New
Insurance Program
Our
new insurance product is known as the Level to Age 50 term life
insurance policy. The best rates and best benefits of this policy
are available for new recruits and our younger soldiers and
airmen. I say this because the program allows any new recruit
who is under the age of 45 to join the program within 60 days
of joining the Guard without providing any medical information
whatsoever. The cost of our $250,000 policy is $19.15 compared
to $20.00 for the same SGLI coverage. A current non-smoking
member of the Guard who is between the ages of 18 and 44 can
also receive the $250,000 policy for $19.15, although not guaranteed,
these rates are designed to remain unchanged until the soldier
or airman reaches his 50th birthday.
Our
new Level to Age 50 policy is also designed to help our solders
and airmen when they leave the Guard. Statistics show that the
turnover rate for the states in the Militia Trust is at least
20 percent each year. Our plan allows a Guardsman to retain
their insurance at the same rates as long as the group policy
remains in force.
For
example, if you join the Guard at the age of 18 and serve 20
years and decide to retire at age 38, you can still keep $250,000
of coverage for $19.15 a month for the next twelve years. The
same type of coverage can be gained through SGLI by converting
to VGLI for a monthly premium of $35 through the age of 39,
a monthly premium of $55 from age 40 through age 44, and a monthly
premium of $80 from age 45 through 49.
In
no way am I suggesting for everyone to cancel his or her SGLI
policy. In fact you may want to consider keeping your SGLI coverage
of $250,000 and adding another $250,000 of coverage under our
Level to Age 50 policy. Other amounts of insurance are also
available under of Level to Age 50 policy beginning at $100,000
and under SGLI beginning at $10,000.
Factor
to consider should include at a minimum your age, physical condition,
known medical issues, family financial need if you die, and
age that you either plan to retire from the Guard or leave the
Guard. We plan to make available our policy information to every
member of the Illinois National Guard and we suggest for everyone
to thoroughly review this information. We also suggest for everyone
to understand the SGLI and VGLI program especially if they plan
to make changes to their current policies. The government provides
a good website that explains the SGLI and VGLI programs and
it can be found at http://www.insurance.va.gov/sglivgli/sglivgli.htm.
We owe it to all those who have come before us to work as hard
as we can to maintain the viability of this association so we
can continue the good fight . None of the benefits that we enjoy
today were just given to us for free without asking - these
benefits were gained through the active participation of our
State Associations, The National Guard Association of the United
States and The Enlisted Association of the National Gurard of
the United States. None of the associations can succeed without
your membership and continued financial support.
