At Last! Social Security Fairness
What does it mean for you and is there anything you should do now?
No doubt you have heard by now that the Social Security Fairness Act to repeal the WEP and GPO penalties was signed into law by President Biden after decades of effort. This change will impact our members in different ways.
No impact– members who have not qualified for Social Security benefits on their own or through a spouse. Most likely these are the same people who get their health insurance through their previous Board of Education.
WEP– Members whose only ties to Social Security are through their own work history should see their full benefits restored. The WEP provision had slashed them by two-thirds.
GPO-Spousal– Members whose spouse, or previous spouse* is retired, may receive a Social Security benefit that is half of what their spouse receives if it is greater than their own benefit or if they did not receive a benefit due to GPO.
GPO-Survivor- Members who are widowed from a Social Security Beneficiary* should now receive the Survivor’s benefit of the full amount of what their spouse would have received.
*If you were married for 10 years or more to someone who is eligible for SS benefits, have been divorced for two years or more, and not remarried, you may qualify for spousal benefits. Look into it with Social Security and, if applicable, contact Social Security to register for these benefits.
The Social Security Administration was already understaffed and now they have to recalculate individual benefits for more than three million people, so this may take a little while, but the new law makes this change retroactive to the beginning of 2024, so there will be one year’s retroactive payments in addition to the new amounts.
What can you do? Set up an online account with SSA and review your information to be certain all aspects are up to date. Do they have your correct status/eligibility information, current bank account, phone, address, etc. Start here:
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html
SFCRTA- For the good of the organization
Membership in SFCRTA helps us all. We strive to stay on top of information of use to our members and to alert them about how to get involved in shaping decisions that will impact us. Efforts to support the overturn of the unfair WEP and GPO provisions for Social Security certainly occupied our attention for years, but it continues to be important to monitor topics that impact us, positively or negatively. Our membership year runs January through December, so this is the last newsletter that will be sent to nonmembers until our new membership cycle begins. See the note at the end of this issue that will explain your current membership status.
Besides the newsletter, we have held informative membership meetings. In the past few years, they have been breakfast meetings at Rolling Hills Country Club, but we think we have identified a suitable site for more informal meetings we can hold without charge to our members. Stay tuned. What topics are on the horizon? Well, we are currently in a one-year contract for our health insurance……
We also support future educators through our scholarship program. We encourage you to join our Board as we plan for future events. We could especially use new members who might help us update our technology applications. Contact Frank Cooper at fcooper2@optonline.net.
Income tax reminders- Income Tax Exemption for Teacher Pensions
Per the 2022 Connecticut Resident Income Tax Return Instructions, Teachers receiving income from the Connecticut Teachers’ Retirement Board may take either the 50% Teachers’ Retirement Pay subtraction that is not subject to income limitations or the 100% Pension and Annuity subtraction that is subject to income limitations. This provision only applies to CT State Income tax, not federal.
Health Insurance Topics
+ One of our Board Members was delighted to learn that Lifeline coverage was available at no cost on the Advantage Plan. Look into it if your situation can benefit.
+ Another Board Member reminds us that we must file*a claim for reimbursement for glasses.
The process for doing so will be described below. Remember, our plan does not reimburse for prescription sunglasses.
+ Hearing aid coverage is quite different for the two plans, but for anything hearing aid related, including a hearing exam, you must first contact UHCHearing.com/TRB to get a letter of consult.
ARTC recently held a webinar with UHC representatives on hearing coverage. It is complicated, so proceed carefully. Advantage coverage is only available through a UHC Hearing provider. Supplement coverage allows one to see other providers and file* for reimbursement. Note that when UHC quotes prices, they are per aid, not for a pair. Costco is still not in the UHC Hearing network although they have been approached by UH about joining. (Don’t hold your breath.)
*How to file for reimbursement of medical, vision, dental, or hearing reimbursement, if you are eligible for reimbursement. You might want to make a cheat sheet of these steps to be able to find the form when you need it, or print out several. Please note there is also a provision here to file online for reimbursement.
Sign into your account at retiree.UHC.com
In the blue bar, select Coverage & Benefits
In the drop-down, select Plan documents & resources
Scroll down to Forms and Resources
Choose Reimbursement Forms
Read Reimbursement Form FAQs
Choose which form to use for online or mail reimbursement and don’t forget to include receipts
CIGNA Dental Oral Health Integration Program allows additional covered dental care to support members with any of fourteen conditions, including ALS, Chronic Kidney Disease, Diabetes,
Heart Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and more. It requires a one-time registration to be eligible for the additional benefits. Sign into your account on my.Cigna.com , then scroll until you see Cigna Dental Oral Health Integration Program where you will find the information.
The Saga of Social Security Fairness
I had several reactions as the efforts to repeal the WEP and GPO provisions bore fruit. I have to admit that I, like many of you, had doubts over whether it would ever happen. I always felt the GPO for survivor benefits was the most egregious of the provisions. The first benefit that occurred to me was that I no longer had to write letters about this, although I immediately wrote thank you notes to Rep. Himes, Senators Murphy and Blumenthal, along with notes to Sen. Sherrod Brown and Reps. Garrett Graves and Abigail Spanberger.
My next reaction was that this story had the makings of a movie- important main characters (Brown, Graves, and Spanberger), villains who sought to invoke last minute barriers (Cruz and Grassley with their amendments, intended to stall until time ran out) surprise supporters at the last minute (Schumer to finally release for a vote and the incoming President who was successfully lobbied by the Fraternal order of Police and encouraged support), and a serious time crunch. Did you know that if it did not get passed by the end of the session, the process would have to start again from the beginning and none of the three persons who proposed this legislation in 2024 are in Congress in 2025? Time crunch, for sure.
But let’s step back for a minute. Rather than a movie, it could have been a very long running series. At our recent Board meeting, we remembered some stories along the way. Some of us remember going to meetings with Rep. Chris Shays in 1982 when this was first taking effect. It was proposed during the Reagan administration as an attempt to shore up Social Security. Stop paying these folks, even while still collecting SS contributions from their qualifying employment. Some of us remember going to Washington DC for rallies to overturn WEP/GPO. Some of us remember gaining supporters who pledged to vote for the repeal after they got assurances from the House Ways and Means Committee Chair that it would never leave committee and come to the floor where they would actually have to vote. Most of us remember writing so many letters in support of SS Fairness. It could be a long-running series, but who would watch for that long? ARTC! Did you know that former ARTC President Tom Singleton and current ARTC Executive Director Tammy Gowash have been serving on the National Task Force for SS Fairness. Tammy sent ARTC members email with suggested letters and links to legislators to facilitate communication.
Why was this time successful? The newest advocate for this bill was one-term Rep. Abigail Spanberger from Virginia, a superb tactician. She joined the effort in 2023 and, when it was not successful, reasoned, they started too late in the session by initiating their efforts in May. In the 118 th Session, HR82 was introduced January 9, 2024. The work to garner support included meetings of the House Ways and Means Committee in Louisiana to hear from public service workers who have been harmed, all the while engaging more legislators to sign on as cosponsors. This allowed for a discharge petition to bypass committee through a unanimous consent request. Through skilled maneuvers, HR 82 was allowed to come to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote on November 12 and it passed! Next step was the Senate, where it was sent on November 19. The last day of the legislative session, after thirty actions in the Senate, it came up for a vote and passed, the second to the last vote of the session, with the budget bill we kept hearing about as the last one. It was signed by President Biden on January 5 2025, and he gave the pen to Elizabeth “Bette” Marafino, president of the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans. Fans of “how a bill becomes a law” can track the movement, through 52 actions, here https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/82/all-actions
Now that we don’t have to spend time writing letters for this campaign, we might look into programs from Learning In Retirement in Stamford LIRStamford.org- catalog coming Feb. 10. or Lifetime Learners in Norwalk, lifetimelearners.org
Memberships
Help support SFCRTA so we can continue to provide this Newsletter, to offer scholarships for future educators, to offer meetings for our members, and more. Please join or renew your membership for 2025.
SFCRTA Membership Renewal Information
Our membership goes from – January to December. If you have not yet joined, click here for our membership renewal information for 2025. Remember: Numbers matter and we still face many important issues regarding our pension and health insurance.
The tear off membership card section will no longer be part of the renewal card.
Fill out the return section completely, including phone and email. SFCRTA does NOT provide your information to anyone. We are strictly old school- paper checks and cards kept by the Membership Chair.
Please do not staple your check to the card.
Use a black or blue pen, not a Sharpie as the check reader can’t process it. It helps to have your return address on the envelope.