If you or someone you love receives Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, 2026 brought some meaningful updates worth understanding. Not all of them are dramatic, but a couple could genuinely affect your financial planning, and one in particular opens doors that have been closed for a very long time. We work with clients across New York navigating the Social Security disability benefits process every day, and these are the changes generating the most questions right now.
So let’s get into it.
Your Monthly Payment Went Up
Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income payments for approximately 75 million Americans increased by 2.8 percent in 2026. That’s the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, and it applies to SSDI just like it does to retirement benefits.
In real numbers: the 2026 COLA increased the estimated average monthly SSDI benefit for a worker with a disability by $45, from $1,585 to $1,630, starting in January. Your individual increase depends on your specific benefit amount, so it may be more or less than that average.
Now, a word of caution about that number. If you’re enrolled in Medicare Part B, the picture looks a little different. Medicare Part B premiums are increasing in 2026, with the standard monthly premium rising from $185 to $202.90. If Medicare Part B premiums are deducted from your Social Security check, this reduces your net benefit increase. For example, if your SSDI benefit increases by $44 per month but your Medicare premium increases by $17.90, your actual monthly increase is approximately $26.
To clarify that last point: not everyone is affected equally. The Medicare premium increase does not affect everyone. If you do not have Medicare Part B deducted from your check, the full COLA increase applies to you. Worth knowing before you update your household budget.
And the increase is automatic. You do not need to take any action to receive the COLA increase; it will be applied to your benefits automatically. If you haven’t seen the update reflected yet, check your my Social Security account online or watch for your notice in the mail.
The Earnings Limit Got a Bump Too
About those earning limits… this one matters a great deal for people who are either currently receiving SSDI or in the process of applying.
The Social Security Administration uses what’s called Substantial Gainful Activity, or SGA, to determine whether someone is earning too much to qualify for or continue receiving disability benefits. The Social Security Administration uses SGA to determine whether a person’s work activity and earnings show they are capable of maintaining substantial employment. If your monthly earnings exceed the SGA threshold, your benefits could be at risk.
The SGA amount for persons with disabilities other than blindness is $1,690 per month in 2026. For persons who are blind, the amount of earnings that indicate SGA is $2,830 per month in 2026. These limits have risen from $1,620 and $2,700 in 2025.
That $70 per month increase for non-blind recipients may sound modest, but it does give working SSDI recipients a bit more room. SGA limits increase each year because they are tied to the national average wage index, which generally rises with inflation and overall wages. This can allow you to earn more without affecting your benefit eligibility.
One thing we see come up often with clients: the SGA calculation starts with your gross monthly earnings, not your net take-home pay. However, the SSA may subtract work incentives such as impairment-related work expenses or subsidies. If your earnings exceed $1,690 per month in 2026, the SSA may deny your claim before even reviewing your medical condition, unless the disability you are claiming is blindness. Even part-time work can trigger problems if your monthly income crosses the SGA threshold. Part-time work is not automatically safe. That’s a common misconception that can have real consequences.
There’s also the Trial Work Period to understand. The Trial Work Period allows you to test your ability to work for nine total months while still receiving your full SSDI benefits, no matter how much you earn during those months. These nine months don’t have to be consecutive. The monthly earnings amount used to determine if a month counts as a Trial Work Period month is $1,210 per month in 2026. After those nine months are used, the standard SGA rules apply again.
This area of law is genuinely complicated. Reporting requirements, the interaction between part-time work and benefit eligibility, self-employment considerations… these are situations where having someone in your corner pays off. We’ve seen clients unknowingly jeopardize their benefits by not fully understanding these rules, and by the time the problem surfaces, options become limited.
ABLE Accounts Are Now Open to Millions More People
This is the change that doesn’t get enough attention, and honestly, it’s one of the most significant updates to disability financial planning in years.
ABLE accounts, short for Achieving a Better Life Experience, are tax-advantaged savings accounts designed specifically for people with disabilities. An ABLE account is designed for one main purpose: so people with disabilities can save money and build assets without losing benefits. That’s a big deal when you consider that many disability benefit programs come with strict asset limits that make it nearly impossible to build any financial cushion.
Under the old rules, only people whose disability began before age 26 could open an ABLE account. That left out a significant portion of people with disabilities, including veterans injured in service, people who developed chronic illnesses in their thirties and forties, and workers who experienced serious injuries mid-career. This restriction has excluded many people who acquired disabilities later in life, such as through accidents, chronic illnesses, or military service.
That changed on January 1, 2026. The ABLE Age Adjustment Act amends the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act to allow more individuals who have a disability to become eligible for an ABLE account effective January 1, 2026. The age of eligibility expands to allow individuals who have a disability that began before age 46, instead of before the age of 26, to be ABLE-eligible.
The practical impact is substantial. The National Disability Institute projects about 6 million more people will qualify. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a massive expansion of access to a genuinely useful financial tool.
What can an ABLE account actually do for you? Recipients of Supplemental Security Income can save up to $100,000 in an ABLE account without losing their benefits, and recipients of federal student aid, HUD programs, Social Security Disability Insurance, SNAP, Medicare, or Medicaid can save up to the ABLE plan’s limit without those savings counting against their benefits. ABLE accounts can be used for a broad range of expenses including housing, education, transportation, healthcare, employment support and more.
This reminds us of a broader challenge we see in disability planning generally: the rules that are supposed to help people often contain restrictions that inadvertently keep them stuck. The age-26 cutoff for ABLE accounts was one of those restrictions. People who developed MS at 38, or were injured in a construction accident at 41, or came home from deployment with a serious service-connected condition at 35 were all locked out. The 2026 change finally addresses that.
To be eligible for an ABLE account under the expanded rules, you must meet two criteria. Age of onset: your disability must have begun before you turned 46. It doesn’t matter how old you are now, what matters is when the disability started. You automatically meet the severity requirement if you currently receive SSI or SSDI benefits based on disability. If you don’t receive those benefits, a licensed physician can certify your eligibility.
Also worth knowing: the annual contribution limit also increased to $20,000 in 2026. And each state, including New York and Pennsylvania, has at least one ABLE program, and many allow nonresidents to open accounts.
What This Means for You
These three changes, taken together, represent a meaningful shift in the SSDI landscape for 2026. The COLA increase is modest but real. The SGA adjustment gives working recipients a bit more breathing room. And the ABLE account expansion is genuinely significant for anyone who developed a disability between ages 26 and 45.
None of these changes require action on your part to receive the COLA increase. But the ABLE account eligibility is something people need to actively explore, and the SGA rules are something anyone working while receiving benefits should monitor carefully.
At Fessenden, Laumer & DeAngelo, PLLC, we’ve been helping Western New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians navigate the Social Security disability process for years. If you have questions about how these changes affect your specific situation, or if you’re considering applying for SSDI benefits, we encourage you to reach out. These rules are more nuanced than they appear on paper, and getting the details right from the start can make a real difference.
