Veterans Group Life Insurance (VGLI): Comprehensive Guide

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What Is Veterans Group Life Insurance (VGLI)?

Veterans Group Life Insurance (VGLI) allows former military members to extend their group life insurance coverage obtained during active duty. This renewable term policy provides a death benefit paid directly to the veteran’s beneficiaries, ensuring continued financial protection.

Key Highlights

• VGLI is a term life insurance policy for veterans that continues the group coverage they had while on active duty.
• Veterans have a window of one year and 120 days post-service to enroll in VGLI.
• Coverage ranges from $10,000 up to $400,000, mirroring the amount of Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) held at separation.
• Benefits include affordable premiums and no health exam requirement if enrolled within the specified timeframe.

Understanding the Benefits of VGLI

By choosing VGLI, veterans essentially convert their Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) into a civilian term life policy. This option is available for up to one year and 120 days after leaving military service.

VGLI offers significant advantages over private life insurance, such as age-based premium rates that disregard gender, tobacco usage, occupation, or hobbies—factors that typically increase private insurance costs. Moreover, the policy remains active indefinitely as long as premiums are paid, unlike some private policies that expire at a certain age.

The policy allows coverage amounts from $10,000 to $400,000, linked to the veteran’s SGLI coverage at discharge. Veterans can reduce coverage in $10,000 increments or increase it by $25,000 every five years, with a maximum cap of $400,000 until age 60.

Eligibility Criteria for VGLI

To qualify for VGLI, veterans must have had SGLI coverage and apply within one year plus 120 days following:

• Release from active duty, training, or short-term orders of 31 days or less.
• Separation or retirement from the Ready Reserves or National Guard.
• Assignment to the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR) or Inactive National Guard (ING), including members of the Public Health Service Inactive Reserve Corps.
• Placement on the Temporary Disability Retirement List (TDRL).

Veterans with part-time SGLI coverage through the National Guard or Reserves who incurred injuries or disabilities during duty, including travel to and from duty, may also qualify, even if standard premium rates are unavailable.

Health Requirements for Enrollment

Veterans who apply for VGLI within 240 days of service completion are exempt from health exams or reviews. Applications submitted after this period require proof of good health for approval.

Additional Considerations

VGLI offers competitive premium rates, which were further reduced as of April 1, 2021. Nonetheless, veterans should compare VGLI with other life insurance options to find the best fit for their individual needs.

Within 120 days of leaving the military, veterans have the option to convert their SGLI coverage to a civilian policy. Several private insurers offer specialized policies tailored for former service members.

Furthermore, VGLI policies can be converted into permanent individual policies, such as whole life insurance, through select commercial carriers, providing lifelong coverage options.

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