Originally published: 2024-01-11T15:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that its new guaranteed-acceptance life insurance program, VALife, has issued more than $950 million in coverage to 31,400 Veterans in its first year.
When VALife first launched in January 2023, it became the first new VA life insurance program for Veterans in more than 50 years and extended life insurance access to millions of Veterans. VALife provides up to $40,000 of whole life insurance to our nation’s Veterans. For all Veterans age 80 or under with service-connected disabilities from 0-100%, acceptance in the program is guaranteed and no medical underwriting is required. Veterans can apply online through VA.gov and receive an instant decision. This program also allows self-service functions like electronic payments and beneficiary updates.
President Biden believes we have a sacred obligation to care for our nation’s Veterans and their families, and he has made delivering for Veterans is a key part of his Unity Agenda for the nation. In total, VA is now providing more insurance coverage to more policyholders than ever before in our nation’s history – currently serving 5.6 million Veterans, service members, and their families with $1.5 trillion of insurance.
“All Veterans deserve to know that their families will have financial support when they pass away,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. “VALife helps make that happen, providing well-earned peace of mind to Veterans and their families nationwide.”
VALife increases Veteran access to life insurance in several ways:
- There is no time limit to apply: VA’s previous life insurance program for service-disabled Veterans, Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance (S-DVI), required most Veterans to apply for insurance within two years of receiving their disability rating. VALife has no such time constraint for Veterans aged 80 and under.
- There is no health requirement to apply: Under S-DVI, Veterans had to be in good health except for service-connected conditions. VALife has no medical evaluation tied to it.
- Veterans are eligible for more coverage than before: Under S-DVI, most Veterans could only receive up to $10,000 of coverage. Under VALife, all Veterans are eligible for up to $40,000 of coverage.
VALife premium rates are competitive with, or better than, rates for policies with similar coverage available in the private sector, and $40,000 of coverage is more coverage than what other similar products offer. The policy will build cash value after the first two years of coverage when the face value goes into effect. If a Veteran passes away during this two-year waiting period, the named beneficiary will receive all premiums paid plus interest. VALife does not offer waiver of premiums.
Veterans currently enrolled in S-DVI have the option to keep their current coverage or switch to VALife. These Veterans can apply for VALife at any time; however, if they apply before Dec. 31, 2025, they can also retain coverage under S-DVI during the two-year waiting period for the VALife death benefit to go into effect.
To learn more visit va.gov/life-insurance/.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.
