# Health Care Worker and First Responder Fairness Act

This bill gives special treatment to healthcare workers and first responders when it comes to Social Security benefits, specifically addressing how much money they can earn without losing benefits. Here's what that means in practical terms: if you're receiving Social Security retirement benefits and you're still working, there's normally a limit on how much you can earn before the government reduces your benefits. This bill creates an exception for people who worked in healthcare or as first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, the bill exempts earnings from January 31, 2020, through May 11, 2023, for healthcare professionals and first responders from counting against Social Security's earnings limit. So if you were a nurse, doctor, paramedic, firefighter, or police officer during that period and you're now collecting Social Security, those pandemic-era wages won't be held against you when calculating whether you've earned too much. This means you could potentially keep more of your Social Security benefits even if you were earning money during those years. The Social Security Administration has 30 days to create the procedures for how people can prove they worked in these fields during that time.

The bill also looks ahead to future public health emergencies. If another pandemic or major health crisis is declared, healthcare workers and first responders employed during that emergency would get the same earnings exemption. During emergencies where there's a documented shortage of healthcare workers, the Social Security Commissioner can issue waivers allowing these workers to earn money without it affecting their benefits. The government would report to Congress annually about which waivers were granted.

Health Care Worker and First Responder Fairness Act

Thompson, Glenn

Health Care Worker and First Responder Fairness ActThis bill exempts from the Social Security Retirement Earnings Test (RET) wages earned through work as a health care professional or first responder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the RET, benefits are reduced for beneficiaries who are younger than full retirement age if they earn wages in excess of a specified annual limit.&nbsp;Further, the Social Security Administration may issue waivers to individuals employed as health care professionals or first responders during a declared public health emergency in which there is a shortage of health care workers. Wages earned by individuals granted waivers during a public health emergency are exempt from the RET.&nbsp;