Note: Whether it’s health care, retirement benefits, family support and child care, VA benefits or other programs, getting smart about the rewards you have earned is worth your time. Although it is not yet clear to what extent federal cuts will affect DOD programs — including quality-of-life initiatives — these benefits were in place as of this writing.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs launched a new life insurance program in 2023, called VALife, to expand life insurance options for disabled veterans. Those eligible are veterans age 80 and younger who have a VA service-connected disability rating — even if the rating is 0%.
There’s no time limit to apply for this program after getting the disability rating.
Veterans can get up to $40,000 in whole life insurance coverage, in $10,000 increments, and cash value that starts to add up two years after VA approves their application.
The amount of the monthly premium depends on the veteran’s age when they apply for the insurance as well as the extent of coverage.
The premium will not increase as long as veterans keep the VALife policy. For example, a veteran who is 18 when applying for the policy will pay $43.60 per month for the maximum $40,000 worth of coverage. A veteran who is 41 when applying will pay $91.20 a month for that maximum coverage.
SGLI
Service members automatically receive Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage of $500,000, although they can elect to decline or reduce that coverage.
Currently about 2 million active duty, reserve and National Guard members are insured under SGLI, and pay a premium of $31 per month for $500,000 worth of coverage, which is deducted from their pay. But that premium will be reduced in spring 2025 to $26 a month. SGLI is group term life insurance. The reduction will be automatic and requires no action to get the new rate.
The rate will change to 5 cents per $1,000 of insurance. The monthly premium includes $1 for Traumatic Injury Protection coverage (TSGLI).
SGLI coverage is offered in increments of $50,000. The monthly premium is the same regardless of the service member’s age or other factors.
If active duty service members want to decline or reduce coverage, they can use the SGLI Online Enrollment System. Reservists with part-time SGLI coverage who want to reduce or decline their coverage should use Form SGLV 8286 and submit it to their personnel office.
For the approximately 870,000 active duty spouses covered under the Family SGLI program, the premiums will also decrease between 11% and 22%, depending on the spouse’s age, with an average discount of 13%.
Dependent children are provided $10,000 worth of coverage, at no cost.
VGLI
Veterans who have insurance under the Veterans’ Group Life Insurance, or VGLI, program, will also see a decrease in their premiums in the spring. The premiums will be reduced by between 2% to 17%, depending on the age of the veteran. The average decrease will be about 11%. About 450,000 veterans are insured under VGLI.
There are certain time limits for purchasing VGLI policies after leaving the service, so troops need to do some cost comparisons before hanging up their uniform. SGLI coverage doesn’t automatically carry over, and VGLI is more expensive than SGLI.
More information about VA life insurance options is available at https://www.va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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