Life Insurance
VALife: guaranteed life insurance for service-connected veterans
If you have any service-connected rating, even 0 percent, you can get VA life insurance with no medical exam and no health questions. Here is how VALife works, what it costs you in trade-offs, and how it differs from VGLI, in plain English.
A lot of us got turned down for life insurance because of the same conditions that got us a VA rating. Sleep apnea, a heart issue, a mental health diagnosis, all of it can make a private insurer either say no or quote a price you cannot stomach. VA built a program for exactly that problem. It is called VALife, short for Veterans Affairs Life Insurance, and it started taking applications on January 1, 2023.
The one word that makes it worth reading about is guaranteed. If you qualify, you are in. No exam, no blood draw, no questionnaire about your health. That is rare, and it is the whole point.
The short version
VALife is guaranteed-acceptance whole life insurance. Any service-connected rating qualifies you, including a 0 percent rating, as long as you are age 80 or under. You pick coverage in $10,000 steps up to $40,000. There is no health exam. The catch is a two-year waiting period before the full death benefit pays out.
Who qualifies
The eligibility rule is short. You need a VA service-connected disability rating, and you need to be age 80 or under. That is it. VA states plainly that even a 0 percent service-connected rating counts. A 0 percent rating means VA agreed the condition is connected to your service but decided it is not currently severe enough to pay compensation. For most benefits that zero is frustrating. For VALife it is a key that opens the door.
There is a narrow path for veterans over 80 as well. If you applied for disability before turning 81, got your rating after turning 81, and apply within two years of that rating decision, you can still get in. For most veterans the simple rule is the one that matters: service-connected and 80 or under.
Because acceptance is guaranteed, VA does not ask a single health question and does not order a medical exam. Whatever your conditions are, they cannot be used to deny you or raise your price. Your premium is based on your age when you enroll, not on how healthy you are.
How much coverage you can get
VALife is sold in blocks of $10,000. You can choose $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, or up to a maximum of $40,000. This is not a policy meant to replace a working-age breadwinner's income. It is sized to cover a funeral, clear some final bills, and leave your family a little breathing room instead of a GoFundMe.
It is whole life insurance, which means two things. The coverage does not expire as long as you pay the premium, and the policy slowly builds cash value over time. We will not print a premium figure here, because it depends on your age and the amount you pick, and the numbers get updated. Run your own with the official VALife page and premium calculator on VA.gov before you decide anything. Do not take a dollar amount from a blog, including this one.
The two-year waiting period, explained honestly
This is the trade-off, and you should understand it before you apply. VALife has a two-year waiting period. For the first two years after VA approves your policy, the full death benefit is not payable yet.
Here is what actually happens if a veteran dies during those two years. The beneficiary does not get the full $40,000. Instead they get back all the premiums that were paid, plus interest. So the money is not lost. It comes back with interest on top. After the two years are up, the full coverage amount is in force, and your beneficiary receives the entire benefit you signed up for.
The cash value works on the same clock. It starts to build two years after VA approves your application. This waiting period is the price of guaranteed acceptance. An insurer that takes everyone with no health questions has to protect itself somehow, and this is how. It is a fair deal, but it means VALife rewards enrolling sooner rather than waiting until you are sick, because the two-year clock has to run either way.
Why enrolling early matters
Your premium is locked to your age at enrollment, and the two-year waiting period starts the day you are approved. Signing up at 55 costs less and clears the waiting period a lot sooner than signing up at 75. If you are eligible and know you want it, time is not on your side.
How VALife differs from VGLI
Veterans mix these two up constantly, so let us separate them cleanly. VGLI stands for Veterans' Group Life Insurance. It is the program that lets you continue the SGLI coverage you carried on active duty after you separate. SGLI is the group life insurance you had in uniform; VGLI is its civilian continuation.
The differences that matter:
| VALife | VGLI | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Whole life, builds cash value | Term life, no cash value |
| Who it is for | Any service-connected veteran, 80 or under | Veterans who had SGLI, regardless of rating |
| Deadline to apply | No separation deadline | Within 1 year and 120 days of leaving service |
| Health questions | Never, always guaranteed | None if you apply within 240 days of separation; after that you must show good health |
| Maximum coverage | $40,000 | Up to $500,000 |
The plain takeaway: VGLI is the bigger policy, but it has a tight enrollment window after you separate and can require proof of good health if you miss the easy period. VALife is smaller, but it has no separation deadline and it never asks about your health. Many veterans are eligible for both. They are not competitors so much as tools for different jobs. Check the details on the official VGLI page on VA.gov.
What happened to S-DVI
If you remember an older VA life insurance program for disabled veterans, that was S-DVI, Service-Disabled Veterans Life Insurance. It is closed. VA stopped accepting new S-DVI applications on December 31, 2022, and VALife is its replacement. If you already hold an S-DVI policy you can keep it, but no new enrollment is possible. Anyone shopping today is shopping for VALife. You can read the closure notice on the S-DVI page on VA.gov.
How to apply
You apply online. VA lets you check eligibility and submit the application in one sitting, and you pay your first premium when you apply. VA notifies you of approval by email, text, or both, with a link to manage the policy. The whole thing is done through VA.gov's VALife page. There is no salesperson, no broker, and no one earning a commission off you. If someone contacts you offering to sell you VA life insurance for a fee, that is not how this works. VALife comes straight from VA.
The honest bottom line
VALife is a genuinely good fit for veterans who cannot get affordable coverage anywhere else because of their service-connected conditions. The guaranteed acceptance is real, the coverage is modest but useful, and the two-year waiting period is a fair trade as long as you understand it going in. If you are eligible and you have been putting off getting any coverage, this is worth an afternoon on VA.gov. Verify every number there before you commit.
Not sure where your rating stands?
VALife hinges on having a service-connected rating, even a 0 percent one. The VA Claims Copilot can walk you through your ratings and what they unlock. Or upload your decision letter and it will explain in plain English exactly what VA granted you.
This is general education, not legal advice, and not from the VA. Your claim depends on your records, your evidence, and your exam. For advice on your specific situation, work with a free VA-accredited representative or a Veterans Service Organization. We are not the VA and are not affiliated with the VA.