Active Steps to Begin Implementing Your Benefits Plan
After you have prepared, gathered information, and consulted with professionals, it’s time to put your plan into action. Applying for, managing, and updating your benefits change along with you. As you grow in your job, start living on your own, or get married.
All of life’s milestones may trigger an action that you will need to take on your own behalf. There are tools to help:
- Use the Ohio Benefits Self-Service Portal www.benefits.ohio.gov to officially apply for or renew your state benefits. By logging in securely with an OHID, you can access programs like Medicaid (health insurance), SNAP (food assistance), Ohio Works First (cash assistance), and Early Care and Education Services. The state has modernized this implementation step by introducing E-Signature, which makes applying over the phone with a caseworker much easier and faster.
- Provide Necessary Documentation: As part of implementing your benefits plan, you will be required to verify your information. The Ohio portal allows you to easily upload verification documents directly from your smartphone, even while you are on the phone with an agent.
- Reporting Changes in Income: A critical ongoing step in the benefits planning process is reporting your earnings once you start a job or your hours change. You can report these changes directly within your Ohio Benefits account. To make this step even easier, Ohio recently introduced SNAP text reminders, which allow you to report changes to your food assistance case directly from your phone.
- Getting Hands-On County Help: We can’t stress this enough, implementing these steps can still be confusing, but you do not have to figure it out alone. To successfully execute your benefits plan, you are encouraged to find and contact your local County Department of Job and Family Services (CDJFS). These county agencies can help you navigate the system, understand how your new job affects your state benefits, and assist you with your cash, food, medical, and childcare assistance cases.
ABLE Accounts in Ohio
An ABLE account is a special savings account that lets people with disabilities save and spend money without risking the benefits they depend on. The name stands for Achieving a Better Life Experience, and that's exactly what it's meant to do.
In Ohio, ABLE accounts are offered through a program called STABLE Account, one of the first programs of its kind in the country. You can use the money in your account for a wide range of everyday needs, including housing, transportation, education, health care, and more.
Here's why it matters:
Normally, if you receive SSI or Medicaid, you can only have a small amount of money in savings; often as little as $2,000. With an ABLE account, you can save up to $100,000 or more without it counting against those limits.
You don't need a background in finance to understand this. We'll walk through everything step by step, so you can make the best decision for your own life.
STABLE Accounts How to Save Money and Keep Your Benefits
STABLE Accounts How to Save Money and Keep Your Benefits (OH 2022)
The country's first ABLE program: Ohio's STABLE Account
On June 1st, 2016, STABLE, Ohio’s ABLE program, was the first ABLE account program in the country to open to the public. Ohioans and other people with disabilities nationwide can open STABLE accounts and get all of the benefits that ABLE accounts offer.