Spouses with no work history can claim up to 50% of partner's benefit — but must claim at full retirement age (67): Spousal benefits available to spouses age 62+ who have been married at least 1 year, even with no work history — equals up to 50% of primary beneficiary's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) — must claim at FRA (67 for those born 1960+) to get full 50%, with earlier claims reducing benefit: age 62 gets 32.5%, age 65 gets 41.7% — unlike retired workers, spouses don't earn delayed credits, so benefits maximized at FRA, not age 70.

If eligible for both own and spousal benefits, higher amount awarded automatically: Couples often confused about this — spouse may qualify for retired-worker benefits on own earnings record AND spousal benefits on partner's record, but Social Security automatically pays whichever is higher — many spouses assume their check is just supplement and don't realize full eligibility picture.

Divorced spouses have different, more flexible rules — can claim on ex's record without needing ex to claim first: Divorced spouses can collect on ex-partner's work record if marriage lasted 10+ years, both 62+, divorced 2+ years, and haven't remarried — UNLIKE married spouses, divorced spouses don't need ex receiving benefits first — ex-partner's payout unchanged and they won't be notified if former spouse claims on their record.

Former SSA employee alleges Department of Government Efficiency pushed fake death dates to 6,000 people, DHS requested 2.7 million: Whistleblower Jeremiah Schofield testified Social Security Administration was pressured by Department of Government Efficiency (then run by Elon Musk) and Department of Homeland Security to assign death dates to millions allegedly to encourage self-deportation — "Trump Administration officials admit that they were deliberately targeting people whom they had no reason to believe were in fact dead in order to remove them from Social Security rolls and ultimately from the country."

Being marked deceased immediately revokes access to bank accounts, health insurance, credit cards, voting rights: Schofield alleges DOGE staffer said "lives of these individuals would be ruined...driven to self-deport" or "sent to local Social Security office...where SSA field office staff would send them to DHS offices" for "detain them for deportation" — consequences include cancelled mortgages and revoked legal immigration status.

Sample test found majority of those targeted were US citizens or lawful permanent residents: Schofield's sample of just 25 of 2.7 million names allegedly marked as dead found "majority were either US citizens or lawful permanent residents" — SSA denies adding 2.7 million names to Death Master File, maintains "highest level of internal controls," but Schofield doesn't know if 2.7 million ultimately marked as dead — Senators Warren and Blumenthal requested more information.

April inflation at 3.8% (way above Fed's 2% target) makes near-term rate cuts unlikely despite Trump pressure: New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh took office May 22 and faces Trump demanding drastically cut interest rates to spur economic growth — but current economic conditions make cuts unlikely, especially with April CPI-W at 3.9% and Iran conflict keeping inflation elevated — "cutting rates at this point would be an almost ridiculous thing for the Fed to do."

Fed rate cuts can indirectly raise inflation, which determines Social Security COLA: Lower interest rates encourage spending, investment, and borrowing, which can increase consumer demand and push inflation higher — Social Security COLA based on third-quarter changes to Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), so prolonged inflation in Q3 could lead to larger 2027 COLA — "after this year's meager 2.8% raise, a lot of seniors are hoping to see their monthly benefits increase more substantially in the new year."

Fed unlikely to budge on rates "until inflation starts retreating, no matter how much pressure President Trump opts to apply": Warsh will likely face continued pressure from Trump similar to what former Chair Jerome Powell endured — but "general consensus at the Fed is that now's just not the time" for cuts, and whether that ends up helping or hurting 2027 Social Security COLA "is still to be determined."