What Is Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI)?

Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, known as OASI, is the part of Social Security that pays monthly cash benefits to retired workers and to the families of workers who have died. The name is sometimes written or searched as “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance” or even “Old-Age Survivors Health Insurance,” but the OASI trust fund itself does not cover disability and does not cover health care. Disability payments come from a separate Social Security trust fund, and medical coverage for people 65 and older comes from Medicare, which has its own Hospital Insurance trust fund. OASI is funded by payroll taxes under the system created by the Social Security Act of 1935.1Social Security Administration. Annual Statistical Supplement, 2020 – Social Security Program Description and Legislative History

OASI, DI, and Medicare Are Three Different Funds

Social Security operates through separate trust funds. OASI pays retirement and survivor benefits. Disability Insurance (DI) pays workers who become disabled before retirement age. Hospital Insurance (HI) funds Medicare Part A, which covers inpatient medical care. All three are financed through payroll taxes, which is one reason the acronyms get mixed up. The OASI Trust Fund is a separate account in the U.S. Treasury, and surpluses are invested in special-issue Treasury securities that earn interest.2Social Security Administration. Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund

If you are looking for health coverage after 65, that is Medicare, not OASI. If you are looking for benefits because a working-age adult can no longer work due to a medical condition, that is Social Security Disability Insurance, not OASI. Everything below is about the retirement and survivor side.

Who Qualifies

You earn OASI retirement benefits by working in jobs where Social Security taxes are withheld. In 2026, one credit is granted for every $1,890 in covered earnings, and you can earn up to four credits per year with $7,560 in total earnings.3Social Security Administration. How You Earn Credits Forty credits, roughly ten years of work, qualifies you for retirement benefits.4Social Security Administration. Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility

Survivors need less. The credits a deceased worker needs depend on age at death, and younger workers need fewer. Under a special rule, if a worker earned at least six credits in the three years before death, the worker’s children and the spouse caring for those children can receive benefits regardless of total lifetime credits.4Social Security Administration. Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility

When You Can Start Retirement Benefits

The earliest age is 62, but claiming that early permanently reduces the monthly amount. Your full retirement age depends on when you were born. It is 66 for anyone born between 1943 and 1954, then rises in two-month steps through birth years 1955 to 1959, and reaches 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Waiting past full retirement age earns delayed retirement credits that keep increasing your benefit until age 70, after which further waiting adds nothing.5Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction

When Survivors Can Start

Widows and widowers can begin collecting at 60, or at 50 with a qualifying disability. A surviving spouse of any age can collect while caring for the deceased worker’s child who is under 16 or disabled.6Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Survivor Benefits Unmarried children under 18, or up to 19 if still in elementary or secondary school full time, also qualify.

How the Benefit Amount Is Figured

The Social Security Administration looks at your 35 highest-earning years. Past wages are indexed upward to reflect general wage growth, then averaged into your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). A formula converts that into your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), the monthly benefit at full retirement age.7Social Security Administration. Social Security Benefit Amounts If you worked fewer than 35 years, zeros fill in for the missing years and pull the average down.

For 2026, the maximum monthly retirement benefit for someone who earned at or above the taxable maximum throughout their career and retires at full retirement age is $4,152.8Social Security Administration. What Is the Maximum Social Security Retirement Benefit Payable? Most people receive considerably less, because reaching the maximum takes 35 years of high earnings.

Cost-of-Living Adjustments

Benefits rise each year through a cost-of-living adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The 2026 COLA is 2.8%.9Social Security Administration. Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information

Spousal Benefits

A spouse with little or no work history can receive up to 50% of the working spouse’s PIA at full retirement age.10Social Security Administration. Benefits for Spouses Claiming a spousal benefit early reduces it. If you qualify for both your own retirement benefit and a spousal benefit, the SSA pays your own first and adds enough to reach the spousal amount if that is higher.

What Survivors Receive

When a worker dies, several family members can draw monthly payments based on that worker’s record:

When multiple family members collect on the same worker’s record, a family maximum applies. It generally falls between 150% and 175% of the worker’s PIA.15Social Security Administration. Formula for Family Maximum Benefit If the total goes over that cap, each person’s payment is reduced proportionally.

Working While Collecting

Claim before full retirement age and keep working, and an earnings test temporarily reduces your check. In 2026, the SSA withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $24,480. In the year you reach full retirement age, a more generous threshold applies: $1 withheld for every $3 earned above $65,160, counting only earnings before the month you hit full retirement age.16Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working

Once you reach full retirement age the earnings test ends, and the SSA recalculates your benefit to credit back the months of withheld payments. The reduction is closer to a deferral than a permanent cut.

Taxes on Benefits

Depending on your total income, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can be subject to federal income tax. The IRS uses a measure called combined income: your adjusted gross income, plus nontaxable interest, plus half of your Social Security benefits. The thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation since they were set in 1983 and 1993.

For single filers:

  • Below $25,000, benefits are not taxable.
  • Between $25,000 and $34,000, up to 50% of benefits are taxable.
  • Above $34,000, up to 85% of benefits are taxable.

For married couples filing jointly:

  • Below $32,000, benefits are not taxable.
  • Between $32,000 and $44,000, up to 50% of benefits are taxable.
  • Above $44,000, up to 85% of benefits are taxable.

These thresholds are set by federal statute.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits Married couples who file separately and lived together at any point during the year have a base amount of zero, so their benefits are taxable from the first dollar of combined income. Some states also tax Social Security benefits, so check your state’s rules.

How to File

You can apply for retirement benefits up to four months before you want payments to start. Applications go through ssa.gov, by phone, or in person at a local SSA office.18Social Security Administration. When to Start Benefits You will need proof of age, your Social Security number, and employment records. Survivor applications also require the deceased worker’s death certificate.

Before you file, pull up your earnings record through your online SSA account. Wage errors directly reduce your benefit and are much easier to fix before you file than after. If you find a gap, gather W-2s or tax returns for the years in question and ask the SSA to correct the record.

How OASI Is Funded

OASI is funded through payroll taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and the Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA). Employees and employers each pay 6.2% of wages. Self-employed workers pay the full 12.4% and can deduct half when calculating net earnings.19Social Security Administration. Social Security and Medicare Tax Rates The tax applies only up to an annual wage cap. In 2026 that cap is $184,500, so wages above that amount are not subject to the Social Security portion of FICA.20Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base

The system runs on a pay-as-you-go basis. Today’s workers fund today’s retirees. As the ratio of workers to beneficiaries has declined, the trust fund has been drawing down reserves. The Social Security Trustees have projected that OASI reserves will be depleted within the next decade, at which point incoming payroll taxes would cover roughly three-quarters of scheduled benefits unless Congress acts.

The 2025 Rule Change for Public-Sector Retirees

Before January 2025, two provisions cut Social Security benefits for people who also drew a pension from work not covered by Social Security, such as certain state and local government jobs. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reduced the worker’s own retirement benefit, and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced spousal and survivor benefits. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, eliminated both.21Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision More than three million beneficiaries are projected to see higher monthly payments. If you previously had benefits reduced under WEP or GPO, the SSA should have adjusted your payments automatically.