Social Security Pays Billions of Dollars in Retroactive Payments
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: April 18, 2025
The Social Security Administration (SSA) today shared its significant progress to quickly implement the Social Security Fairness Act. Through March 4, 2025, SSA has already paid 1,127,723 people more than $7.5 billion in retroactive payments. The retroactive payments are the result of the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The average retroactive payment so far is $6,710.
“President Trump made it very clear he wanted the Social Security Fairness Act to be implemented as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “We met that challenge head on and are proudly delivering for the American people.”
The WEP and GPO provisions reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits for over 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes.
The agency continues to pay remaining retroactive payments and is ready to begin paying higher monthly benefit payments beginning in April for people’s March benefit.
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vanessa H.
I was approved supposedly in June of 2021buti was never told until December of 224. I work entire life at 50years old I was diagnosed with arthritis in spine and hands. basically a cripple but indeed my SSDI benefits to my security reactive payment the most because I homeless and nowhere to stay where I safe. It hard to be on a fixed income with any proactive ncome
vanessa H.
I was approved supposedly in June of 2021buti was never told until December of 224. I work entire life at 50years old I was diagnosed with arthritis in dpinesn hands.mi basically a cripple but indeed my SSDI benefits to my security reactive payiment the most because I homeless and nowhere to stay where I safe.
Theresa M.
I retired from LSU Medical Center non voluntarily (Bobby Jindal).I was told by four representatives that I didn’t need to do anything but I have not received any retroactive payment and did not receive an increase on my social security check. Please advise
Kenneth E.
Why haven’t I recieved my offset back pay and getting my increse in SS. All my co-workers have gotten theirs.
Bonnie
Altho I now qualify for spousal benefits due to repeal of the GPO, I was told I do not qualify for retroactive benefits to January 2024 because I did apply before I qualified. Is this true?
Annetta c.
Wondering why I have not received a new amount on my SS check since I was a teacher, contributed to my 10 years of payments, but SS amount I collected was affected by WEP.
Janet
Due to being married & moving a lot I didn’t get to finish a Junior College until I was 32 and had become divorced. My career started off but, I become disabled when I was 50. I didn’t pay in much to SS for 18 years. At my age now (67) living on SS old wages, the amount I get isn’t hardly enough to live on. An apt is my whole salary & that’s not counting utilities, food, any medical bills & household items. I’m wondering if there will be any adjustments, increase, or just anymore help for disabled seniors?
Greg K.
My parents worked all their lives for these benefits. Every year they would get a pennies raise on their benefits and their insurance rates went up double of their raise. The government should be ashamed of themselves for letting that happen to our senior people. My mom just passed away in February so I’m sure you won’t be sending the family what she was cheated out of in the past. She made a whopping 1800 a month from my dads benefit. What a joke!
How about you people rework the Social Security system to actually take care of them and pull the lifetime benefits of congress?
Linda J.
I agree with you 💯 %
But unfortunately our government doesn’t care about us senior citizens.
It’s all corporate greed.
I’m 74 ,live on 900.a month SS. MY rent alone is 500.00 a month and I live in a basement. I was a hard worker my whole life. I was dropped to my knees at age 46 diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. My doctor said Linda you can’t go on like this. I asked what do you mean? He said “you are gray”. I asked what am I supposed to do and he replied ” you have to go on disability, and I can’t help you “. It took me 2 yrs to finally go in front of a judge. I was granted disability but he stipulated I could receive any back pay from my job at 3M. It would of been $287,000.
Took me 6 months to start getting my SS. It was $460.00.
Jacqueline D.
The citizens of the United States that receive either SS retirement benefits or SSDI that is a disabled senior 63 years old and worked 47 years and was a Independent contractor for years. I got robbed for years with the State of Tennessee. My son and I are both disabled, he was since birth and I was approved for SSDI in July of 2008. Received my first check in June 2010 and Medicare in December 2010. My son was diagnosed in 2003 with spinal muscular atrophy and was wheelchair bound since 2007. He draws off of my benefits and just received Medicare in 2023. Since he was drawing off of me he should have received it in 2010 and of course the state of Tennessee drops the ball and everything we applied for We were denied home health care for him and it ruined my health by lifting him in and out of the wheelchair they don’t take into consideration about my traumatic brain injury, they don’t care about my quality of lif suffering from lupus, which takes over your body your good organs and tissue I can go into kidney failure at any time and be put on dialysis but that doesn’t matter with the state of Tennessee they don’t care. They keep monkeying with my insurance when I was put on the dual special needs because of several chronic conditions and they come in and take me off of it they have ruined my health they let me with no doctor for a whole year during COVID and without my medication and made me worse than what I am right now they destroyed my life My son’s life and here they’re receiving federal money which is my money and your money that we paid in 47 years of my tax dollar and we’re not getting anything and then they say we can’t qualify for any of the programs because we make too much money on Social Security take you off of food deny you food deny you You’re unemployment during COVID when you’re self-employed and we were entitled to to get unemployment they stole my money just like they stole my son’s money from his child support and his health insurance and leave us to pay out of pocket now I have to pay 20%. How am I supposed to pay that when I don’t even make that much because by the time I get done paying I don’t have enough money to pay my rent they only left me homeless for 3 years in this condition where I can lose my right leg I already lost part of my right eye sight due to a parasite attacking my cornea I’ll do to contaminated tap water two different specialist told me and now I have to pay for that 20% because they took away my QMB and said I made too much money but then that they said I can’t qualify for the extra help taking care Medicaid because there I make too much money but their policies say something different and they don’t want to acknowledge it something is wrong here our money is collecting interest in the insurance trust fund and why aren’t we getting the help We already bought and paid for all these programs and we’re not getting the help according to the civil liberties and civil rights. I look at it this way if you’re not going to help pay for our medical that we already paid for time and time again then give us our money back so we can get insurance that’s going to pay what cause more stress and anxiety and a human being when we’re being treated inhumane we’re getting abused they’re being neglected and nobody is doing anything about it and y’all think it’s your money The government thinks that they’re doing us a favor no we did you guys a favor all these years by taking our money not telling us where it’s going to then lying to us and making us pay double for Medicare when we’ve already paid for it we shouldn’t have to be paying premiums and I hope other people read this and see if they agree because they probably have no clue how we’re being treated and then you can’t even buy life insurance policy like me I don’t know when I could die because I got blocked arteries and they told me don’t be stressed you can have a heart attack or a stroke at any time well how can you not be stressed when you can’t pay your bills and the inflation is so high $7 for a dozen of eggs why don’t you even it out if the inflation is high then you have to do the federal poverty level to make it equal so we can apply and get help You can’t have it both ways and then take away our food and say we can’t buy food because we don’t qualify because we make too much money for the Plex program when we’re on the Medicare advantage plan and the state doesn’t follow federal laws they’re not paying attention to what you’re all saying they’re doing whatever they want to do and they’re getting away with it and this is the reason why the state of Tennessee was the second highest for the COVID death People died unnecessarily innocent people because of what Medicaid and tencare was doing not furnishing them health insurance when they needed it That’s what the federal money goes towards I hope somebody is listening to this and agrees with me if they had a loved one that died and then they don’t want to follow laws they throw you out on the streets cuz they don’t want to renew your lease these providers that get tax breaks low income housing and then you can’t find a place to live We put you on a waiting list and guess who got first priority the illegals immigrants that came here they got more benefits than we did and they didn’t even pay in That’s what gets us mad they have a place to live and I’m on in my car a senior a citizen of this country and then we don’t get the increase or get the extra help for the stimulus no our governor gives it to the businesses that already collected from the small business administration so they got triple in this teachers who got paid during COVID so they got extra and what did we get the Social Security people got nothing zero and we had to struggle this is how much they care about the seniors or the veterans or the elderly no they want to put us back in institutions and the kids that have a disability let’s just label them as being in an institution so we can take their social security check and just give them a little bit to live off of that’s exactly what they did to my child and then says he’s old enough to make his decision when he’s a minor My son couldn’t go into the army and I wouldn’t sign for him when he was 17 so what makes a child that’s disabled 17 have a right to sign contracts that he doesn’t even know what he signing they need to change the laws for disabled children and make it 25 years old until they are fully aware of what they’re doing and know about Medicare and Social Security because these kids do not know about anything cuz I still learning at 63 years old cuz it’s so complicated. And then they expect a child coming out of high school that didn’t even get his transition that was promised to him they left them like that didn’t even follow his IEP and get away with it. I am disgusted with the government and I hope Trump changes everything and weeds out all the bad apples actually the rotten apples that have stolen all this money and didn’t give it back. Why is SSI getting all the money and benefits they didn’t even put in their time and they’re getting more money than some of these people that are collecting SSDI and they get all these benefits and we get nothing and we’re paying for all this.
Jossie B.
I was told I qualify for the fairness act program, when speaking with a representative I’m told I don’t need to do anything I still have not received any retroactive benefits or soc sec increase, I didn’t get a increase for April, what’s my status please