Social Security Fairness Act Ohio: How the WEP and GPO Repeal Affects Disability Benefits

What the Social Security Fairness Act Changed

The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), signed into law on January 5, 2025, repealed two provisions that had slashed benefits for millions of public-sector workers and their families for decades: the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset.

The repeal is retroactive to benefits payable for January 2024 onward. SSA completed automated retroactive lump-sum payments to over three million affected beneficiaries by July 2025. For Ohio families, this is not a minor policy tweak — it is a fundamental restructuring of how Social Security interacts with state pension systems.

Ohio has one of the largest concentrations of public employees participating in non-covered pension systems: OPERS (Ohio Public Employees Retirement System), STRS (State Teachers Retirement System), and SERS (School Employees Retirement System). Workers in these systems did not pay into Social Security through their primary employment. Before the repeal, WEP reduced their own Social Security benefits (earned through secondary covered employment), and GPO reduced or eliminated spousal and survivor benefits.

Why This Matters for Families With Disabled Adult Children

The connection between the Fairness Act and disability benefits is direct and significant. Disabled Adult Child benefits — monthly payments to adults whose disability began before age twenty-two — are calculated as a percentage of the parent's Primary Insurance Amount. When WEP reduced the parent's payable Social Security benefit, it could reduce the child's DAC benefit as well.

Consider an Ohio teacher who retired under STRS and had secondary Social Security coverage from summer jobs or prior careers. Before the repeal, WEP might have reduced their monthly Social Security benefit from $1,400 to $600. Their disabled adult child's DAC benefit, calculated at 50% of the PIA, dropped proportionally.

With WEP repealed, the parent's full $1,400 benefit is restored — and the child's DAC benefit increases by hundreds of dollars per month. Families that received retroactive lump-sum adjustments may have seen one-time payments covering the period from January 2024 through the processing date.

The Medicaid Planning Consequence

Higher DAC benefits create an immediate planning challenge. DAC payments are classified as unearned income for SSI purposes. When countable DAC income reaches the 2026 Federal Benefit Rate of $994 after applicable exclusions, the SSI cash payment drops to zero. In a DAC-only case with the $20 general exclusion available, that point is about $1,014 in monthly DAC.

In most circumstances, losing SSI in a Section 1634 state like Ohio would mean losing Medicaid. But Section 1634(c) of the Social Security Act specifically protects disabled adult children who lose SSI due to the receipt of DAC benefits. The county Department of Job and Family Services must disregard the DAC income when determining Medicaid eligibility for these individuals.

This protection is established under federal law, but making it happen at the county JFS level requires documentation. Families should bring both the SSI cessation notice and the DAC award letter to their JFS caseworker. Ask them to apply the 1634(c) deemed-eligibility category. If the caseworker is unfamiliar with the provision, reference Ohio Administrative Code 5160:1-3-02.6, which codifies the deemed-eligibility rule in state regulations.

What to Do If You Never Applied for Social Security

Some public employees never bothered applying for Social Security benefits because the old WEP/GPO calculations would have zeroed out their payments. If that describes a parent in your family, here is the critical point: the retroactive adjustments and increased benefits are not automatic for people who never filed.

The parent needs to submit a new Social Security application. Benefits can be paid retroactively to January 2024 (the effective date of the repeal), but only if the application is filed. SSA will not track down non-filers and send them checks.

Once the parent's benefit is established, the disabled adult child can apply for DAC benefits on that record. The child does not need to have their own work history — DAC benefits are auxiliary, paid on the parent's record.

HCBS Waiver Income Threshold Implications

The increased income from higher DAC benefits can push a disabled adult above the Special Income Limit for HCBS waiver Medicaid. In 2026, that limit is $2,982 per month. If total monthly income — including the newly increased DAC benefit — exceeds $2,982, the individual must establish a Qualified Income Trust (Miller Trust) to maintain waiver eligibility.

This is a new burden that many families did not face before the Fairness Act. A person who was comfortably below $2,982 with a WEP-reduced DAC benefit might now be above it with the full, unreduced amount.

The Ohio SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide includes worksheets that map the cascading effects of increased DAC income across SSI, Medicaid deemed eligibility, and HCBS waiver thresholds — helping families model their specific situation before benefits change.

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