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Updated: May 25, 2026 – H.R. 8490, the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2026, was introduced in the 119th Congress and is currently in the first stage of the legislative process, referred to committee. Companion legislation S. 4396 was introduced in the Senate on April 27, 2026. No vote has been scheduled as of this publication date.
Every year that an American spends out of the workforce caring for a sick parent, a child with a disability, or an ailing spouse is a year that Social Security records as a zero. That zero gets averaged into the benefit calculation.
The more zeros, the smaller the monthly check at retirement, or no check at all if a caregiver accumulates too few credits to qualify. The caregiver credit bill moving through Congress right now, H.R. 8490, is a direct response to that structural gap in how the Social Security system treats unpaid care work.
More than 53 million Americans currently provide unpaid family care without earning a single Social Security credit for that work, according to data cited in the legislative record of prior caregiver credit legislation verified through Congress.gov.
The caregiver credit established in H.R. 8490 would change that calculation permanently by treating qualifying caregiving years as paid employment for the purpose of computing retirement benefits.
What HR 8490 Actually Does and Who Qualifies
The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2026 would amend Title II of the Social Security Act to credit eligible individuals with deemed wages for up to five years of unpaid caregiving service. Deemed wages are not actual cash payments.
They are imputed earnings that the Social Security Administration uses when calculating your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings the figure that determines your Primary Insurance Amount and, ultimately, the monthly benefit you receive at retirement.
Qualifying caregivers must provide at least 80 hours of unpaid care per month to a dependent under the age of 12 or to a chronically dependent relative. A chronically dependent relative, as defined in the bill’s legislative text, includes an aging parent, a spouse with a disability, or another family member who requires substantial assistance with daily living activities due to illness or disability.
The care must be provided without monetary compensation. Paid home health aides, for example, would not qualify. The target population is the unpaid family member often a daughter or spouse, who left a job or reduced hours specifically to provide care.
The financial stakes are significant and verifiable. Legislative fact sheets published by co-sponsors of the legislation document that caregivers age 50 and older who leave the workforce lose an average of more than $300,000 in combined wages, private pension accumulation, and Social Security benefits over their lifetime.
Women make up approximately 61% of unpaid caregivers and can spend as much as 50% more time providing care than male caregivers, concentrating this financial harm sharply along gender lines. Understanding how the SSA calculates benefits through the AIME and PIA formula shows precisely why zero-earning years produce such lasting damage to retirement income.
The Social Security Administration operates the benefit computation system. It calculates your Primary Insurance Amount using your 35 highest-earning years. A caregiver who stepped out of the workforce for six years to care for a parent currently sees six of those 35 years recorded as zeros, dragging the average down.
Under H.R. 8490, up to five of those zero years would instead be recorded as deemed wages, calculated on a progressive sliding scale based on the caregiver’s income level, functioning exactly as earned wages do in the standard benefit formula. The SSA would compute the adjustment; the Social Security payment system would then incorporate that higher benefit into monthly disbursements.
Why This Bill Has Failed Before and What Is Different in 2026
The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act is not a new idea. Versions of this legislation have been introduced in Congress repeatedly since at least 2015, each time failing to advance out of committee. The core obstacle has always been cost.
Adding deemed wages to 53 million unpaid caregivers’ records would increase Social Security’s long-term benefit obligations, drawing opposition from members of Congress concerned about the Social Security trust fund solvency timeline, which the Congressional Budget Office has projected reaches critical depletion around 2032.
The 2026 version, H.R. 8490, introduced in the 119th Congress, carries the same structural design as prior iterations. The bill was introduced in the House with companion Senate bill S. 4396, sponsored by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and co-sponsored by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, introduced April 27, 2026.
Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois introduced the House companion bill. Both pieces of legislation were referred to their respective committees. Neither has been scheduled for a markup hearing as of the publication date of this article, which means enactment in 2026 is uncertain.
What is structurally different in 2026 is the broader legislative environment. The Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminated the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, was enacted earlier in this legislative cycle and demonstrated that Congress would move on Social Security reform when public pressure was sustained and bipartisan.
Advocates for H.R. 8490 are explicitly citing that precedent to argue that the caregiver credit is the next logical step. The 2027 COLA projection and the ongoing conversation about benefit adequacy give this bill a more favorable political environment than previous sessions offered.
For the 53 million Americans currently providing unpaid care, the practical advice is to begin tracking your Social Security earnings record now, regardless of whether H.R. 8490 passes. You can access your complete earnings history for free through your My Social Security account at SSA.gov. Every zero-income year is visible there.
If the caregiver credit becomes law, those records will be the baseline the SSA uses to calculate your deemed wage adjustment. Keeping them accurate and complete protects your position if the law changes.
What You Should Do Now
- Create or log in to your free My Social Security account. Review your complete earnings record. Every year with zero or near-zero earnings due to caregiving is visible here and directly affects your future benefit calculation.
- If you are currently providing at least 80 hours of unpaid care per month, document your caregiving activity in writing dates, hours, the nature of care provided, and the relationship to the recipient. This record will be critical if H.R. 8490 passes and the SSA requires verification.
- Use the SSA’s free retirement estimator to calculate your projected monthly benefit under current rules. Then estimate what that figure would look like with up to five additional years of average-wage earnings substituted for zero-earning years. That difference is the precise dollar value of the caregiver credit for your specific situation.
- Contact your U.S. Representative and Senators directly through Congress members to register your support for H.R. 8490. Committee referral means the bill needs constituent pressure to advance to a vote.
- Read Investozora’s full explanation of the SSA formula and the caregiver gap to understand exactly how many dollars are at stake for your retirement.
