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Service Disabled Veterans Insurance

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paulstrgn

Question

I am 100% P&T. I have called the toll free number for the VA life insurance and have been given conflicting information. The first person I spoke to said I am not eligible to apply for the waiver of premiums on a $10,000 life policy because I am working, the second person said I need to apply for the waiver and see what they say. He said I may or may not be given the waiver, he said you won't know until you apply.

Does anyone have the SDVI for $10,000 and is employed get the premiums waived? I only want to apply if the premiums will be waived. I am also under 65 and it has been less than 2 years since my last new disability.

Thanks

 

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  • Content Curator/HadIt.com Elder

@Buck52 I think Paul applied already and was denied, like I was.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

I agree with Buck. Apply, all they can do is reject if you don't qualify. If it was in his benefit package, go for it. Vync, what was the reason for denial?

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Well I got my free insurance at age 50 after I got the TDIU P&T  

However I was not working because I could no longer work  I stopped working an applied for increase in 1999  and that's what the paid my retro back to from 2002 win I won my IU Claim.  The Insurance forms was in my award packet.

  2002 is when I sent in for the Insurance & have  had it ever since.

If Paul Insurance applications was in his award packet  I fill that sucker out and send it in.  pronto.  sooner than later.

 

Edited by Buck52
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  • Content Curator/HadIt.com Elder
18 minutes ago, GBArmy said:

I agree with Buck. Apply, all they can do is reject if you don't qualify. If it was in his benefit package, go for it. Vync, what was the reason for denial?

If memory serves, I believe it was because I was still employed.

 

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  • Moderator

I didnt understand that Paul APPLIED for the Waiver and was denied, but rather he spoke with someone on the phone who told him that.  

Those are different things!!!!!

Its not unusual for VA employees, to include VA life insurance to be ill informed and render bad advice to Veterans.  Of course, the Veteran has to absorb all the costs for this, and the employee is allowed to continue to give out bad, costly advice to Veterans forever.  

You can apply risk free at zero cost:

Apply for the insurance, then apply for the waiver.  

If you get denied for the waiver of premium, then you can cancel the insurance and receive a refund of payments made when its within 30 days of applying.  

VA life insurance "is not on the same plane" as benefits.  Otherwise, people would apply for life insurance and be in appeals and red tape for 20 years and then die.  

In most states, Life insurance buyers have a "30 day free look".  This means you can apply for a policy, look over the policy after its issued, and then decide whether or not to return it 30 days after the policy is issued, not after the application date.  Life insurance is fast, and virtually all are issued in the 30 day time frame.  

My advice?  Apply for life insurance, apply for the waiver, and cancel if not approved. 

 

 

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  • Content Curator/HadIt.com Elder

@paulstrgn, @Buck52, and @GBArmy, look what I found - the laws governing SDVI and it appears the VA may be wrongfully denying because permanent/total veterans are still working:

There are two key sections here:

U.S. Code § 1922.Service disabled veterans’ insurance
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/1922

Quote
(a)
Any person who is released from active military, naval, or air service, under other than dishonorable conditions on or after April 25, 1951, and is found by the Secretary to be suffering from a disability or disabilities for which compensation would be payable if 10 per centum or more in degree and except for which such person would be insurable according to the standards of good health established by the Secretary, shall, upon application in writing made within two years from the date service-connection of such disability is determined by the Secretary and payment of premiums as provided in this subchapter, be granted insurance by the United States against the death of such person occurring while such insurance is in force. If such a person is shown by evidence satisfactory to the Secretary to have been mentally incompetent during any part of the two-year period, application for insurance under this section may be filed within two years after a guardian is appointed or within two years after the removal of such disability as determined by the Secretary, whichever is the earlier date. If the guardian was appointed or the removal of the disability occurred before January 1, 1959, application for insurance under this section may be made within two years after that date. Insurance granted under this section shall be issued upon the same terms and conditions as are contained in the standard policies of National Service Life Insurance except (1) the premium rates for such insurance shall be based on the Commissioners 1941 Standard Ordinary Table of Mortality and interest at the rate of 2¼ per centum per annum; (2) all cash, loan, paid-up, and extended values shall be based upon the Commissioners 1941 Standard Ordinary Table of Mortality and interest at the rate of 2¼ per centum per annum; (3) all settlements on policies involving annuities shall be calculated on the basis of The Annuity Table for 1949, and interest at the rate of 2¼ per centum per annum; (4) insurance granted under this section shall be on a nonparticipating basis and all premiums and other collections therefor shall be credited directly to a revolving fund in the Treasury of the United States, and any payments on such insurance shall be made directly from such fund; and (5) administrative support financed by the appropriations for “General Operating Expenses, Department of Veterans Affairs” and “Information Technology Systems, Department of Veterans Affairs” for the program of insurance under this section shall be paid from premiums credited to the fund under paragraph (4), and payments for claims against the fund under paragraph (4) for amounts in excess of amounts credited to such fund under that paragraph (after such administrative costs have been paid) shall be paid from appropriations to the fund. Appropriations to such fund are hereby authorized. As to insurance issued under this section, waiver of premiums pursuant to section 602(n) of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940 and section 1912 of this title shall not be denied on the ground that the service-connected disability became total before the effective date of such insurance.
(b)
(1)
Any person who, on or after April 25, 1951, was otherwise qualified for insurance under the provisions of section 620 of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, or under subsection (a) of this section, but who did not apply for such insurance and who is shown by evidence satisfactory to the Secretary (A) to have been mentally incompetent from a service-connected disability, (i) at the time of release from active service, or (ii) during any part of the two-year period from the date the service connection of a disability is first determined by the Secretary, or (iii) after release from active service but is not rated service-connected disabled by the Secretary until after death; and (B) to have remained continuously so mentally incompetent until date of death; and (C) to have died before the appointment of a guardian, or within two years after the appointment of a guardian; shall be deemed to have applied for and to have been granted such insurance, as of the date of death, in an amount which, together with any other United States Government or National Service life insurance in force, shall aggregate $10,000. The date to be used for determining whether such person was insurable according to the standards of good health established by the Secretary, except for the service-connected disability, shall be the date of release from active service or the date the person became mentally incompetent, whichever is the later.
(2)Payments of insurance granted under subsection (b)(1) of this section shall be made only to the following beneficiaries and in the order named—
(A)
to the widow or widower of the insured, if living and while unremarried;
(B)
if no widow or widower entitled thereto, to the child or children of the insured, if living, in equal shares;
(C)
if no widow or widower or child entitled thereto, to the parent or parents of the insured who last bore that relationship, if living, in equal shares.
(3)
No application for insurance payments under this subsection shall be valid unless filed with the Secretary within two years after the date of death of the insured or before January 1, 1961, whichever is the later, and the relationship of the applicant shall be proved as of the date of death of the insured by evidence satisfactory to the Secretary. Persons shown by evidence satisfactory to the Secretary to have been mentally or legally incompetent at the time the right to apply for death benefits expires, may make such application at any time within one year after the removal of such disability.
(4)
Notwithstanding section 1917 of this title, insurance under this subsection shall be payable to the beneficiary determined under paragraph (2) of this subsection in a lump sum.
(c)
The premium rate of any term insurance issued under this section shall not exceed the renewal age 70 premium rate.
(Pub. L. 85–857, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1155, § 722; renumbered § 1922 and amended Pub. L. 102–83, §§ 4(a)(2)(A)(iii)(IV), (D)(i), (b)(1), (2)(E), 5(a), (c)(1), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 403–406; Pub. L. 102–86, title II, §§ 201(a), 202(a), Aug. 14, 1991, 105 Stat. 415, 416; Pub. L. 103–446, title XII, § 1201(i)(2), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4688; Pub. L. 106–419, title III, § 311(a), Nov. 1, 2000, 114 Stat. 1854; Pub. L. 110–389, title IV, § 404, Oct. 10, 2008, 122 Stat. 4175; Pub. L. 111–117, div. E, title II, § 226, Dec. 16, 2009, 123 Stat. 3307.)

 

The above routes you to this one regarding the total disability waiver, which is :

U.S. Code § 1912.Total disability waiver
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/1912

Quote
(a)
Upon application by the insured and under such regulations as the Secretary may promulgate, payment of premiums on insurance may be waived during the continuous total disability of the insured, which continues or has continued for six or more consecutive months, if such disability began (1) after the date of the insured’s application for insurance, (2) while the insurance was in force under premium-paying conditions, and (3) before the insured’s sixty-fifth birthday. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, in any case in which the total disability of the insured commenced on or after the insured’s sixtieth birthday but before the insured’s sixty-fifth birthday, the Secretary shall not grant waiver of any premium becoming due prior to January 1, 1965.
(b)
The Secretary, upon any application made after August 1, 1947, shall not grant waiver of any premium becoming due more than one year before the receipt by the Secretary of application for the same, except as provided in this section. Any premiums paid for months during which waiver is effective shall be refunded. The Secretary shall provide by regulations for examination or reexamination of an insured claiming benefits under this section, and may deny benefits for failure to cooperate. If it is found that an insured is no longer totally disabled, the waiver of premiums shall cease as of the date of such finding and the policy of insurance may be continued by payment of premiums as provided in said policy. In any case in which the Secretary finds that the insured’s failure to make timely application for waiver of premiums or the insured’s failure to submit satisfactory evidence of the existence or continuance of total disability was due to circumstances beyond the insured’s control, the Secretary may grant waiver or continuance of waiver of premiums.
(c)
If the insured dies without filing application for waiver, the beneficiary, within one year after the death of the insured, or, if the beneficiary is insane or a minor, within one year after removal of such legal disability, may file application for waiver with evidence of the insured’s right to waiver under this section. Premium rates shall be calculated without charge for the cost of waiver of premiums provided in this section and no deduction from benefits otherwise payable shall be made on account thereof.
(d)
In any case in which an insured has been denied or would have been denied premium waiver under section 602(n) of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940 or this section solely because the insured became totally disabled between the date of valid application for insurance and the subsequent effective date thereof, and in which it is shown that (1) the total disability was incurred in line of duty between October 8, 1940, and July 31, 1946, inclusive, or June 27, 1950, and April 30, 1951, inclusive, and (2) the insured remained continuously so totally disabled to the date of death or June 8, 1960, whichever is earlier, the Secretary may grant waiver of premiums from the beginning of and during the continuous total disability of such insured. Application for waiver of premiums under this subsection must be filed by the insured or, in the event of the insured’s death, by the beneficiary within two years after June 8, 1960, except that if the insured or the beneficiary be insane or a minor within the two-year period, application for such waiver may be filed within two years after removal of such legal disability, or if an insane insured shall die before the removal of the disability, application may be filed by the beneficiary within two years after the insured’s death. No insurance shall be placed in force under this subsection in any case in which there was an award of benefits under the Servicemen’s Indemnity Act of 1951 or of gratuitous insurance under section 1922(b) of this title. The amount of insurance placed in force hereunder together with any other United States Government life insurance or national service life insurance in force at the time of death, or at the time of the insured’s application for waiver hereunder, may not exceed $10,000 and shall be reduced by the amount of any gratuitous insurance awarded under the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940. Waiver of premiums under this subsection shall render the insurance nonparticipating during the period such premium waiver is in effect. The cost of waiver of premium and death benefits paid as a result of this subsection shall be borne by the United States.
(Pub. L. 85–857, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1150, § 712; Pub. L. 86–497, June 8, 1960, 74 Stat. 164; Pub. L. 88–364, July 7, 1964, 78 Stat. 302; Pub. L. 97–295, § 4(23), Oct. 12, 1982, 96 Stat. 1306; Pub. L. 99–576, title VII, § 701(25), Oct. 28, 1986, 100 Stat. 3292; renumbered § 1912 and amended Pub. L. 102–83, §§ 4(a)(2)(C)(ii), (b)(1), (2)(E), 5(a), (c)(1), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 404–406.)

 

If I am reading both of those correctly, it does not appear being employed is grounds to deny the waiver. 

What do you guys think?

 

 

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