These are roller-coaster times for the economy. Here are some tips to help you keep your own finances on track.
Managing your money when you’re living with limb loss is never simple. But 2025 has taken the complexity to a whole new level. Congress’s tax and budget reform legislation (aka the “Big Beautiful Bill”) contained significant changes to programs that lots of amputees rely on, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and food stamps. The full impact of those changes may not be known for many months, especially since many of the biggest spending cuts won’t take effect until 2027 or later.
Further reductions in government spending may be forthcoming in the appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2026, which have to be finalized before the end of September to avoid a government shutdown. There’s additional uncertainty related to US tariff policy, inflation, Federal Reserve leadership, and pending lawsuits related to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It’s convoluted enough to make prosthetic insurance appeals seem easy by comparison.
We don’t have all the answers—if we did, we’d be sipping mojitos on a private Caribbean beach and living off our portfolio. In any case, financial solutions rarely come in a one-size-fits-all format. Every household has different needs and opportunities.
But we do know that, in uncertain economic times, the wisest approach is often to keep things simple. So here’s a quick guide to help you navigate today’s choppy waters, take proactive steps to shore up your assets, and tap into little-known, underutilized programs that offer varying types of resources for people with disabilities.
1. Conduct a Benefits Audit
If you’re not enrolled in Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Nutrition, TANF, or other federal benefits programs, skip ahead to item 2. If you are receiving any or all of these forms of support, now’s the time to connect with a social services expert to clarify your eligibility status. The Big Beautiful Bill has imposed a wide range of confusing rule changes; if you don’t follow them to the letter, you might get kicked off the rolls and find it hard (or impossible) to get reinstated. For example, Medicaid and SNAP have added work requirements for some individuals. Other programs have shortened their eligibility-recertification intervals from two years to one, or from 12 months to six.
Many of these changes won’t kick in until 2027 or later, and the particulars may vary from one state to the next. The upshot: Don’t take it for granted that your benefits will continue at the same level without interruption. Get some expert advice so you know what steps you need to take to preserve the status quo.
2. Open an ABLE Account
These tax-sheltered savings plans for people with disabilities have been around for more than a decade. But it’s only within the last few years that the secret got out. Since 2020, the number of ABLE accounts nationwide has tripled to more than 200,000, and the overall assets in those accounts has quadrupled to nearly $2.5 billion.
Despite that growth, there are still millions of amputees who haven’t taken advantage of the ABLE program, which allows people with disabilities to build wealth without jeopardizing their eligibility for means-tested benefits such as Medicaid and SSDI. Unlike many other tax-sheltered savings plans, ABLE accounts allow you to withdraw funds without paying a tax penalty, as long as the money is used for qualified expenses such as housing, transportation, mobility aids, and healthcare expenses.
Each state has its own agency for administering ABLE accounts; to find the information for your state, visit the ABLE National Resource Center. As long as you’re on their website, take advantage of the Center’s wide range of information and planning resources, including a robust FAQ page, step-by-step planning tool, and testimonials from ABLE account owners explaining how they used the program to achieve financial goals. Even if you can only put a few dollars a month into savings, the money adds up over time.
3. Upgrade Your Housing
Multiple federal agencies offer grants, loans, and other resources in support of home modifications that promote accessibility. The broadest of these, offered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a 203(k) rehabilitation loan. The 203(k) program streamlines your access to financing for disability-related home modifications, from simple fixes such as grab bars and built-in shower benches to major remodeling projects such as new flooring, wheelchair-width doorways, and wheelchair ramps and/or lifts. Funds come from federally approved lenders and generally fall below market rates. More info at hud.gov/hud-partners/single-family-mortgage-programs-203k.
The nationwide nonprofit Rebuilding Together partners with local agencies in nearly every state to create healthy, affordable, accessible homes. Services include no-cost home repairs and neighborhood infrastructure investments (such as accessible sidewalks and community facilities).
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a range of grant programs to help military retirees adapt their homes for age- or disability-related needs. There are some sizeable chunks of change available: Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grants can top $120,000, Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grants provide up to $50,000, and Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grants can go as high as $25K. If you just need a few thousand bucks to widen doorways or modify bathrooms, apply for a Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) grant.
4. Upgrade Your Assistive Technology
For many years, the federal government’s go-to resource for assistive technology—including mobility devices, digital tech, adaptive automobile equipment, disability-friendly home appliances, and so forth—has been the AT3 Center. This national clearinghouse lists federally funded programs in each state that provide grants, low-interest loans, training, and esoteric services such as short-term loaner devices and demonstration devices. AT3 agencies can help you acquire anything from a wheelchair cushion to a specialized prosthesis that you need for your job. The only caveat is that AT3 is housed within the Department of Health and Human Services, which is undergoing a major restructuring led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The department’s reshuffling won’t be finalized until later this fall, but it’s likely to affect funding, administration, and oversight for nearly every HHS program. As a result, some AT3 services may be cut back and/or dropped altogether in the future. Even so, the program is likely to remain an important source of potential support for amputees.
No matter what happens with AT3, you can (and should) also consult the National Disability Institute’s list of alternative financing programs for assistive technology. These nonprofits offer many of the same benefits that AT3 agencies do, but they’re funded independently and therefore won’t be directly affected by funding decisions in DC. Most of these organizations offer zero-interest and/or low-interest loans to finance acquisition of prosthetic devices, wheelchairs, and other mobility aids. Some also provide affordable financing for adaptive upgrades to your home or vehicle.
If you live in one of the 12 states that have passed So EveryBODY Can Move legislation, now’s the time to obtain an activity-specific prosthesis on your insurer’s dime. If you’re a regular Amplitude reader, you know these bills provide full coverage for specialized devices (such as running blades and shower legs) that promote physical activity and independence. The specifics vary from state to state; work with your prosthetist and other healthcare providers to use the law to maximum advantage. To find out whether this legislation is operative in your state, check Amplitude’s state-by-state tracker.
5. Leave No Stone Unturned
Many of the programs we’ve listed above are vastly underutilized. These are large, relatively well-known programs, yet millions of eligible people don’t even apply. For smaller, less publicized programs, the rate of underuse is even greater. But these oft-overlooked resources can make a difference in your financial picture.
One of our favorites is the Medicaid Buy-in Program, which gives working adults with disabilities an affordable health insurance option. Launched more than 20 years ago, this initiative is designed for people who’ve fallen over the “benefits cliff”—they earn too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford the insurance they need. Under the buy-in option, individuals pay modest premiums (indexed to their earnings) and receive the same coverage as conventional Medicaid enrollees. Nearly every state offers Medicaid buy-in for people with disabilities; the only holdouts are Alabama, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. As far as we know, this survived the Medicaid cuts mandated by the Big Beautiful Bill. The best way to find information about this little-known option is to Google “Medicaid buy-in” with the name of your state.
All 50 states have Vocational Rehabilitation programs, which never seem to get the love they deserve. While Voc Rehab’s core mission—getting people with disabilities back into the workforce—sounds narrow, it can be broadly interpreted to encompass any kind of support a prospective employee needs. If your lack of mobility stands between you and a job, Voc Rehab can pay for physical therapy, mobility aids, or even surgery (in rare cases). It can also pay for pain management, mental health counseling, transportation, digital technology, and other products or services you need to rejoin workforce. That support comes in addition to job training, skill development, apprenticeships, and other education you might require. To find your state’s Voc Rehab program, visit rsa.ed.gov/about/states.
Amplitude’s Community Resource Directory lists dozens of nonprofit and government agencies that offer financial support for amputees. We also recommend the National Disability Institute’s Financial Resilience Center, an online information hub to help people with disabilities locate funding sources and develop sound money-management strategies.
