VA has announced an amendment to the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI), Family SGLI (FSGLI), and Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) Accelerated Benefit Option (ABO) regulation.
This update allows an alternate applicant to apply for an ABO on a member’s behalf, such as when a member is medically incapacitated. With accelerated benefits, you can get up to 50% of the face value of your coverage in increments of $5,000—paid to you before death.
This change will:
- Allow an alternate applicant to apply for the ABO on behalf of a terminally ill member, who is medically incapacitated.
- Authorize a member to apply for the ABO when their insured spouse is terminally ill.
- Ensure that stepchildren and children, who are 18-22 and in school, are included in FSGLI dependent child coverage.
This change comes as an update to the ABO that’s been in effect since 1998 when only the member could apply. Visit VA benefits for more information, or to apply.
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Well, VA leadership – you spent the whole years ignoring
veterans such as myself. You didnt make things better from
a veterans stand point. But, when has that ever stopped
Paul Lawrence making a mocumentary video to show
how stupid we poor little vets are. While dodging us.
VA leadership has spent the year bullying its staff on every
possible sorted thing right down to religious beliefs. That
VA staff are expendable, veterans are expendable, and only
VA leadership has job security. When it shouldnt.
Cut throat is not working. Avoiding veterans such as myself
isnt solving problems of any kind. As Ive done this for 28 years
and Im still here asking the same questions decade after
decade. My Toxic Exposure Pathology Center idea with collection
of adipose fatty tissue will soon be the standard for proving
contaminated water nation wide. Forever compounds. POPs
and PFAs. Much less environmental agents in war.
Its truly sad that Im having to recite “Silent Spring” by Rachel
Carson from 1962 – because America has literally returned to
that same fatal moment. Literally same issues. Will Congress
finally address “Forever compounds” in nature. Your the
same style corporate villains helping destroy the environment
for a fast buck. Who cares if any of us make it? I do.
Gulf war 3.317 still needs revising, and PL 105-368 needs to go
from 1998 to 2025 to keep pace. Instead NARA does not even
list the Gulf war in its military section. As DOD and VA set out
to rewrite history. That it never happened.
I served on a VA federal committee that VA betrayed. Was never given
a real chance. There is work to be done, not ignored. Same with ALS
as the military death rate is nearly 3 a day. It points to hydrocarbons
as mutual factor among Army refuelers, Air force pilots, and Naval
submariners.
Your not doing a better job without people like myself. Alarmist?
Versus what? Narcissist control mongers saying all is well. VA leadership
does not like scrutiny. Bluffing at best. You need open door policy and
people not sporting glass jaws.
By now Im all over News.va.gov commenting the same things for 12
months. 2026 is a repeat? Only if your about to be dismantled.
Change is coming. Accept it or like others be erased by history after
deposed. Nobody gloats over bad policy makers, they are not heros.
I would like information on who to talk to about getting my P & T 100% and lose TDIU so I can pursue a new career!
If you are currently 100% via TDIU and want to return to work without risking benefits, the key is to seek a schedular 100% Permanent & Total (P&T) rating instead of TDIU.
1. Who You Should Talk To (Start Here)
You want accredited representation, not advice from social media or news sources. For future reference.
Best options:
Veterans Service Officer (VSO)
1. DAV (Disabled American Veterans)
2. VFW
3. American Legion
4. County or State Veterans Services Office
5. VA-accredited claims agent or VA-accredited attorney (if your case is complex)
A VSO is usually free and sufficient. VA-accredited attorneys are not free.
You can verify accreditation here:
? VA Office of General Counsel – Accreditation Search: https://www.va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation/index.asp
2. What You Are Asking the VA For (Exact Language Matters)
You are not asking to “give up” TDIU without protection.
You are requesting:
“An increase to schedular 100% with Permanent & Total status, and discontinuation of TDIU upon award.”
This reframes the issue as benefit progression, not benefit loss.
3. What Needs to Be Shown
To qualify for 100% schedular P&T, evidence must show:
1. Your service-connected conditions alone meet the 100% criteria under the VA Rating Schedule OR
2. Your combined ratings reach 100% without unemployability being the basis; AND
3. Conditions are static, unlikely to improve, or long-standing.
Helpful evidence includes:
1. Recent VA or private medical records
2. DBQs (Disability Benefits Questionnaires), if applicable.
3. Medical opinions stating no expected improvement.
4. History of long-term severity or worsening.
4. What Happens to Work Restrictions
TDIU limits substantially gainful employment.
(100% schedular P&T does NOT limit employment.)
Once schedular 100% P&T is granted:
You may work, change careers, or start a business; you no longer have income caps tied to VA compensation.
Ancillary benefits (CHAMPVA, DEA, property tax exemptions, etc.) usually remain or improve.
5. Important Caution (But Not a Threat)
Do not start substantially gainful employment before TDIU is formally discontinued unless advised by your VSO.
Do not withdraw TDIU first without filing the schedular claim.
The transition should be award first → TDIU ends second.
This protects you from gaps or unintended reductions.
6. Optional: Career Support Once P&T Is Secured
After schedular 100% P&T:
VA Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E / Chapter 31) may still be available depending on circumstances
State vocational programs and veteran workforce agencies become viable without VA income penalties.
Bottom Line:
1. You are not wrong to want to work again.
2. This is a recognized and lawful transition.
3. The right person to start with is an accredited VSO.
4. The goal is schedular 100% P&T first — not dropping TDIU blindly.
This information is provided as general guidance only and is not an offer of ongoing assistance or future discussion.
This isnt a primary concern for veterans heading into the holidays, Your
not reading our minds or interpreting our needs. Because your top down
management style is your priority, and its most certainly caste driven.
Medical care should not be exclusive to the wealthy. America has decided
it should be profit driven at the expense of the patient. Once vulnerable,
then bleed them dry with $2,100 shots in the ER. Makes you snake oil
salesman compared to 1965 before grossly over inflated pricing kicked in.
What will happen is you will bloat VA annual budget to 1 trillion and then
America will deem it too expensive. Dismantle VA.
You see it coming, you hear the anger. Then you throw up your hands and
let it happen. As the 1% suck it all up for them. Leave the rest of us settling
substandard care barely twice a year with little follow up. Little more
than cattle and valued as such.
Bonuses for highest level execs, and appointment cancellations for its
lowest patients. Top driven. Demanding to add a zero to any billable
item while the money last. The detachment is tiring and meant to drive
away complainers.
For people like me, I have to be my own researcher to solve my conditions
because my doctor hasnt got time or interest. Then we get close enough
to answers VA execs stiff arm us for trying. Because we are about to make
them look bad for ignoring request to help us find those answers.
Veterans deserve better. Most are struggling in 2025. Finding answers to
impossible scenarios. We are, but you wont see that here because its
about assets – personal wealth – good ole boy cliches. Hard work is punished
and driven underground.
28 year advocate, served on a VA federal advisory committee, in the news,
researcher working with other leading researchers, trying to save major
programs, and treated by VA execs like Im a Somali pirate. They are not
doing better and dont care. Im challenging you here in public on your
own media outlet. Toxic exposures, forensic style pathology, and a dual
method system that would help millions. See you in 2026.
Respectfully, this conflates unrelated systems and misrepresents the Accelerated Benefit Option.
The VA’s Accelerated Benefit Option is not medical care, not a budget driver, and not executive enrichment. It is a voluntary insurance rider on certain VA life insurance policies that allows a terminally ill veteran to access a portion of their own life insurance benefit early—typically to pay for end-of-life needs, family stability, or uncovered expenses.
No one is forced into it.
No one profits off a veteran using it.
No VA medical budget is “bloated” by it.
That money is already contractually owed to the veteran or their beneficiary. The option simply changes timing, not cost.
Separately, the claim that VA care is being dismantled through insurance mechanisms misunderstands how VA funding works. VA health care is congressionally appropriated, not profit-driven, not shareholder-based, and not dependent on insurance billing the way private systems are. Comparing it to $2,100 ER shots is a critique of the private healthcare market, not the VA insurance program.
There are legitimate failures worth fighting:
Access delays
Provider burnout
Toxic exposure adjudication
Follow-up gaps
Research translation lag
But mischaracterizing a voluntary insurance benefit as predatory policy muddies real reform efforts and scares veterans away from tools that may actually help them.
Veterans do deserve better.
That starts with precision, not conflation—and with holding leadership accountable using accurate policy critiques, not collapsing insurance, medical care, and federal budgeting into a single narrative.
If the goal is reform, clarity strengthens the case.
If the goal is change, facts matter.
How can did apply to me, I have the military life insurance? Will I be able to transfer that insurance over to the new insurance?
Good question, David — and this is where there’s been a lot of confusion.
If you’re referring to military or VA life insurance (SGLI, VGLI, or certain VA life insurance policies), you do not “transfer” that insurance into a new policy. These are separate insurance products.
Here’s how it actually works:
SGLI (active duty) ends when you separate from service.
You can convert SGLI to VGLI within the allowed time frame — that is the only direct conversion.
VA life insurance policies (like VGLI or older VA programs) stay in place as long as premiums are paid.
The Accelerated Benefit Option, where applicable, is not new insurance and not a transfer. It is simply a voluntary option on certain existing VA life insurance policies that allows a terminally ill veteran to access a portion of their own death benefit early. Nothing is taken away — it only changes timing.
If you’re looking at additional or new insurance, that would be separate from your military or VA policy and would not replace it unless you choose to cancel something (which you should never do without understanding the impact).
Bottom line:
Military/VA life insurance doesn’t “move” to another policy
Some policies can convert (SGLI → VGLI)
Accelerated benefits don’t change ownership or coverage
No one is forced into anything. This information is provided for clarity only. I’m sharing general guidance based on existing VA and military insurance rules, not offering individualized follow-up or sales of any kind.