MiABLE Savings Account

Scott de Varona, MiABLE Program Director joins us to discuss a savings account for people with disabilities and their families and how that money can be used.

More information can be found here: https://savewithable.com/mi/home.html

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You didn't know. My able is Michigan's for twenty nine,
a savings program administered by the Michigan Department of Treasury.
We will discuss what goes into that and who gets
to benefit. But there's a big event today going on
at Special Olympics Michigan Unified Sports and Inclusion Center, which

(00:20):
is beautiful. This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly, Brett, Kita,
and Laurence Smith. Scott. Dave Verona is miabel's program director
on the liveline with us today on his way to
the press conference. Scott, thanks for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
So if you don't know, talk to us a little
bit about this five twenty nine plan, which are so
good at saving money and helping. But it's for kids
with disabilities. How does it work well?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Miebel is a savings account for individuals with disabilities. It
lets them save up to nineteen thousand dollars a year
without jeopardizing their eligibility for Medicaid to SSI. And one
thing I do want to clarify, this account is not
just for kids. In order to qualify for this program,
you must be disabled before age twenty six. But it

(01:09):
doesn't matter how old you are now or how old
you are when you open the account. You just have
to be disabled before age twenty six.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
And tell us a little bit about how you can
use that money once it's safe.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, that's a great question. Most people are familiar with
the five twenty nine education accounts that can be used
for things like education and tuition and room and board
and things like that. This takes that concept and expands
it dramatically. You can use your able account to pay
for just about anything. You can use it to pay

(01:45):
for education, just like your education savings account, but you
can also use it for things like housing, transportation, healthcare costs,
basically anything that a disabled person or a disabled person's
family needs to spend money on because of that disability,
they can use their able account to pay for.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
So you're on the road spreading the word. Talk to
us a little bit about today's press conference at ten o'clock.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
What will we expect so today at the press conference
at the Special Olympics Inclusion Center, I will do a
very brief opening remark, you know, explain a little bit
about the program, and then what.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
We do is we get individuals who are already using
the accounts to talk about their experience, talk about what
it's like to open an account, to use an account,
how they're funding the accounts, and then after a very
brief break, I will do what I like to call
my ABLE one oh one, and I explain to people
all the rules both on the state and the federal level.

(02:45):
I talk to people about what qualified disability expenses are
out of an ABLE account, and then I even do
a brief enrollment demonstration so that people can see the
screens and the types of questions they're going to be
asked when they go through our enrollment portal. Enrollment is
only ten to fifteen minutes long. But the bottom line
is I want to have people at least familiar with

(03:06):
what they have to go through when they enroll in
our program so that they can use the program to
the best of their abilities.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Say hi to our friend Tim Heilman, who runs the place,
and you'll be blown away. It's just unbelievable. They got
it finish now on the outside with the soccer facilities
and the track and everything. But also there's an estimated
twenty thousand Kent County residents it could benefit from that right, Scott.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes, Unfortunately, my biggest problem with this program is awareness.
Not enough individuals with disabilities and their families know about
this program. That's why we're doing this road show. We've
been to Lansing, Saginaw, Detroit. Today, we're in Grand Rapids.
I've been in Traverse City, I've been in Lawrence, I've
been in Betton Harbor, all in the last few months

(03:49):
trying to get the word out about this program. Like
you said, in Kent County alone, there's twenty thousand people
who are eligible and I've opened up less than two
thousand accounts. So the bottom line is I need help
getting word out. I need help getting people to understand
that this is an opportunity for them to save for
their future expenses without jeopardizing eligibility for their benefit programs

(04:12):
that they need because of their disability.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Wow, what a win. Win ten o'clock today. You'll find
out more information. Will put a link to my able
which will show you all about it too, in the
podcast section at woodradio dot com. Scott Dave Verona is
MIABLES program director. Thank you so much for taking time today.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Appreciate it. We'll see you today.