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June 21, 2023 at 01:22 PM
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., a ranking member of the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, has reintroduced the Protecting Our Widows and Widowers in Retirement (POWR) Act to boost a surviving spouse’s Social Security benefit.
“Losing a spouse is devastating. And for those who depend on Social Security, the added financial distress of losing significant income can make an already difficult time even more troubling,” Sanchez said in a statement. “The POWR Act will create an alternative benefit, ensuring widows and widowers can keep paying their bills.”
The bill would “help alleviate the financial burden on these couples by providing the surviving spouse a benefit equal to 75% of the combined Social Security benefit received by the couple” before their spouse’s death, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, which endorses the bill. “This would help millions of American widows who face severe financial loss resulting from the death of their spouse.”
Under current law, a surviving spouse can receive either a survivors benefit — up to 100% of their spouse’s Social Security primary insurance amount — or their own Social Security benefit, but not both at the same time.
“Among Social Security’s most important protections are the monthly survivor annuities, currently paid to over four million widows and widowers,” Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, told ThinkAdvisor Wednesday in an email. “But these benefits are very modest and often represent a drastic drop in family income. Women and men who have just lost their spouses should not also face a substantial loss of income that puts them at risk of poverty.”
The POWR Act, Altman added, “takes the important step of increasing survivors’ benefits so that widows and widowers can live with dignity.”
The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), according to Sanchez, has found that women suffer a greater financial hit following the loss of a loved one.
Women tend to earn less than their husbands and typically outlive them, NASI has found. According to the Social Security Administration, more than 23 times as many widows as widowers over 60 are receiving benefits.
Despite women participating more in the workforce in recent years, they continue to rely more heavily on Social Security than men, Sanchez said. “The average widow sees a 33% to 50% reduction in Social Security benefits after the death of her spouse.”
