, short for Achieving a Better Life Experience, began allowing people with disabilities to create tax-advantaged savings accounts – called ABLE Accounts – that could be used for qualified disability-related expenses. A key characteristic of these accounts is that they are not counted for eligibility purposes for federally-funded benefits such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
The provisions included in the FY23 Omnibus bill raised the age before which a person’s disability onset needs to occur in order to be eligible to have an ABLE account from 26 to 46, greatly increasing access to this important benefit. The change will be effective for tax years starting after December 31, 2025.
Passage of the Act had been a legislative priority for NOSSCR. Working with our coalition partners, we were able to convince congressional leadership to include the Act’s provisions in the Omnibus bill, recognizing that as the most likely vehicle for passage.
