Will my wife's WEP-reduced Social Security benefit increase to 50% of mine when WEP is eliminated?

These are actually two separate issues. WEP affects your own benefit based on non-covered employment (like teaching with a state pension). The spousal benefit reduction you're thinking of is likely GPO (Government Pension Offset), which reduces spousal/survivor benefits by 2/3 of the pension amount. If your wife is already collecting her own reduced SS benefit, she would only get the spousal benefit if 50% of yours is higher than her current benefit. The WEP repeal bills I've seen don't address GPO at all.

Thanks for clarifying. So even if WEP goes away, her own benefit might increase, but it wouldn't automatically make her eligible for the full 50% spousal benefit because of GPO? That's disappointing but helpful to know.

my mom had the SAME EXACT SITUATION!!!! She was a teacher for 31 yrs and her SS was tiny because of that stupid WEP thing. They take away what you earned fair and square!!! When they talked about getting rid of it last year, she got all excited but nothing happened. The government always promises and never delivers!!

The WEP elimination has strong bipartisan support, but it keeps getting delayed because of budget concerns. The Social Security Fairness Act has over 300 cosponsors in the House. I believe we'll see movement on this in the next year or two as more affected workers retire. The cost projections for full repeal are significant (est. $26-30 billion over 10 years), which is why it hasn't passed yet despite widespread agreement it's unfair.

I think your mixing up WEP and GPO. My husband has both. WEP reduces your own benfit and GPO reduces spousal benifits. If they eliminate WEP her own benefit goes up but she still has GPO problem for spousal.

This is right. My wife had GPO from her teacher pension and couldn't get spousal benefits at all because the 2/3 reduction wiped it out completely. Two different problems even though they affect the same people usually. So frustrating dealing with this stuff.

To clarify what others have said, there are two separate provisions:1. WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) - Reduces your own Social Security benefit if you receive a pension from work not covered by Social Security2. GPO (Government Pension Offset) - Reduces spousal/survivor benefits by 2/3 of your non-covered pension amountIf WEP is eliminated, your wife's own benefit would likely increase. Then SSA would compare her new higher benefit to the maximum spousal benefit she could receive (50% of your PIA). She would receive whichever is higher, but if GPO still applies, her spousal benefit would be reduced by 2/3 of her teacher's pension.I recommend requesting a detailed benefits calculation from SSA once we have clarity on the WEP legislation. They can run different scenarios for you.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. So even with WEP eliminated, the GPO would still be a factor. Is there any movement to eliminate GPO as well? Also, would her own increased benefit (without WEP) potentially be higher than the reduced spousal benefit after GPO?

Most WEP repeal bills also include GPO repeal, but sometimes they get separated in negotiations. The current Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82) would repeal both. Whether your wife would benefit more from her own increased benefit without WEP versus a GPO-reduced spousal benefit depends on specific numbers: how much is her teacher's pension, how many years of substantial earnings under Social Security she had, and your benefit amount. Generally, if her pension is large, GPO might still eliminate most of her spousal benefit.

Her teacher's pension is about $3,200/month after 28 years of teaching. Before that, she worked in the private sector for about 12 years. I guess we'll need to wait and see what actually passes, but it sounds like even with WEP repealed, the GPO might still be the bigger issue for her spousal benefits.

my dad went thru this mess last year trying to figure out his benefits. he kept getting disconnected when calling social security - so frustrating!! he finally used a service called claimyr.com that got him connected to an agent in 15 mins instead of waiting for hours. they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU if you wanna check it out. the agent was able to calculate exactly what his benefit would be with and without WEP. way more helpful than trying to figure it out online.

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely check that out. After getting disconnected twice, I'm ready to try anything that might help me get through to a real person who can answer our specific questions.

i hope they get rid of BOTH wep and gpo!!! it's highway robbery!!! my aunt lost almost $900 a month because of these stupid rules. she paid into ss just like everyone else but gets penalized for being a teacher. how is that fair???

The issue is more complicated than that. Teachers in many states didn't pay into Social Security during their teaching careers - they paid into separate state pension systems instead. The original intent of WEP/GPO was to prevent

Just wanted to add that you should definitely run multiple scenarios with SSA once the legislation is finalized. In my case, we discovered that my wife was actually better off with her WEP-reduced benefit than the spousal benefit after GPO. The math gets tricky and depends on your specific work history and pension amounts.

Excellent point. And remember that the repeal bills currently being considered have different implementation timelines - some propose immediate full repeal while others phase it out over 5-10 years. This could significantly affect your planning, especially if either of you is nearing 70 when delayed retirement credits max out.