Life Insurance Lowdown

Are you a service member? Chances are you know about the ‘Wounded Warrior Insurance”. But do you know how your military insurance has been enhanced to cover traumatic injury, whether suffered in war or at home even while off duty? Most probably, you don’t. I think the main reason is that the new Traumatic Injury Protection under Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance is still referred to as the wounded warrior insurance. And also probably because most of the nearly 3,000 recipients to date are wounded warriors who qualified for TSGLI retroactively because of injuries sustained in combat areas.

But The TSGLI goes much beyond wounded warriors and also covers injuries incurred after Nov. 30, 2005. For the record, any service member, active or reserve, who has Service members’ Group Life Insurance and suffers a traumatic injury, can be eligible for the trauma pay. Understanding this is important because members hit by traumatic injuries have to apply to their service for TSGLI payments. Estripes.com reports:

Payments help servicemembers and families handle the extra expense and strain of adjusting to life-altering injuries. Payments range from $25,000 to $100,000, depending on severity of their trauma. Loss of a hand above the wrist, for example, would qualify a member for $50,000.

Read more: ‘Wounded Warrior Insurance’ not limited to war wounds