However, the Supreme Court’s decision in the United States v. Windsor case, issued in June 2013, is projected to have a small but significant effect on the long-range cost of the OASDI program. The
United States v. Windsor decision repealed parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, which affects the payment of federal benefits based on same-sex marriages. The extent to which OASDI benefits based on marriage will be available to same-sex couples is still not completely clear. SSA has issued guidelines, approved by the Department of Justice, for certain benefits for same-sex couples who were legally married when the insured account holder resided in a State or jurisdiction that recognized same-sex marriages at the time of application or death. Expansion of this authority to other same-sex couples and to other benefits is under review at the Department of Justice. For the estimates in this report, the Trustees have assumed that Social Security will expand its guidelines to recognize all auxiliary beneficiaries for such marriages and that same-sex marriages will eventually be recognized in all States. This projected expansion of benefits has a small but significant financial impact over the long-range period.
Sections IV.A.4 and
IV.B.6 of this report provide further description of the nature and magnitude of the effects of
United States v. Windsor on the financial status of the OASDI program.
