Posted on Feb 16, 2019
Do you know a good life insurance agent for disabled Veterans?
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I'd like some help understanding my options.
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
That is a great question, my friend SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA.
I recommend using an insurance broker who represents many different insurance companies and bills them, not you directly. It is not surprising if the agent gets paid via your premiums but it is worth knowing for how long.
Where are you located, my friend?
Depending on where you are may help find an agent.
1. The younger you are the better to begin shopping for life insurance.
2. Life insurance is all about potential for life expectancy. Therefore the natures of the disability are critical as well as the life expectancy associated with it.
3. I have always preferred purchasing life insurance without considering it an investment with cash value. The cost is lower that way.
4. I began my insurance experience [after SGLI] with what is now known as First Command in Columbus, Georgia in 1985. I purchased $25K with options to purchase more independent of my health. That was great because as my disabilities became evident cost went up.
5. I purchased similar policies for three of my sons when they were young.
What do you think? LTC Stephen C. LTC John Shaw COL Mikel J. Burroughs SSG(P) James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"
I recommend using an insurance broker who represents many different insurance companies and bills them, not you directly. It is not surprising if the agent gets paid via your premiums but it is worth knowing for how long.
Where are you located, my friend?
Depending on where you are may help find an agent.
1. The younger you are the better to begin shopping for life insurance.
2. Life insurance is all about potential for life expectancy. Therefore the natures of the disability are critical as well as the life expectancy associated with it.
3. I have always preferred purchasing life insurance without considering it an investment with cash value. The cost is lower that way.
4. I began my insurance experience [after SGLI] with what is now known as First Command in Columbus, Georgia in 1985. I purchased $25K with options to purchase more independent of my health. That was great because as my disabilities became evident cost went up.
5. I purchased similar policies for three of my sons when they were young.
What do you think? LTC Stephen C. LTC John Shaw COL Mikel J. Burroughs SSG(P) James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"
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Capt Daniel Goodman
US Veterans Affairs Department in Orlando Florida
US Veterans Affairs Department, a Veterans Affairs Department, in Orlando, FL 32822, address and phone number. Veterans affairs departments like the VA (Veterans Affairs), VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), Amvets, and vet centers provide information and help with benefits, charities, insurance, disability, medical care, education, programs and compensation for veterans of the US Armed Forces.
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Capt Daniel Goodman
One way you can do such stuff is that, from what we found, most term life stuff generally has the guaranteed type, allowed irrespective of clinical conditions in most instances....now, benefits, we'd found also, we limited with such policies, so, what we did was basically cobble together multiple such versions, AARP, e.g., has such a plan, most major insurance groups do, what you can also do is, if you join vet groups, like AMVETS, as you'd mentioned that you'd used them for your claim, they generally have such term life plans, in many instances, so, I'd most definitely ask them, we didn't go that way, we used other reputable plans we got ads for that we looked into, however, that was how we did it, at any rate, we're likely gonna try to get more, incl. the AARP one as well...there are also long-term care plans, incl. from AARP, that you should also look at, as well, just an added thought, OK? I'm here if you wanna yak more, once again, no rush....
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Capt Daniel Goodman
And what he'd said about a multi-company broker, we have a friend who's doing that to make extra money now, he and his wife, they want us to go in with them for our cars, so we'd heard about that concept also, as well....
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https://benefits.va.gov/insurance/s-dvi.asp
You've gotta be 100% or the legal equivalent for this, the thing is, if you can get it, maybe with the NOVA guys helping, the first $10K is paid for free by Congress, then you can get up to $30K more taken out of any VA-disability allotment, we had it set up for my wife when we got me approved, I've got one thing more, also, in case you don't know about it, I'll send this now first as well, OK?
You've gotta be 100% or the legal equivalent for this, the thing is, if you can get it, maybe with the NOVA guys helping, the first $10K is paid for free by Congress, then you can get up to $30K more taken out of any VA-disability allotment, we had it set up for my wife when we got me approved, I've got one thing more, also, in case you don't know about it, I'll send this now first as well, OK?
![](https://d26horl2n8pviu.cloudfront.net/link_data_pictures/images/000/366/150/qrc/header-logo.png?1550335604)
Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance (S-DVI) - Life Insurance
Program provided to meet the insurance needs of certain Veterans with service-connected disabilities
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Capt Daniel Goodman
What I'm going to say depends on whether or not you're able to work, obviously, however, when we had the vet group submit me initially, one of the guys there mentioned a concept I hadn't heard about at that point, called totally disabled individually unemployable (TDIU)...there's a class above that, I think, called total and permanent (T&P), which means a claim is never to be revisited, it's final, my stuff was major enough to justify that, though it took, as I'd said, six and half years for our NOVA guy to get it for us...also, once a 100% or the legal equivalent of it gets to the 10-yr. point, Congress has declared that they're statutorily 100%, which means that, aside from SSDI, which I'm also on, as is my wife, she's total disabled also, from NYS civil svc, one can basically do anything, incl. volunteering, which, before then, is actually quite restricted, I ran all that up a flagpole, and basically spoke with just about everybody imaginable...I'm (please God) to reach the 10-yr. point the end of next month, after which my wife would be permanently protected under a provision called dependent indemnity compensation (DIC), it has to be submitted for, however, that only needs a VA Form 21-534EZ...to be considered for TDIU or T&P, one needs, for a single approved clinical basis, a 60% or higher, or, in the case of multiple approved clinical bases, an aggregate of 70% or higher in total, with one, I believe, at least 40%...when we did my thing, we had to do the whole schmiel, notices of disagreement (NODs) to the VA Regional Ofc. (VARO), telling all three Congress ofcs. so they could watch what was going on, doing what's called a VARO-level decision review ofcr. (DRO) hearing, that can be done by a vet group, by an attorney, on paper, or requesting a hearing by the VARO staff...at one point, due to the VARO by us having been backed up, our claim for me was farmed out on referral to another VARO in another state, that's allowed, then it was eventually sent back with the claim file (C-file) for me (which was pretty humongous by that time, sevl. inches worth) to the VARO by us...after that, we had to do yet more VARO referrals to the VA hospital by us, more waiting, then we got the 50%, another NOD by the NOVA guy by that time, he'd also gone into see the VARO staff for the DRO we'd needed for me...to get the 50%, we had to do the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) traveling team thing, where we went in with our NOVA guy, one of two pro-bono attorneys from a large major law group where we are, he'd gotten us that, as my thing was pretty involved, almost surreal, in fact, we saw a VA vet law judge (VLJ), all four of us, basically a Federal admin law judge (ALJ) under VA...more waiting, about a year, due to the backlog, that was when we got the 50%, then yet another NOD to do the appeal, more waiting, then, finally, after yet another final VA hospital clinical eval, the 100% (thank God)...the NOVA guy, both for the 50%, as well as the 100%, as well as adding my wife as VA dependent, got the legally allowed fourth or fifth of the back money, we'd only given him an initial $500 consult, believe me, we, esp. I, truly learned why God had invented attorneys, all cynicism aside, honest...so, all that being said, trust me, get one of the NOVA guys by you to go over your whole thing...all claims have a year to have activity, after which they're lost, as well as the original date of submission, though, regardless of how long it's been since your 80%, you can always have a resubmission done to be considered for upgrade, you'll likely have to go through all we did, plus, BVA also can be done on paper, aside from the traveling team thing we did, which is also done for discharge review boards (DRB), not that you need that, I'm just explaining, one can also ask for a video hearing with the whole BVA, entire, though our guy said the VLJ traveling team was was best, as it allows the most thorough one on one discussion...above the BVA, which has its own toll free phone line, I don't have it, though you can get it at the moment, I saved it, you can get it, of course, there's the Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims, a Wash, DC Federal court, that does in fact use mediation to try to settle claims, before actually taking them to the court, I'd been told, though we never had to go that high, obviously, thankfully...above that is the Circuit Court of Appeals, with either a three-judge panel, or the whole Circuit Court, in what is termed an en banc hearing...then, of course, is the Supreme Court, with the concept of a writ of certiorari needed to be submitted to the Clerk, though, of course, that's pure attorney stuff...now, all major vet groups have law firms attached to them, I've actually chatted with sevl attorneys with sevl law groups attached to sevl vet groups, they handle all CAVC, Circuit Court, and Supreme Court cases...I'm not saying you'd need to go that high, the BVA is as high as you can go in the VA, CAVC, Circuit Court, and Supreme Court, are all obviously above VA, of course, I was once again merely explaining...that's basically how the whole thing works, pretty much...I could probably elaborate some more, certainly, however, for the most part, that's the bulk of it, I assure you...when I'd been in clinical residency, I was allied health doctoral, we shut my license off when we did the whole disability thing for me, I trained at multiple VA hospitals, both in residency, as well as in clerkships while in grad school...so, between 3 yrs Army ROTC, USAF OTS after that, the 4 yrs USAF active, 5 yrs related industry after I'd gotten out, and all my VA stuff, aside from all my other clinical stuff, I've been around just about more bureaucratic blocks than God has streets, at this point...plus, we had to have me handle the attorneys for both of our SSDI claims, we've had worker-comp claims, my wife had a NYS ordinary-disability pension claim, and then all my VA stuff, so, while I'm obviously not an attorney, or a paralegal (God knows, I know my limits, I wouldn't want to be either, certainly), I've anecdotally absorbed a good deal of the bulk of such procedure, aside from having had clinical jurisprudence while I'd been doing my doctorate, taught by a physician who was also an attorney for a semester...I may not have seen quite everything, however, I've certainly by now seen most things one can possibly encounter with regard to such stuff, so, what I've given you is pretty much the bulk of my worm's-eye user's-end view, that my wife and I both saw for all of our stuff, God knows, I could probably deluge you with a flood tide of yet more procedural admin drivel, I expect, however, for the moment, that should be the bulk of what you'd need to fathom the entire thing, if you'd want to elaborate at all on your stuff, so far as you like, I'm here, send as much as you want, I'll try to give you any further thoughts that occur to me, no rush, whenever you want, OK?
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Capt Daniel Goodman
I saw you do freelance writing, I gather, so, that being said, obviously, you're working...for that reason, I don't know how you or the NOVA guys would want to handle you, obviously...in any event, all the goodies here should at least be of use generally, and/or possibly later on, if nothing else, you know?
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The problem with the VA S-DVI is:
"You apply within 2 years from the date VA grants your new service-connected disability."
Face amount is cut by ½ the day before 65th birthday
but premium remains the same for lifetime.
Cheapest permanent plan, but…
Pamphlet, like most insurance plans, suggest at 69, the $10,000 is reduced by half, and the monthly premium is $64.26 per $1,000, so >$7,700 annually.
Not that any other insurance will be much better.
The video commercial on the page is nearly laughable. Specifically, "I wanted to take care of my wife." For how long, though the end of the funeral?
"You apply within 2 years from the date VA grants your new service-connected disability."
Face amount is cut by ½ the day before 65th birthday
but premium remains the same for lifetime.
Cheapest permanent plan, but…
Pamphlet, like most insurance plans, suggest at 69, the $10,000 is reduced by half, and the monthly premium is $64.26 per $1,000, so >$7,700 annually.
Not that any other insurance will be much better.
The video commercial on the page is nearly laughable. Specifically, "I wanted to take care of my wife." For how long, though the end of the funeral?
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