Individuals who work and receive Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or other public benefits may find it difficult to save money and still maintain their benefits. This is especially important for “means-tested” benefits, i.e., benefits in which income and countable resources of more than $2,000 are considered when determining eligibility.
Protected savings accounts make it possible for individuals to have savings/resource limits greater than $2,000 and still maintain eligibility for benefits such as Medicaid, HUD, SSI and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This fact sheet provides basic information on three options for establishing protected savings accounts: ABLE, Pooled Trust and Special Needs Trust (first and third party).
ABLE National Resource Center partnered with the Special Needs Alliance to prepare this comparison chart. The chart that follows contains a comparison tool to help determine which option(s) best meet the needs of an individual.
