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Life Insurance

Active-duty service members automatically are insured for $400,000 under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) program.

Premiums are $27 a month for the maximum coverage of $400,000, including new coverage for traumatic injuries. Premiums are deducted from paychecks automatically. To refuse coverage or to choose partial coverage, a member must make a written request.

The Pentagon also pays the premiums on the first $150,000 of coverage for personnel serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.

Traumatic injury insurance. A new traumatic injury protection program that took effect Dec. 1, 2005, pays up to $100,000 for severe injuries suffered by service members.

This insurance coverage applies to traumatic injuries regardless of where the injury occurs, on or off the job — even mowing the grass at home is included. Active-duty, National Guard and reserve members who have SGLI are insured automatically, for an additional premium cost of $1 per month. Because of its connection to the SGLI program, the new traumatic injury insurance coverage is known as "TSGLI."

Those who have SGLI cannot decline the injury coverage, nor can service members carry TSGLI without also carrying basic SGLI.

Examples of payment amounts include total loss of sight in both eyes, $100,000; loss of one foot, at or above the ankle, $50,000.

The coverage is retroactive for service members who suffered qualifying losses between Oct. 7, 2001, and Dec. 1, 2005, that directly resulted from a traumatic event in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.

Retroactive payments will be made regardless of whether service members had SGLI coverage at the time of their injury.

If troops die of their wounds, their families also may qualify for TSGLI payments, in addition to other death benefits, if the member survives for at least seven days after the traumatic event. This is also retroactive for those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.

Troops still on active duty, as well as those who have left the service, can qualify for the payment, which is paid on top of any other Department of Veterans Affairs disability or pension benefits. But to qualify, the injury must have been incurred before the service member separated from the military.

Contact. Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, (800) 419-1473; www.insurance.va.gov.

Veterans and retirees can buy insurance similar to SGLI after they leave service, but the premiums increase substantially as the person gets older. That plan is known as Veterans' Group Life Insurance, or VGLI.

Taxes. SGLI, TSGLI and VGLI payments are tax-free.