The latest posting further indicates that there have been issues regarding withholding of Medicare premiums from both federal annuities and Social Security benefits. Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe SSA says it has processed benefits increases to 94 percent of the 3.2 million people affected by the law that repealed the government pension offset and the windfall elimination provision, while continuing its earlier projection that the work will be finished in November.
That’s an increase from the 76 percent reported in April in a process that involves recalculating both ongoing benefits and making payments retroactive to those received starting in February 2024, the first month of benefits affected by the repeal bill—which was enacted late last year but retroactive to the end of 2023.
The GPO had reduced, and in many cases eliminated, spousal or survivor Social Security benefits of those who receive an annuity from a system that does not include Social Security, such as the federal CSRS system. The WEP had reduced the personally earned Social Security benefits of such persons based on other earnings for which they did pay into Social Security (unless those earnings exceeded an annual threshold for at least 30 years).
The SSA once again said that “For the many complex cases that cannot be processed automatically, additional time is required to manually update the records and pay both past due benefits and the new benefits amount We are expediting these cases now. We are releasing past due benefits and sending new monthly benefit amounts as we process each case, with the expectation that all beneficiary records will be updated by early November 2025.”
Also as before, the agency said that anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a past due payment, will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change or past due payment.
It also repeated a message that those who had not applied for spousal or survivor benefits because the GPO would have totally offset them should apply now. The latest update shows that it has received nearly 240,000 such applications, of which it has processed 90 percent.
It also notes that “Retroactivity for some retirement and survivor’s benefits is generally limited to six months before the month in which the benefit application is filed, although some claims based on disability may be entitled to 12 months of retroactive benefits.”
The latest posting further indicates that there have been issues regarding withholding of Medicare premiums from both federal annuities and Social Security benefits, saying that “anyone who had too many Medicare premiums withheld will receive a refund.”
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