TSGLI: The Traumatic Injury Payout ($25,000 to $100,000)
A lump-sum payment many injured Service members never claim. It pays whether you were hurt on duty or off duty.
What it is
TSGLI is Traumatic Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance. If you are covered by full-time SGLI, you are automatically covered by TSGLI. It pays a lump sum when a traumatic injury causes a specific loss listed on VA's schedule, such as loss of sight, hearing, a limb, or serious burns. Coverage is on duty or off duty. The cost is a flat $1 a month for most Service members.
Who qualifies
You must meet all of these (VA's list):
- You were insured by SGLI when the traumatic injury happened. This includes active duty, Reserve, National Guard, funeral honors duty and one-day muster duty.
- The injury directly caused a loss on the schedule.
- The injury happened before you separated.
- You suffered the scheduled loss within 730 days (2 years) of the injury.
- You survived at least 7 full days after the injury.
Not covered: self-inflicted injury; injuries involving illegal drugs; results of medical or surgical treatment for an illness; injuries while committing a felony; loss from illness or disease (VA lists exceptions such as wound infections and accidental contamination).
How much it pays (VA schedule)
Payments range from $25,000 to $100,000. Examples from VA's schedule of losses:
| Loss | Payment |
|---|---|
| Sight, one eye | $50,000 |
| Hearing, both ears | $100,000 |
| Speech | $50,000 |
| Loss of use of one limb | $50,000 |
| Amputation of a hand | $50,000 |
| Paralysis of all four limbs, one side of the body, or both legs | $100,000 |
| 2nd-degree or worse burns to at least 20% of the body including the face | $100,000 |
The total may not exceed $100,000 for losses from a single traumatic event. Open VA's full schedule to find your exact loss and amount: TSGLI schedule of losses.
TSGLI schedule of losses
How to get it, step by step
- Get the form: Application for TSGLI Benefits, SGLV 8600, from the VA TSGLI page below.
- You (or your guardian, power of attorney or military trustee) fill out Part A.
- A licensed practitioner of the healing arts fills out Part B, the medical statement.
- Send it to your branch of service using the fax, email or mailing address for your branch listed on the form. Your branch processes the claim.
Deadlines and traps
- The 730-day rule is about when the loss happens: you must suffer the scheduled loss within 2 years of the injury. The regulation also covers a loss that starts inside the two years and continues after.
- If you are denied, the denial letter tells you the appeal steps. VA's appeal form, SGLV 8600A, says an appeal goes in within one year of the denial. Check your own letter for your date.
- Retroactive coverage: if you were severely injured between 7 October 2001 and 30 November 2005, you may still be eligible.
- I could not confirm a filing deadline for a new claim on VA's pages. Do not wait. Ask your branch TSGLI office now.
Where to call and where to go
Phone
- VA Life Insurance Center: 1-800-669-8477 (hours not shown on VA's page). Source: VA insurance contact page
- Office of Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (OSGLI): 1-800-419-1473 (hours not shown).
- TSGLI claim questions go to your branch of service point of contact. The branch contacts are printed on the SGLV 8600 form.
- Veterans Crisis Line, 24/7: 988, then select 1.
Official pages