Va Life Insurance

[Fat]

Veteran was recently rated at 10% for high blood pressure.

Is he eligible for the free $10,000 life insurance.

Does he have to request a "waiver" ?

Does he have two years from the date he is service connected (receives his first compensation amount)?

[GuaymasJim]

Since I just got this insurance, I believe my information is as up to date as anything with the VA. At 100%, either IU or by schedule, a vet can get $10,000 policy with the premiums waived (read free). You must apply within 24 months of the award. If you are under 65 when you apply (as opposed to the effective date of the award), you can apply for an additional $30,000, but you will be required to submit to physical exams and pay premiums based on all the factors civilian insurance companies use to determine premiums. For me, (and I think this is true for most disabled veterans), the premiums for additional coverage would be exorbitant. If you miss the 24 month window (like I did 35 years ago), you have to wait until you are awarded another NEW service-connected condition as opposed to just an increase for an existing service-connected condition.

The process is extremely simple and, by VA standards, your policy will arrive at light speed! There are several types of life insurance with pros and cons to all of them. The VA insurance folks unilaterally changed my application to what they felt was most beneficial to me. I checked around and to my surprise, they had done just what they said. I am the proud owner of a premium free $10,000 policy. I have been told by a number of people that the insurance payout is by far the fastest and first funds a survivor will receive--literally 2 or 3 weeks.

[broncovet]

If you are 100 percent or IU, and do not have VA life insurance, you are "throwing money away" because the 10,000 Va Life insurance,

which VA pays for when 100 percent or IU, is a cash value life insurance policty, that builds cash each year. That is cash you can take out, or make a loan on.

Yes, you must apply for the life insurance, and the sooner you apply, the better, because you accumulate life insurance dividends.

If you have a 10,000 life insurance policy through VA, and VA pays the premiums, it will build up about 10,000 cash dividends if you dont take these out, total, after 20 years. I started mine in about 2007, have never cashed out any dividends or taken loans, but I could get about 2500 cash from my life insurance.

Hint: If you do need cash from your life insurance, you can "borrow" your own money, and here is what happens if you do.

Example: Veteran has 10,000 life insurance and desires 2500 in cash which is in dividends. There are 2 options for him to get cash:

1. "Cash out" the policy. The VA gives you 2500, and you no longer have VA life insurance.

2. "borrow against" the cash in the policy. You could only borrow "about" $2400, but you would get to keep the insurance. In this example, if you died, your heirs would get about $7600 minus interest at about 6 percent on the amount borrowed.

Of these 2, unless there is a compelling reason, you would always choose example 2, and nev er cash out the policy. Remember, VA pays the premums for 100 percent Vets, so why throw away about 7400 in coverage? Also, next year, you will likely get dividends, and that can be used to "pay off" the loan against the policy. You may need to contact VA life insurance to do that.

[free_spirit_etc]

Fat,

As long as a new decision is issued, the veteran can apply for life insurance. However, the veteran has to be otherwise insurable, except for their service connected conditions. So if the veteran has non-service connected conditions that would cause them to be not insurable, they might not get the insurance. For instance, by the time my husband was granted SC on a couple of conditions, he already had lung cancer. Though he was eligible to apply for life insurance, he most likely would have been denied, because his lung cancer was not SCed at that time. By the time the lung cancer was granted SC, he had already died.

They really should have better policies to enable a surviving spouse to go back and claim the insurance if a veteran dies prior to the decision granting SC, but at this time, they don't. As it stands, if the veteran dies before service connection is granted, the surviving spouse has to show that the veteran was "mentally incompetent" from a service connected disability at some point in the two-year period prior to their death. Though some decisions have counted the veteran's condition immediately prior to their death as a showing of incompetence, other decisions have indicated that does not count. Additionally, the surviving spouse must file a claim for the insurance within two years of their death. Many times SC for the condition has still not been granted at this point.

Since the VA is often the entity responsible for taking forever to grant claims, they really should rethink the way they handle the life insurance. If the veteran could not apply for life insurance because the VA had not granted service connection for their condition at the time of their death, the surviving spouse should not have to jump through the showing of mental incompetence hoop. They should not have to show "good cause" for why the veteran did not apply. The good cause is the fact that they could not apply until the VA granted SC. They should only require the surviving spouse show the veteran had been mentally incompetent at some time prior to their death if the veteran had actually been granted SC for the condition during their lifetime, and thus, had the opportunity to apply for life insurance.

I also fail to understand why the surviving spouse has to apply for gratuitous life insurance within two years of the veteran's death. Again, if SC is still not granted at that point, it seems like they should be able to apply once SC has been granted.

As far as I understand, if a veteran does not have the veteran's life insurance at the time of their death, and they have a pending claim for benefits, the surviving spouse should file a claim for gratuitous veterans life insurance within two years, even if SC has not yet been granted. The decision on whether they are entitled to life insurance should be deferred until such time as the decision on SC has been finally decided. If the decision is not deferred, the surviving spouse should keep appealing that decision, on the basis of that whether the condition is SC has not been finally decided. However, the surviving spouse will still have to build a case that the veteran was mentally incompetent at some point before their death in order to receive the life insurance benefits. And again, though one decision counted the hospice nurse's documentation that the veteran was unable to conduct their daily affairs for several days prior to their death as evidence of mental incompetence, other decisions have stated that this type of mental incompetence is not what Congress intended. So this can still become an obstacle in the claim.

The VA does not have to inform the surviving spouse of their potential eligibility for gratuitous life insurance -- so it is up to veterans to get the word out.

In my case, I did not know about this -- and missed the two-year deadline to apply.... and I have, thus far, not found a way around that. (Maybe I should put it in my signature line.).

There is more information on it in this thread

Edited April 27, 2015 by free_spirit_etc

[Gastone]

Get the 10K, free is good. If you're under 65 and don't have any other life insurance, look at the premiums for the (2) additional individual policies that you would have to pay for. Chances are if your fracked up, you wouldn't qualify for private insurance Term or whole life. When I got my IU last 06/14, I notified the VA Ins Department and received a check for premiums paid back to IU Retro Date in 2011. When I first got the 10K policy the monthly deduction was about $100 or so. I think my payment had dropped to about $87.00 when I was awarded IU. These are lifetime policies as long as you make the payments. If 100% or IU comes along, 1 for free. Your own personal circumstances will dictate if the other 2 polices are needed, but they're there if you need them.

Semper Fi

Gastone

[broncovet]

I got the 10,000 life insurance free (premiums waived) BEFORE I got 100 percent. The criteria for life insurance waiver of premiums is different than VA's 100 percent P and T, so go ahead and apply and apply for waiver of premiums.

[#1Cavtrooper]

I have the $10,000 life insurance with the waiver of the premium. And I also took out the additional $30,000 (20 Payment Life ) policy which is the Supplemental Service-Disabled Insurance (SRH). Contact:

Toll Free (1800-669-8477) Website & E-mail (www.insurance.va.gov)