Service Disabled Veterans Insurance

[paulstrgn]

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

 

[Vync]

@paulstrgn I was beginning to think the same thing, but then I started to wonder. What other benefits do 100% P&T vets get and what are their criteria.

==> I checked CHAMPVA and that just says P&T, so it doesn't apply here. 

==> I checked Chapter 35 DEA and the criteria is "total disability permanent in nature". Aha!

I went back and checked 38 U.S. Code § 1912. Near the beginning it says, "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..." The term "promulgate" means "to put into effect".

How can a regulation (M29-1) supercede the plainly stated requirement of "total disability"?

How can one be qualified for Ch 35 per "total disability", but not qualified for the insurance waiver?

That's kind of like having a law that says "people" are allowed to eat donuts, but then having a departmental regulation limiting that to only "certain people".

If it turns out to be a bust in the end, at least we will have the closure of knowing it was legal. I'm going to do some more checking around before giving up on this.

[paulstrgn]

@Vync You make a good point. Why is it only the waiver of the insurance require you not to be working, yet your dependents can get the educational benefits which is a whole lot more money.

I will also see what I can find out, but I will be watching your findings on this topic.

[Vync]

I just wanted to provide an update on this. It has been a while since I had time to look into this, but i did some more digging.

The VA Insurance Center claims that the definition of total disability as being unemployable and the waiver is defined in National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, specifically section 602 (n). You would not believe how much work it took to look up the underlying text of it. I found a link to a PDF containing the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940 (the 1946 version). I transcribed the text below.

https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/79PrtNationalInsurance.pdf

Paragraph (n) discussed the waiver:

Quote

(n) Upon application by the insured and under such regulations as the Administrator may promulgate, payment of premiums on such 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 commenced
   (1) subsequent to the date of his application for insurance, 
   (2) while the insurance was in force under premium-paying conditions. and
   (3) prior to the insured's sixtieth birthday:
Provided, That upon application made within one year after the date of enactment of the Insurance Act of 1946 the Administrator shall grant waiver of any premium becoming due not more than five years prior to the date of enactment of such Act which may be waived under the foregoing provisions of this subsection: Provided further, That the Administrator, upon any application made subsequent to one year after the date of enactment of the Insurance Act of 1946, shall not grant any waiver of any premium becoming due more than one year prior to the receipt in the Veterans' Administration of application for the same, except as hereinafter provided. Any premiums paid for months during waiver is effective shall be refunded. The Administrator shall provide by regulations for examination or reexamination of an insure claiming benefits under this subsection, and may deny benefits for failure to cooperate. In the event that 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 policy of insurance may be continued by payment of premiums as provided in said policy:
Provided further, That in any case in which the Administrator finds that the insured's failure to make timely application for waiver of premiums or his failure to submit satisfactory evidence of the existence or continuance of total disability was due to circumstances beyond his control, the Administrator may grant waiver or continuance of waiver of premiums:
And provided further, That, in the event of death of the insured without filing application for waiver, the beneficiary, within one year after the death of the insured or the enactment of this amendment, whichever be the later, or, if the beneficiary be 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 herein provided an no deduction from benefits otherwise payable shall be made on account thereof.

 

The term "total disability" or "totally disabled" is mentioned numerous times throughout the entire document, but is never redefined as being unemployable for insurance purposes. I even checked Federal Register to view changes made to the law after 1946, but found no changes.

Granted I do not have access to full legal libraries, but thus far, the only place where I found it redefined is in the post I made last December M29-1, Chapter 16, paragraph 16.01. This makes me wonder if a internal procedure manual carries the legal weight to completely change the VA's definition of "total disability".

 

I went back and checked a couple of other programs which are 

I'm still researching this...

 

[blahsaysme2u]

following

 

[Vync]

I talked with a lawyer who works at my state VSO's main office. They are going to contact their Federal (VA) counterparts at the VARO and ask for their interpretation. No idea how long it may take though to hear back. I figure I will give them a few weeks to a month before following up.

[paulstrgn]

26 minutes ago, Vync said:

I talked with a lawyer who works at my state VSO's main office.

Thanks Vync for keping on this, I still have gotten no where with this.