Developing Opportunities for ABLE (DO-ABLE) Account Holders Demonstration

Objective

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is conducting the Developing Opportunities for ABLE (DO-ABLE) Account Holders demonstration by collaborating with the Inclusive Economy Lab (IEL) at the University of Chicago, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, the Michigan Department of Treasury (MDOT) and the Illinois Department of Treasury (ILSTO). IEL will work with ILSTO and MDOT to deliver and evaluate the intervention, building on their existing work helping people sign up for Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts. ILSTO and MDOT will lead the implementation while IEL will be the independent evaluator and be responsible for project management. NORC will conduct the administrative and logistical elements of the multifaceted outreach as part of recruitment and follow-up survey distribution.

ABLE accounts offer people with disabilities the opportunity to accumulate assets and use funds for a broad range of expenses without threatening their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits eligibility. For SSI recipients with a disability, these accounts offer many benefits to managing activities of everyday life. Funds in ABLE accounts can be used on an array of qualified disability expenses. Such expenses include diverse items that facilitate employment—transportation, education, employment training, job coaching, and assistive technology—as well as numerous other things associated with living with a disability—including housing, food, health care expenses, and more. This structure enables people with disabilities to accumulate savings, to make personal investments to establish greater financial security and well-being, and to establish their personal autonomy. ABLE accounts also allow families to openly support loved ones with disabilities without jeopardizing SSI or Medicaid eligibility: ABLE account holders and their supporters can contribute up to $17,000 annually, with a higher maximum if the account holder is employed.

Despite the many advantages of ABLE accounts, take-up rates are low. A recent estimate from the SSA Office of the Inspector General indicates that fewer than 1 percent of SSI recipients have opened an account. The goal of DO-ABLE is to improve the low take-up rate of ABLE accounts by addressing the identified barriers to account participation: limited knowledge, administrative burdens, and limited resources. If there is an increase in the ABLE account take-up rate, it is expected that more SSI recipients will experience better financial security, self-sufficiency, and levels of employment.

The DO-ABLE demonstration will conduct a three-phased randomized controlled trial (RCT) among targeted Illinois and Michigan SSI recipients - age 18-59 with a disability date of onset before age 26 - to promote take-up and use of ABLE accounts. In the first phase, Illinois and Michigan SSI recipients will be randomly assigned to either an information group (i.e., multifaceted outreach discussing ABLE accounts and an invitation to participate in a survey) or a control group that is not contacted at all. The second phase will focus on people who completed the survey: half randomly assigned to a seeding group; the other half assigned to a no seeding group. Members of the seeding group will be offered $250 to be deposited in a new ABLE account upon program sign up. Finally, in the third phase, all survey completers who opened a new ABLE account will be randomly assigned to a matching group or no matching group. For the matching group, all the participants’ contributions over the next three months will be matched at a rate of $1 for every $1 of new contributions, up to a maximum of $500 in matching contributions.

Status

Currently, the project team is performing start-up activities. This includes identifying potential project participants, securing Office of Management and Budget approval on information collection forms, finalizing privacy and risk assessment documents in coordination with SSA’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Privacy and Disclosure, and finalizing data use agreements. The DO-ABLE project expects to begin recruitment and enrollment in the first half of the calendar year 2025.