KPERS Disabled Adult Child: How the WEP/GPO Repeal Affects Your Family's Benefits

What Changed for KPERS Families

On January 5, 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act repealed two provisions that had reduced Social Security benefits for public employees: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The repeal is retroactive to January 1, 2024, meaning December 2023 was the last month these reductions applied.

For Kansas public employees enrolled in KPERS — school teachers, state agency workers, county employees, municipal staff — the repeal restored their Social Security Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) to its full, unreduced value. The SSA distributed approximately $17 billion in retroactive lump-sum payments to over 3.1 million impacted beneficiaries by mid-2025.

The ripple effect on disabled adult children is direct and significant. When a KPERS parent retires, becomes disabled, or dies, their adult child with a disability can qualify for Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits calculated from the parent's earnings record. Under the old rules, WEP reduced the parent's PIA, which reduced the child's monthly DAC payment. Under the new rules, the parent's PIA is fully restored, and the child's DAC benefit increases accordingly.

How DAC Benefits Work for KPERS Children

DAC benefits are available to an adult child who became disabled before age 22 and whose parent has sufficient Social Security work credits. The benefit amount is 50% of the parent's PIA if the parent is alive and receiving retirement or disability benefits, and 75% of the parent's PIA if the parent has died (survivor benefits).

Because many KPERS employees also paid into Social Security during private-sector or dual-covered work, they accumulate work credits alongside their KPERS pension. Before the repeal, their PIA was reduced under WEP — sometimes by several hundred dollars per month. Now, their full PIA is used to calculate their child's DAC benefit.

For a KPERS retiree whose PIA was reduced by $200 per month under WEP, the restoration means their disabled adult child's monthly DAC benefit increases by $100 (50% of the restored PIA). Over a year, that's $1,200 in additional income for the child.

The SSI Offset and What Happens to the Cash Payment

DAC benefits are treated as unearned income for SSI purposes. The SSA reduces the SSI cash payment dollar-for-dollar by the DAC amount, after a $20 general income exclusion. If the DAC benefit exceeds $994 (the 2026 SSI federal benefit rate), the SSI payment drops to zero.

With the WEP/GPO repeal increasing DAC payments, more KPERS children will see their SSI check reduced to zero. This is not a loss of benefits — DAC often pays more than SSI, and the individual comes out ahead financially. But it triggers a critical Medicaid issue.

In most states, losing SSI would mean losing Medicaid. Kansas handles this through a specific protection.

Protecting KanCare After SSI Drops to Zero

Federal law under Section 1634(c) requires states to treat former SSI recipients who lost their cash benefits due to DAC benefits as if they were still receiving SSI for Medicaid purposes. Kansas implements this through the KEESM Section 2683 "Protected Medical Group" designation.

Under KEESM 2683, the KanCare eligibility agency disregards the entire portion of the DAC benefit that caused the SSI payment to cease. It also disregards all subsequent cost-of-living adjustments to the DAC benefit. The individual continues to qualify for KanCare Medicaid as if their SSI cash payment were still active.

This protection is not automatic. Families must file a protective application with the KanCare Clearinghouse and specifically invoke the Section 2683 disregard. Without this step, the automated eligibility system will flag the increased unearned income (the DAC payment) as exceeding the $994 limit and either deny coverage or place the individual on a medically needy spend-down.

KanCare caseworkers are not always familiar with the Protected Medical Group rules. Families should be prepared to cite KEESM Section 2683 by name and bring documentation showing that the SSI payment was reduced or eliminated specifically because of the DAC benefit — not because of a medical cessation or resource limit issue.

GPO Repeal and Spousal/Survivor Benefits

The GPO repeal has a separate but related effect. GPO previously reduced Social Security spousal and survivor benefits for public pension recipients. A Kansas public employee who received a KPERS pension would see their own Social Security survivor benefit (from a deceased spouse) reduced or eliminated by GPO.

With the repeal, a KPERS retiree's survivor benefit from a deceased spouse is fully restored. If that retiree also has a disabled adult child, the family's combined Social Security income increases — but the SSI offset and KanCare coordination rules still apply to the child's DAC benefit independently.

Retroactive Adjustments and Lump Sums

For KPERS families who were already receiving reduced DAC benefits before the repeal, the SSA processed retroactive adjustments back to January 2024. These lump-sum retroactive payments land in the beneficiary's bank account and can push them over the $2,000 SSI resource limit if not managed quickly.

Retroactive SSI-related payments have a nine-month spend-down window (the month of receipt plus nine months) before unspent funds count as resources. But DAC retroactive adjustments are not SSI payments — they are Title II payments — and the SSA has applied varying interpretations of the spend-down rules. Families should move retroactive DAC lump sums into an ABLE account or spend them on excluded assets (vehicle, prepaid burial, home improvements) as quickly as possible to stay under the resource limit.

If a KPERS parent never applied for DAC benefits because they assumed WEP or GPO would wipe them out, the family should file a new claim now. The repeal means the parent's PIA is restored, and the child's DAC benefit may be substantial. The SSA does not automatically identify families who chose not to apply under the old rules — a new claim must be filed.

The Kansas SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide walks through the DAC-to-KanCare coordination step by step, including the KEESM 2683 protective filing and strategies for managing retroactive lump sums.

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