Committee advances bill to ease ABLE-account barriers; sponsor says Medicaid clawback effect is negligible
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Summary
House Bill 1837 to change ABLE accounts advanced 5-0. Presenter said the bill would address a Medicaid 'clawback' concern that deters families from using ABLE accounts; sponsor cited 2,367 Oklahoma ABLE accounts totaling about $17.3 million and said legal review expects negligible impact on Medicaid collections.
A House committee on Oct. 12 voted 5-0 to pass House Bill 1837, a bill aimed at addressing barriers to ABLE accounts (Achieving a Better Life Experience), which allow people with disabilities to save without jeopardizing means-tested benefits.
Representative Heffner, the bill’s sponsor, said ABLE accounts are useful for families but that a Medicaid recovery or ‘‘clawback’’ attached to some accounts can deter families from using them. Heffner said Oklahoma currently has 2,367 ABLE accounts holding about $17.3 million in total; by contrast, the sponsor said 529 college-savings accounts number about 72,000 accounts with roughly $1.4 billion.
Heffner told the committee the state legal team assumes the bill would have a negligible effect on Medicaid collections. A committee member asked whether the bill would affect senior nursing-home recoveries; Heffner replied ABLE accounts are restricted to disabilities that began before age 26 and would not change the five-year Medicaid look-back for unrelated nursing-home cases.
The committee voted five ayes and zero nays and declared HB 1837 passed out of committee.
