Illinois expanding ABLE Account savings program for people with disabilities

A government-supported program to provide financial help for people with disabilities in Illinois is expanding.

Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said Illinois ABLE Accounts work a lot like college savings accounts.  People with disabilities can open tax-exempt savings accounts and withdraw the money for disability-related expenses like transportation, housing, education, assistive devices like wheelchairs and hearing aids, or funeral expenses.

"What I've learned and what I think so many people with disabilities know is that living with a disability just costs more, and it makes me think of all the ways an ABLE Account – an Illinois Able Account – could have been useful to me over the years," said Stephanie Kanter, director of Illinois ABLE.

Since 2014, the program has been available to people who became disabled before they turned 27 years old.

Frerichs said the program has been expanded for people who became disabled before the age of 47, benefiting an additional 250,000 people in Illinois.