Sponsors (5)
The bill improves retirement and survivor protections for unpaid family caregivers by crediting caregiving months to Social Security, but it increases federal program costs and adds documentation and adjudication requirements that may limit benefits for some caregivers and pressure finances unless offsets or careful implementation are adopted.
Unpaid family caregivers (parents, family caregivers) would receive up to 60 months of credited earnings that raise future Social Security retirement or disability benefits, improving long-term retirement security for many caregivers.
Caregiving for relatives (including children under 12 and chronically dependent adults) is formally recognized and financially valued, which helps caregiving households plan for retirement and signals federal support for family caregivers.
Survivors (families of deceased beneficiaries) may receive larger lump-sum death payments when caregiver months increase the deceased's credited earnings, providing extra financial support to surviving family members.
Expanding credited earnings or creating caregiver tax credits increases Social Security/benefit costs and could reduce federal revenue, which may lead to higher payroll taxes, greater pressure on the Trust Fund, or require offsets that affect other programs or deficits.
Caregivers must provide documentation and periodically recertify (including physician evidence for many dependents), creating administrative burden for families and the potential for delays in receiving credited months.
Benefit calculations require SSA adjudication of qualifying months and ADL/IADL determinations, introducing complexity that may cause processing delays, disputes, and additional SSA workload.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Treats qualifying months of unpaid family caregiving as deemed Social Security wages (up to 60 months) to increase caregivers' benefit credits, effective after Dec 2026.
Official title: To amend title II of the Social Security Act to credit individuals serving as caregivers of dependent relatives with deemed wages for up to five years of such service.
Introduced April 23, 2026 by Brad Schneider · Last progress April 23, 2026
Creates a new Social Security credit that treats certain months of unpaid family caregiving as "deemed wages" for Social Security benefit calculations. Caregivers who provide at least 80 hours of unpaid care per month for a qualifying dependent can receive up to 60 months of deemed earnings toward their Social Security record, beginning for months after December 2026. Establishes definitions for qualifying months, dependent relatives, and "chronically dependent individual," sets the deemed-earnings calculation (generally 50% of the national average wage index for the applicable year or the excess needed to reach that amount), protects against reducing current payable benefits, and requires the Social Security Administration to issue regulations and enrollment/certification and fraud-prevention procedures within one year of enactment.