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Explaining the Government Pension Offset Law

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Explaining the Government Pension Offset Law
Tom Margenau explains the Government Pension Offset rule that affects teachers and other jobs not covered by social security. Lane V. Erickson/Shutterstock
Tom Margenau
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Do any of you remember the movie “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”? It came out in 1969 and starred Robert Culp and Natalie Wood as a trendy West Coast couple who were trying to talk a not-so-hip, straight-laced couple, played by Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon, into a wife-swapping arrangement.

So, what does wife-swapping have to do with Social Security? Well, nothing, of course. (Unless there are some parts of the law I’m still not familiar with!) But I’m using these two couples (sans their marital dalliances) to help explain a law that frustrates and upsets a lot of my readers.

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
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