I am a 60 year old female who was widowed 32 years ago. My late husband had been a career Officer with USAF and had $300 taken out of his pay monthly as insurance for Survivors Benefit Plan-which I receive. He had told me that I would also get his SS also when I reached 60. As I approached 60 I went to speak with them and was told I could not get it because of something called an ‘offset’ that would not allow me to receive both payments . I was devastated as I had planned for that all this time. Then recently I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis,and had had 4 attacks since 7/20,and a friend of mine says that should now qualify me for his SS. I am actually about to start a chemotherapy drug for treatment. Do you know anything about this? I do not qualify for my own SS. Thank you.

Hi. There are disabled widow's benefits (DWB), but qualifying for DWB benefits basically just makes a person eligible for widow's benefits earlier than when they would otherwise qualify. DWB eligibility ends when a widow reaches age 60, since you can qualify for regular widow's benefits based on age once you reach age 60. In other words, since you're already age 60 you don't need to be disabled to qualify for widow's benefits, although being disabled may make you eligible for Medicare earlier than age 65.

More importantly, though, if the only type of pension that you receive is the survivor pension described in your question, that would NOT adversely affect your eligibility for widow's benefits. There is a Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision that can partially or fully offset widow's benefits, but only pensions based on a widow's OWN work and earnings can cause GPO to apply.

You say that you aren't eligible for your own Social Security, so I assume that means that you haven't worked and paid into Social Security long enough to qualify for either Social Security retirement or disability benefits based on your own earnings history. If that's the case and if your earned income (i.e. wages or self-employment) will be less than $18,960 in 2021, then the only thing you'll need to decide is when to start drawing your widow's benefits. Widow's benefits are unreduced if you start drawing them at your full retirement age (FRA), but if you start drawing them when you turn age 60 you only receive 71.5% of the FRA amount.

It sounds like you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry