Can I lose VGLI coverage if my health declines?

No. Once you're enrolled in VGLI, the VA cannot cancel your policy or deny renewal based on your health, as long as you keep paying the premium. This no-medical-exam guarantee is the main reason many veterans keep VGLI despite rising costs with age.

Do VGLI premiums stay the same once I reach a certain age?

No. VGLI premiums increase every five years as you move into a new age band, with no upper limit until age 80 and older, which is the final band. There is no age at which the rate locks in permanently.

Can I reduce my VGLI coverage amount to lower the premium?

Yes. You can decrease your coverage amount at any time by contacting the Office of Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, which lowers your monthly premium proportionally. Coverage cannot be increased as easily after age 60.

Is VGLI the same as SGLI?

No. SGLI is the group life insurance available to active-duty service members. VGLI is the renewable term policy veterans convert to after leaving service. They're related programs, but VGLI has separate rates and eligibility rules.

Does VGLI cover funeral costs directly?

VGLI pays a death benefit to your named beneficiary, who can use it for any purpose, including funeral costs. It is not the same as VA burial benefits, which are separate, capped payments made directly toward burial and plot expenses in certain cases.

VGLI Rates by Age: What Veterans' Group Life Insurance Actually Costs

You kept your SGLI coverage going after you left the military by converting it to VGLI. That decision made sense at 25 or 35. At 65 or 75, the math looks different, because VGLI is age-banded term insurance and the premium resets — upward — every five years.

What Is VGLI?

VGLI, or Veterans' Group Life Insurance, is a renewable term life policy offered through the VA to veterans who had Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) while on active duty. It lets you keep coverage after discharge "for as long as you continue to pay the premiums," according to the VA's VGLI page. Coverage runs from $10,000 up to $500,000, in $10,000 increments, and is not affiliated with any private insurer — it's a federal program, but Veteran Legacy Plan is a private company and has no role in administering it.

Unlike a private term policy, VGLI does not lock in a rate for a set number of years. Instead, the VA groups policyholders into age bands, and the premium for your coverage amount increases each time you move into a new band. That structure is what makes VGLI affordable in your 30s and expensive in your 70s.

Who Can Get VGLI?

You generally qualify if you meet one of these conditions, per the VA:

You had SGLI on active duty and apply within 1 year and 120 days of discharge from 31 or more days of active duty.
You're within 1 year and 120 days of retiring from the Ready Reserve or National Guard.
You're within 1 year and 120 days of assignment to the Individual Ready Reserve or Inactive National Guard.
You had part-time SGLI and a service-connected injury or disability disqualified you from standard commercial rates.

Once enrolled, you can generally keep VGLI for life, and you can increase coverage by $25,000 a year for the first year after conversion, then every five years up to age 60. There is no requirement to prove good health to keep renewing an existing policy.

How Much Does VGLI Cost by Age?

Premiums depend only on your age and the amount of coverage you carry — not your gender or whether you smoke. Below are the VA's published monthly rates for $100,000 and $400,000 of coverage, effective July 1, 2025, for the age bands most relevant to veterans planning ahead for final expenses.

Age Band	$100,000 Coverage	$400,000 Coverage
55–59	$50.00/month	$200.00/month
60–64	$85.00/month	$340.00/month
65–69	$138.00/month	$552.00/month
70–74	$215.00/month	$860.00/month
75–79	$385.00/month	$1,540.00/month
80 and older	$440.00/month	$1,760.00/month

Source: VA VGLI premium rate tables, current as of July 1, 2025. The VA updates these tables periodically, so confirm the current figures on the official page before you budget around them.

To put the jump in perspective: a veteran carrying $100,000 in VGLI coverage pays $50 a month at 55–59 and $440 a month at 80 and older — nearly nine times as much for the identical coverage amount.

Why Do VGLI Premiums Rise So Much After 60?

VGLI is priced on pooled risk within each age band, not on your individual health. Everyone in the 75–79 band pays the same rate for the same coverage, regardless of whether they're in excellent health or managing several chronic conditions. That's useful if your health has declined and you'd be denied or rated up for a new private policy. It's expensive if you're still healthy, because you're subsidizing higher-risk policyholders in your band.

The VA doesn't design VGLI to be cheap in retirement. It's designed to guarantee that veterans who converted from SGLI can keep some coverage without a medical exam, at any age, as long as they keep paying. The tradeoff for that guarantee is a premium that keeps climbing every five years for as long as you hold the policy.

Is VGLI a Good Deal for Veterans on a Fixed Income?

That depends on why you're carrying the coverage and what shape your health is in. A few things worth weighing:

If you're in poor health and couldn't qualify for new coverage elsewhere, VGLI's no-medical-exam renewal is likely your best or only option, even at the higher rate.
If you're healthy and mainly want to cover funeral and burial costs, a smaller, fixed-premium final expense policy from a private insurer may cost less over time than an aging VGLI premium, though you'd need to qualify medically. This is general information, not financial advice — compare actual quotes before deciding.
If your goal is covering the gap VA burial benefits don't, it helps to know what the VA actually pays first. Veterans who die of a service-connected condition, or who were already receiving a VA pension or compensation, may qualify for a burial allowance — but the amounts are capped and don't cover most funeral costs on their own for veterans who die of unrelated causes.
Dropping VGLI entirely without a replacement plan leaves your family to cover final expenses out of pocket, which is often the scenario families are least prepared for.

VGLI also isn't the only insurance question veterans face at this stage. If you're unsure whether your original SGLI coverage even converted properly, see Does SGLI Life Insurance Continue After You Leave the Military? And if you're weighing what your spouse would receive if something happened to you, see What Survivor Benefits Does a Veteran's Spouse Get?

What to Do About It

Pull your current VGLI statement and confirm your exact age band, coverage amount, and monthly premium — don't estimate from memory. Then request quotes for a comparable private final expense or term policy to see whether your health would qualify you for a lower fixed rate. If your health rules that out, VGLI's guaranteed renewal is worth keeping despite the cost. Either way, run the numbers against what VA burial benefits will and won't cover for your situation, so you know the actual size of the gap your family would face — and decide with your spouse or next of kin, not alone.