National Insurance Awareness Day: Understanding VA Life Insurance options

National Insurance Awareness Day, on June 28, 2024, is the perfect time to think about coverage and discover how VA life insurance can secure you and your family’s future.

Veterans with service-connected disabilities may find it difficult to obtain affordable life insurance coverage in the private sector. VA offers life insurance that allows Veterans, service members and their families to plan through a variety of life insurance programs tailored to fit their financial needs—at any stage of life.

VA offers a guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance program called Veterans Affairs Life Insurance (VALife). If you’re considering purchasing life insurance, it is important to understand the difference between whole life and term life insurance.

Term Life versus Whole Life programs

The two most common types of life insurance coverage are term life and whole life. Each one can be tailored to the unique financial needs of the individual or family purchasing the policy. Term life covers a specific term or time frame to protect against specific financial responsibilities, whereas whole life provides lifelong coverage with a savings component.

Protection

Term life provides protection for a set period, such as 10, 15 or 20 years. Whole life offers lifelong coverage as long as premiums are paid.

Cash value

Term life does not accumulate cash value. Due to an investment component, whole life builds cash value over the life of the policy.

Premiums

At the younger ages, term life premiums are typically less expensive compared to whole life. Term life premiums are set for a fixed term but will increase if the policyholder decides to renew for another term. Whole life premiums are generally higher and fixed for the life of the policy.

Benefits

Term life provides death benefits only. Whole life provides death benefits as well as the cash value that builds during the life of the policy.

Advantages of buying Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance programs offer a variety of advantages, especially if you are buying at a younger age. For example, if you purchase whole life insurance in your 20’s or 30’s you can:

• Lock in a price that you’ll keep for the rest of your life.
• Set aside some savings each month by putting money toward a whole life insurance policy that builds cash value over time to help pay for life’s expenses.
• Plan for your family’s future and know that your parents, spouse or other loved ones will not have to struggle financially to pay for your funeral and other final expenses.

Understanding VA Whole Life coverage

VALife is a program that provides guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance coverage to Veterans aged 80 and under with any level of service-connected disability—even 0%.

Guaranteed acceptance is a type of whole life coverage that does not require the applicant to answer health questions or get a medical exam for enrollment. Due to the absence of medical requirements with guaranteed acceptance, there is typically a set waiting period for full coverage to take effect. For VALife, that period is two years.  Rates are best the earlier you sign up. Once locked in, premiums will never increase.

By providing guaranteed acceptance, VALife meets the needs of service-connected Veterans who may not have previously qualified for life insurance with VA and offers the following benefits:

• All service-connected Veterans aged 80 and under with 0-100% VA disability ratings are eligible.
• Coverage in increments of $10,000, up to a maximum of $40,000 per Veteran.
• No health questions or medical exam for enrollment.
• Convenient online application and enrollment with instant approvals.
• Cash value that builds over the life of the policy after the first two years of enrollment.

Please note: Veterans who are enrolled in Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance (S-DVI) and apply for VALife must decide which policy to keep before their full VALife coverage takes effect, two years after enrollment, and the S-DVI ends. Once S-DVI terminates, it cannot be reversed. S-DVI closed for new enrollments on 12/31/2022.

Learn more

The VA Life Insurance Needs Calculator is a helpful tool for determining an appropriate amount of coverage. VA offers quality life insurance coverage at competitive rates to Veterans, service members and their families.

Don’t wait! Protect those who matter most. To learn more about VALife and whether it’s the right choice for you and your family, please visit the VALife webpage.

To learn more about how VA can assist with end-of-life planning, please visit End-Of-Life Benefits | Veterans Affairs (va.gov).

Warning! There are disreputable companies that may offer you life insurance in a fraudulent manner or are trying to steal your personal information or money. To learn more about protecting yourself from fraud, please visit, www.va.gov/VSAFE.