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Veterans'
Special Life Insurance
(Korean War Program)
The Insurance
Act of 1951 established a program to meet the insurance needs of Korean
War service personnel and veterans. During this period, all service members
on active duty were covered by $10,000 of free insurance under a program
known as Servicemen's Indemnity.
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Korea
1951, 7th U.S. Infantry Division
(Courtesy of Arms and Armour Press, At War in Korea from
a U.S Army Photo)
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They remained
covered under Servicemen's Indemnity for 120 days after their discharge.
Newly discharged veterans could then apply for
Veterans Special Life Insurance (VSLI) which was renewable term insurance.
The VSLI program was closed to new issues at the end of 1956. Effective
January 1, 1959, VSLI term policies could be converted to permanent
plans of insurance or exchanged for a
limited convertible term policy. Today there are 181,000 policies
still in force and the average age of policyholders is 75 years. Annual
dividends are paid on these policies. The maximum face amount of a
policy is $10,000. However, this
limit does not include paid-up
additional insurance which can be purchased with the annual dividends.
Certain disability
benefits are available under these policies for policyholders who become totally
disabled before their 65th birthday.
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to Program Descriptions Page
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