What is VGLI? Veterans Group Life Insurance, explained

Say you separate from the Army with $400,000 of SGLI. About four months later your free coverage ends, and VGLI comes up. Here is what it is.

VGLI, Veterans’ Group Life Insurance, is term life insurance offered through the VA that lets you keep coverage after your service ends. You convert from SGLI, carry between $10,000 and $500,000 (never more than the SGLI amount you held), and keep it for life as long as you pay the premiums. Apply within 240 days of leaving and there is no health review. The rules come from the VA’s VGLI page.

VGLI at a glance

Six facts cover most of what VGLI is. Everything else on this page builds on them, and each one comes from VA.gov.

Term insurance pays a benefit if you die while the policy is in force. It does not build cash value the way whole life does. Our guide on whether VGLI is term or whole life goes deeper on that point.

Who qualifies for VGLI

You qualify if you had SGLI while you served and you are within 1 year and 120 days of being released. That covers retirement, release from the Reserve or National Guard, and a few similar events. The VA names them on its page.

There is one more route. Reserve and Guard members who had part-time SGLI and were injured on duty, including while traveling directly to or from duty, in a way that kept them from standard insurance rates can qualify too.

• You need SGLI first. VGLI is a conversion. If you never had SGLI, VGLI is not the program for you.
• Your starting amount has a ceiling. It cannot be more than the SGLI you had.
• Your health does not decide it in the first window. More on that next.

The 240-day mark

If you apply within 240 days of leaving the military, the VA accepts you without a health review. After that, up to the 1 year and 120 day limit, you can still apply, but you have to submit evidence that you are in good health.

Your SGLI also gives you 120 days of free coverage after you leave, and the VA extends that free coverage for up to 2 years if you are totally disabled. The 240-day window is longer than the free period, so there is a stretch where you can still apply without a health review. The VA publishes the current dates and how to apply on its VGLI page.

VGLI vs. SGLI vs. VALife

Three VA programs get mixed up constantly. SGLI is for serving. VGLI is for leaving. VALife is for veterans with a service-connected rating, and it is open on a different timeline.

VGLI and VALife are not rivals. They answer different questions, and some veterans hold both: larger term coverage for the years a family leans on it most, and a smaller permanent policy underneath. Our VALife guide covers eligibility and the 2-year waiting period, and VALife vs VGLI compares the two on cost and coverage. If you hold the older S-DVI policy instead, the S-DVI guide explains where that program stands.

How VGLI premiums work

Your premium depends on two things: your age and the amount of coverage you carry. It is level while you stay in an age group and steps up when you move into the next one. Here are four points on the VA’s $500,000 schedule, effective July 1, 2025:

Those are the full-coverage figures, and most people carry less. A $100,000 policy costs a fraction of that, and the VA’s chart shows every amount. The full table, plus the cost per $10,000, lives in our VGLI rates guide. If you want to know why the steps feel steep later in life, see how the five-year age-band steps work. The VA has also announced a three-month premium holiday, November 1, 2026 through January 31, 2027, for coverage that is active on November 1; the rules are on our rates page.

When VGLI is enough on its own

Honestly, a lot of the time. If you want coverage you can secure without a health review, and you are not sure how private underwriting would treat your history, VGLI does that job. Keeping it can be the whole answer, and our guide to whether VGLI is worth it shows who tends to keep it and who looks at converting or replacing it.

It also tends to suit you when:

• You applied inside the 240-day window and the monthly cost fits your budget today.
• You have a health condition that would make a private policy harder to qualify for.
• You want coverage that does not depend on passing an exam again later.

The calls that tend to be worth making are the ones where the numbers have moved. A premium that just stepped up an age group, a beneficiary who needs to change, or a coverage amount that no longer matches your life are all good reasons to ask for a second look.

What a free call can cover

Policy Review Center is a free comparison and referral service. We connect you with independent licensed professionals, and you decide what happens next. Here is what the conversation usually looks like:

1. 1.You share what you have. Your VGLI statement, your question, or just the situation.
2. 2.A licensed professional explains it. What the coverage does, what it costs at your age, and what your options are.
3. 3.You decide. Keep it, change it, or compare it. No obligation either way.

The help goes past comparing. Our team can help you understand your policy, update a beneficiary, sort out a billing or premium question, work through claims paperwork, and point you to the right office when you are not sure where a request belongs. VGLI itself is a VA program run day to day by Prudential’s Office of Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, so the VA and that office stay the place for official changes. We help you know what to ask and where to go.