Military & Veteran Life Insurance, Explained
SGLI, VGLI, VALife, and VMLI: who each one covers, what it pays, and the enrollment windows that cannot be recovered once missed. No verdicts here, just the facts and the phone numbers, so the decision stays yours.
THE MAPFour programs, four different jobs
People say "VA life insurance" like it is one thing. It is four programs with different doors, and the door that is open depends on where you are in your service story.
| Program | Who it is for | Max coverage | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| SGLI | Serving now | $500,000 | Ends 120 days after you separate |
| VGLI | Recently separated | Up to your SGLI amount, max $500,000 | Hard deadline: 1 year and 120 days after separation |
| VALife | Any service-connected rating, 0% to 100% | $40,000 | 2-year waiting period before full payout |
| VMLI | SAH/SHA housing-grant recipients | $200,000 | Pays your mortgage lender, not your family; apply before age 70 |
SERVING NOWSGLI
Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance is the coverage most people are automatically enrolled in on active duty, up to $500,000. Family SGLI (FSGLI) can cover a spouse and children while you carry SGLI. The number that matters most comes later: SGLI ends 120 days after you separate. After day 120, unless you have converted to VGLI or bought other coverage, you have none.
RECENTLY SEPARATEDVGLI, and the deadline people get wrong
Veterans' Group Life Insurance lets you continue coverage after service, up to the SGLI amount you carried at separation, max $500,000. You will hear people say the window is one year. That is wrong, and the wrong version costs people coverage in both directions.
Within 240 days of separation: apply with no health questions. You cannot be turned down.
From day 241 to 1 year and 120 days: you can still apply, but you must show proof of good health.
After 1 year and 120 days: the VGLI door closes. There are no extensions.
That 240-day mark is the one that matters most for anyone with a service-connected condition, an injury history, or daily medications, because inside it, health does not factor at all. After it, health does.
Other VGLI facts worth knowing: premiums are based on your age band and rise as you get older. Under age 60, you can increase coverage by $25,000 one year after you get VGLI and every five years after that, up to the $500,000 max, without health questions. And VGLI can later be converted to a permanent individual policy with an insurer on VA's conversion list, without proving good health.
Do not take a secondhand answer on your own deadline. Call OSGLI at 800-419-1473 and have them tell you your exact dates.
SERVICE-CONNECTED, ANY RATINGVALife
Veterans Affairs Life Insurance is guaranteed-acceptance whole life coverage, up to $40,000 in $10,000 increments. Guaranteed acceptance means exactly that: no exam, no health questions, and if you meet the eligibility rules, you cannot be denied. This is the program built for veterans that private underwriting turns away.
| VALife fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Veterans age 80 or under with any VA service-connected rating, 0% through 100%. No time limit to apply. |
| Age 81 and over | Eligible if you applied for compensation before 81, received a rating for that condition after turning 81, and apply within 2 years of the rating notice. |
| The waiting period | Full coverage starts 2 years after you apply. If death occurs inside that window, VA pays your beneficiaries every premium you paid, plus interest. |
| Premiums | Locked at the age you apply and never increase. Applying at a younger age locks a lower rate. There is no premium waiver. |
| How to apply | Online at VA.gov with an instant decision. |
| If you hold S-DVI | For applications on or after January 1, 2026, S-DVI coverage ends the day VA approves the VALife application, and the full VALife amount still waits out the 2-year period. Read VA's page on this carefully before switching. |
Questions: VA Insurance Center, 800-669-8477.
ADAPTED-HOUSING GRANT RECIPIENTSVMLI
Veterans' Mortgage Life Insurance is the program almost nobody mentions. Up to $200,000 of mortgage protection with no medical exam and no health questions, premiums deducted from VA compensation.
Two things make it different. First, the gate: VMLI is only for veterans and service members who received a Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) or Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant, hold a qualifying mortgage on that home, and apply before their 70th birthday. A 100% rating alone does not qualify you; the housing grant does. Second, the payout: VMLI pays your mortgage lender directly, not your family. It is decreasing-term coverage that tracks your loan balance down. It keeps the adapted home in the family; it does not replace regular life insurance.
If you have an SAH or SHA grant, or think you may qualify for one, ask about VMLI: VA Insurance Center, 800-669-8477.
OUTSIDE THE VAIf the VA programs do not fit
Maybe the VGLI window closed, or $40,000 is not enough for your family. The private market has doors too, and they work differently. These are the factors, not a ranking:
Group life through an employer (yours or a spouse's) often issues a base amount with no health questions at all. For someone who cannot pass individual underwriting, it is frequently the most accessible real coverage available.
Individually underwritten policies look at the condition behind a prescription, the dose, and your history, not just the fact that you take medication, and carriers grade the same file very differently. A decline from one company is one company's answer, not the market's.
Guaranteed-issue policies ask no health questions, but the face amounts are small and nearly all of them carry a 2 to 3 year graded death benefit, the same basic trade VALife makes. Ask what the waiting period is before anything else.
THE FIVE-MINUTE TASKBeneficiaries
More survivor heartbreak comes from outdated beneficiary forms than from missed enrollment windows. A policy pays whoever is on the form, not whoever you meant. After a marriage, divorce, birth, or death, update it: SGLI through your service's online enrollment system, VGLI through your online account or OSGLI, VALife through VA.gov.
VA life insurance hub · SGLI · VGLI · VALife · VMLI · VA insurance contacts
Phones: OSGLI (SGLI and VGLI) 800-419-1473 · VA Insurance Center (VALife, VMLI, legacy policies) 800-669-8477 · MyVA411 800-698-2411
