Springfield Missouri Military Retiree Council

Information of Interest to all Military retirees and veterans

Department of Veterans Affairs News Release 202-273-6000 WWW.va.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    

September 16, 2011

Retroactive Traumatic Injury Benefits No Longer Just For OEF/OIF Injuries

TSGLI Payments Will Be Made for Qualifying Injuries

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is extending retroactive traumatic injury benefits to Servicemembers who suffered qualifying injuries during the period Oct. 7, 2001 to Nov. 30, 2005, regardless of the geographic location where the injuries occurred.

“Now all of our nation’s Servicemembers who suffered severe traumatic injuries while serving their country can receive the same traumatic injury benefits, regardless of where their injury occurred,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We at VA appreciate the efforts of Congress and the President to improve benefits for our troops.”

Effective Oct. 1, the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) Traumatic Injury Protection benefit, known as TSGLI, will be payable for all qualifying injuries incurred during this period.  This retroactive benefit is payable whether or not the Servicemember had SGLI coverage at the time of the injury. 

The Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2010, passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in October of 2010, removes the requirement that injuries during this period be incurred in Operations Enduring or Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). This is welcome news for the many Servicemembers who suffered serious traumatic injuries while serving stateside or in other areas outside of OEF/OIF during this time period, but until now have not been eligible for TSGLI. 

TSGLI provides a payment ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 to Servicemembers sustaining certain severe traumatic injuries resulting in a range of losses, including amputations; limb salvage; paralysis; burns; loss of sight, hearing or speech; facial reconstruction; 15-day continuous hospitalization; coma; and loss of activities of daily living due to traumatic brain injury or other traumatic injuries. 

 National Guard and Reserve members who were injured during the retroactive period and suffered a qualifying loss are also eligible for a TSGLI payment, even if the cause was not related to military service, such as a civilian automobile accident or severe injury which occurred while working around their home. 

National Guard and Reserve members make up more than 40 percent of the total force which has been deployed since 9-11.  Those who are no longer in the National Guard or Reserves can also apply as long as their injury occurred while they were in service.

“I am extremely pleased that these total force warriors who defend our freedoms are getting the recognition and benefits they have rightfully earned in service to our nation,” added Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey.

VA is working with the Department of Defense to publicize this change in the TSGLI law.  Additionally, all of the branches of service are identifying any claims previously denied because the injury was not incurred in OEF/OIF and reaching out to those individuals.

Although applications are currently being accepted by branch of service TSGLI offices, benefits will not be paid until Oct. 1, 2011, the effective date of the law. 

For more information or to apply for a TSGLI payment, Servicemembers and Veterans should go to http://www.insurance.va.gov/sgliSite/TSGLI/TSGLI.htm or contact their branch of service TSGLI Office (contact information available at above link).

ELIMINATING THE OFFSETS

Military retired pay is earned by virtue of a veteran's long service to the nation; disability compensation is for service-incurred disabilities. Yet some service members who retired from the armed forces after 20 or more years of service must forfeit a portion of the retirement pay they earned through that very faithful service to receive VA compensation for service-connected disabilities.

Most nondisabled military retirees go on to pursue second careers in order to supplement their income, thereby justly enjoying a full reward for completion of a military career, along with the added reward of full pay in civilian employment. To put service-connected disabled retirees on an equal footing with nondisabled retirees, disabled retirees rated 40 percent or lower should receive full military retired pay and compensation to account for diminution of their earning capacities.

Disabled veterans should not suffer financial penalties for choosing military service as a career rather than a civilian career, especially where in all likelihood a civilian career would have involved fewer sacrifices and greater rewards. If a veteran must forfeit a dollar of retired pay for every dollar of VA disability compensation otherwise payable, our government is, in effect, compensating the veteran with nothing for the service-connected disability he or she suffered.

H.R. 303, Hit. 333 and FIR 811 have been introduced in the 11Ith Congress and would eliminate this longstanding inequity. The DAV supports these bills and asks for their immediate consideration.

Similarly, Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities are offset by the amount of any survivor benefits payable under the VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) program. Unlike many private sector retirement plans, survivors have no entitlement to any portion of the member's retired pay after his or her death. Under SBP, a survivor's annuity is purchased through deductions from the member's retirement pay. This is not a gratuitous benefit Upon the veteran's death, the annuity is paid monthly to eligible beneficiaries under the plan.

DIC protects the survivors from the losses associated with the veteran's death from service-connected causes or after a period of time when the veteran was unable, because of total disability, to accumulate an estate for inheritance by survivors.

If a veteran is retired from the military and enrolled in SBP, the surviving spouse's SBP benefits are reduced by the amount of DIC (currently $1,154 per month). However, if the veteran died of other than service-connected causes or was not totally disabled by service-connected causes for the required time preceding his or her death, beneficiaries receive full SBP payments. There are approximately 61,000 military widows/widowers affected by the SBP offset of DIC benefits.

Where the monthly DIC rate is equal to, or greater than, the monthly SBP annuity, beneficiaries lose all entitlement to the SBP annuity. The offsets affecting military retirement pay and SBP payments are inequitable because no duplication of benefits is involved.

The DAV supports H.R. 775, the "Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act" and S. 535, a bill to amend title 10. United States Code, and repeal requirement for reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan by veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation. Both bills would finally end this disparity and would provide surviving spouses with the full spectrum of benefits they have earned and deserve.

The DAV strongly supports the repeal of these offsets, which penalize an already financially vulnerable population of survivors, dependents, and retirees Urge your elected officials to support the removal of these offsets Pass HR. 303, H.R. 333, H.R. 775, H.R. 811 and S. 535.