My husband died at age 62 from service-connected disabilities. He received SSA disability benefits for only 6 months starting at age 61. At age 60, I applied for SSA widow's benefits. Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provisions have offset the entire SSA amount so my widow's application was suspended. I've decided to wait until age 70 to apply for my own SSA entitlement. I am now age 64 and just today I received my first Medicare card. It has my husband's SSN-D number on it. Does this mean that my entitlement for Medicare will be established on my husband's record and not on my own? Could this possibly change in 5-1/2 years when I apply for SSA on my own earnings record? It's very confusing.

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Just to clarify, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) only applies to benefits payable on your own record, so it wouldn't have any effect on your widow's benefits. Apparently, the reason that you aren't eligible to receive any widow's benefits is due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, which results in an offset of widow's benefits in the amount of 2/3rds of your government pension rate (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). Unfortunately, you'll likely have to deal with the WEP provision when you file on your own record, but WEP can only result in a lower benefit rate as opposed to a complete offset (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf).

In any case, you must be technically entitled as a widow on your husband's record, even though no benefits are payable. As a result, your Medicare will initially be set up under your husband's SSN until such time as you file for benefits on your own record. When you do file on your own record, your Medicare number will change to your own SSN.

Best, Jerry