Taking on the responsibilities and costs of caregiving can create serious financial hardships for family caregivers, including lost employment opportunities, reduced retirement savings, and lower Social Security benefits. Ultimately, these career interruptions can lead to substantially reduced income in retirement.
 

The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act (H.R. 8490 / S. 4396) seeks to address some of this financial harm by allowing caregivers to receive credit for a portion of their caregiving time. Specifically, it would allow periods of low or no earnings to be replaced with “deemed wages” when calculating an individual’s Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). These deemed wages could replace up to five years of zero earnings in the calculation of Social Security benefits.

To qualify, caregivers must provide at least 80 hours of unpaid care per month to a family member. Payments received through the VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers would not be considered paid care for this purpose.

Caregivers often sacrifice their long-term financial security to support their loved ones—yet they should not have to. This legislation recognizes the invaluable contributions caregivers make and helps ensure they are not left with lasting financial hardship as a result.

PVA Position:
Caregivers should not be penalized for stepping away from the workforce to care for a loved one. Congress should protect their financial future by passing the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act.