Social Security Fairness Act: These 3 million Americans are eligible for increased benefits as Biden-era law kicks in
Finally, some good news from the Social Security Administration (SSA): Over three million retirees and their spouses, including some teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal employees, will see a bump in their Social Security benefits by the end of the month, thanks to a law President Joe Biden signed before leaving office in January, called the Social Security Fairness Act.
Here’s what to know about the update to Social Security benefits.
What is the Social Security Fairness Act?
The Social Security Fairness Act increases monthly Social Security benefits to 3.2 million Americans workers because it repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which will trigger retroactive payments and monthly increases to a select group of retirees.
According to Yahoo Finance, this benefit is mostly for retirees who receive a government or state pension based on work not covered by Social Security, like a second part-time job or side hustle. For example, this would apply to a teacher who got summers off and worked at a camp each summer. Previously, if that teacher had a pension, it meant they weren’t getting Social Security benefits from that second job. This new rule changes that.
However, as Forbes noted, the bad news is: By reversing the policy, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will now resume withholding 100% of benefits to recover overpayments starting at the end of March.
Who is eligible for the updated Social Security benefits?
Who exactly is eligible? As noted above, this law applies to Americans who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security because they did not pay Social Security taxes.
Those Americans could include some but not all of these types of workers:
- Teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states
- Federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System
- People whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system
How much will Social Security payments increase?
Beneficiaries will start receiving their new monthly benefit amount, which could increase from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000, based on an average Social Security check of $1,900, in April 2025, for March 2025 benefits. (Social Security benefits are paid one month behind.)
Additionally, the SSA increased payments are retroactive back to January 2024, and those who are eligible will get a one-time payment for a lump sum, via direct deposit, by the end of March. (For those who don’t have their Social Security direct deposit set up yet, now is the time to do it.)
How has Social Security changed in the Trump era?
President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, who helms the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have attacked the Social Security program, claiming that the SSA is plagued by “immense waste” and “fraud.” Those claims have been repeatedly debunked, and a report from the agency’s Inspector General found “less than 1% of payments in recent years were determined to be improper.”
The new benefit from the Biden administration also comes as the Trump administration’s SSA is about to require millions of Americans to potentially verify their identity in person, even as the federal government plans on closing offices nationwide and has cut thousands of jobs at the agency as part of DOGE’s slashing of the federal workforce.
Many older Americans rely on Social Security as their monthly income, for housing, food, and healthcare.