Sara Hart Weir: Kansas Is Proving What’s Possible with ABLE—Now Let’s Scale It

For decades, public policy sent a quiet but devastating message to people with disabilities: Stay poor or lose life-saving benefits.

The Stephen Beck Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, signed into law on December 19, 2014, was supposed to change that. And it did—on paper.

But let’s be honest: A decade later, most states are still underperforming. Too few accounts (234,000). Too little in assets ($3 billion). Too many eligible Americans left out (13,766,000).

Kansas didn’t accept that. We moved past conversation and built a system that actually works for Kansans with disabilities.

Across the Sunflower State, we are aggressively expanding ABLE access—and the results are not just theoretical; they are measurable:

• 4,800+ Kansans reached—including individuals stuck on our 10-year-long Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiting list—through direct, in-community ABLE outreach across 50 cities and through ongoing weekly education led by our KS ABLE program. This initiative led to a 25% increase in ABLE enrollment in our state.

• Real incentives driving real uptake, like pairing ABLE education with $100 starter grants to move families from awareness to action.

• Alignment with traditional banking options by enabling the ABLE account direct deposit feature through our state’s payroll system—starting with state employees, the largest workforce in Kansas.

• 700 ABLE accounts opened specifically for foster youth with disabilities, protecting their benefits while building a financial future for the next generation.

• A “from birth” strategy taking shape—aligning ABLE accounts and 529 accounts with the newly-announced Trump Accounts as early savings tools so families aren’t left scrambling years later.

And we’re not slowing down. The Born to Invest Act—now awaiting the governor’s signature—is a game-changer, hardwiring ABLE into a child’s financial starting point from day one. No more missed opportunities. No more delayed access. Kansas is building a system where financial independence for people with disabilities starts at birth—not years too late.

This is what leadership looks like.
Not incremental change. Not more discussion. Execution.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Every state in America could be doing this right now.
They’re not.

Instead, we see fragmented systems, passive outreach, and a continued failure to integrate ABLE into the very programs that serve people with disabilities every day—early intervention, Medicaid, HCBS waivers and waitlists, foster care, vocational rehabilitation, and education.

That’s not a resource problem. That’s a leadership problem.

Kansas is proving a different path—one that is scalable, bipartisan, and immediately actionable.

So here’s the challenge for states: Stop treating ABLE like a side program. Make it core infrastructure.

• Embed ABLE into your Medicaid and HCBS systems.
• Require its use in foster care and transition planning.
• Partner with your state treasurer to drive enrollment and assets—not just awareness.
• Launch statewide, boots-on-the-ground outreach—not passive websites.
• Start at birth—because waiting 18 years is already too late.

Kansas didn’t wait for federal mandates.
We didn’t wait for perfect conditions.
We built partnerships. We aligned systems. And we delivered results.

Now it’s time for other states to step up.

We’re ready to work with any state willing to move from conversation to execution.

Because the question is no longer whether ABLE works.
Kansas has answered that.

The real question is: Who’s next?

 

Sara Hart Weir is Executive Director of Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities and Senior Fellow for the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Able Americans project.