Social Security Fairness Act Oregon: How WEP and GPO Repeal Affects Benefits

What the Social Security Fairness Act Changed

Signed into law on January 5, 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act repealed two provisions that had reduced Social Security payments for millions of public-sector workers and their families for decades:

• The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP): reduced Social Security retirement benefits for individuals who also received a pension from work not covered by Social Security
• The Government Pension Offset (GPO): reduced or eliminated Social Security spousal and survivor benefits for individuals who received a government pension

Both provisions are repealed retroactive to January 2024. December 2023 was the final month these reductions applied. The Social Security Administration's implementation is complete, including retroactive adjustments and lump-sum payments. Affected beneficiaries should verify that their records and payments reflect the change.

Why This Matters for Oregon Families

Oregon has a large workforce of career public employees — teachers, state agency workers, firefighters, police officers, university staff — many of whom participated in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). Certain PERS members had employment not covered by Social Security, which meant their Social Security records were subject to WEP reductions.

For families navigating the disability transition, the repeal has a direct financial impact through Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits. DAC benefits are calculated as a percentage of a parent's Social Security record — 50% if the parent is alive and retired or disabled, 75% if the parent has died.

Before the repeal, a parent whose Social Security benefit was reduced by WEP had a smaller primary insurance amount. That smaller record produced a smaller DAC benefit for their adult child. With WEP repealed, the parent's full Social Security record is restored, and the DAC benefit increases accordingly.

Two Groups of Affected Beneficiaries

The SSA has categorized affected individuals into two groups:

Group 1: Prior applicants — individuals who were already receiving Social Security benefits with WEP or GPO reductions applied. The SSA automatically recalculated these records and issued retroactive lump-sum payments covering the difference back to January 2024. Beneficiaries should verify the adjustment and retroactive payment; no new application is required for this group.

Group 2: New applicants — individuals who never applied for Social Security benefits because they assumed WEP or GPO would reduce their payments to zero or near-zero. These individuals must file a new application. Social Security benefits are only payable retroactively for up to six months from the date of a new application, so delayed filing means lost retroactive payments.

This second group includes Oregon PERS retirees who assumed their pension would eliminate any Social Security spousal benefit, families who never filed for DAC benefits because the parent's reduced record seemed too small to bother with, and surviving spouses who were told their GPO offset would zero out their survivor benefit.

Impact on DAC Benefits

For Oregon families with an adult child who has a disability that began before age 22, the DAC calculation change can be substantial.

Consider a retired Oregon teacher whose Social Security retirement benefit was $1,800/month before WEP reduced it to $1,200. Under the old rules, their adult child's DAC benefit would have been $600/month (50% of the WEP-reduced amount). With WEP repealed, the DAC benefit is now $900/month (50% of the full $1,800).

For a deceased public employee, the numbers are even larger. The DAC benefit rises from 75% of the reduced record to 75% of the full record.

Families who never applied for DAC benefits because the parent's WEP-reduced record appeared too small should file now. The combination of the restored record and DAC eligibility may produce a monthly benefit that significantly exceeds SSI.

Protecting Medicaid When DAC Benefits Increase

Higher DAC payments create a Medicaid compliance question. If the increased DAC benefit pushes the individual's countable income above Oregon's OSIPM limits, they could lose Oregon Health Plan coverage — and with it, access to ODDS waiver services.

Oregon protects against this through the OSIPM-DAC pathway. Under OAR 461-101-0010, the Oregon Department of Human Services excludes DAC benefit income when calculating Medicaid eligibility. This means the entire DAC payment — including the increase from the WEP/GPO repeal — is excluded from the OSIPM income test.

The exclusion is not applied automatically. The individual or their representative must notify the local DHS office that they receive DAC benefits and request the DAC income exclusion. If DHS is not informed, they will count the DAC income at face value and may deny or terminate OSIPM.

What to Do Now

If your family already receives DAC benefits: check the monthly payment amount against the parent's full (unreduced) Social Security record. If the amount has not been adjusted yet, contact the local Social Security field office and reference the Social Security Fairness Act. The SSA's implementation is complete, but families should still verify the adjustment and retroactive payment.

If your family never applied because of WEP/GPO: file a new application at the Social Security field office as soon as possible. Retroactive benefits are limited to six months from the application date. Every month of delay is a month of benefits that cannot be recovered.

Regardless of DAC status: if the young adult receives Oregon Health Plan coverage through OSIPM, notify the local DHS office about any changes to income from Social Security. Request the OSIPM-DAC exclusion if DAC benefits are in play.

The Oregon SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide covers the DAC application process, the OSIPM-DAC notification steps, and how to coordinate the new benefit amounts with SSI, ABLE accounts, and ODDS services.

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