The Social Security and Benefits Act becomes law on January 5, 2025. Read on to learn more about the act, the beneficiaries, and how to model recovery benefits in Boldin Planner.
What is the Social Security Equity Act?
The Social Security Equity Act repeals two provisions of the Social Security Act that reduced Social Security benefits paid to public employees, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The new legislation eliminates the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The WEP and GPO bar employees receiving public pensions from receiving full benefits under federal retirement programs and reduce benefits for surviving spouses and family members of these workers.
Who benefits from the Social Security Equity Act? How many?
WEP and GPO primarily affect state and local government employees, whose jobs also require Social Security payments.
An estimated 3 million Americans will see an increase in Social Security benefits, and the increase could be substantial — hundreds of dollars a month.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates:
- Repealing WEP would increase monthly payments for affected Social Security recipients by an average of $360.
- Eliminating the GPO would increase average monthly benefits by $700 for the 380,000 beneficiaries who receive benefits based on a surviving spouse. And, for the 390,000 surviving spouses receiving widower or widower benefits, the average increase was $1,190.
When will benefits be restored?
The Social Security Administration is evaluating how and when they will restore benefits.
When enacted, the new law will be retroactive to December 2023, meaning those who qualify will be owed thousands of dollars.
Modeling Benefit Recovery in Boldin Planner
Boldin Planner does not have WEP or GPO functionality. Therefore, we do not automatically model benefit reductions for you or your dependents.
- Therefore, if you are a new user, you should see the applicable benefit amount you should receive under the Social Security Equity Act.
- If you are an existing user and have your Social Security benefits turned off, we recommend that you correct it immediately to see your benefits restored. Watch this video to learn how to enable spousal Social Security benefits in your plan.
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