Lawmaker: Give Disabled Soldiers Lump-Sum Benefit

Sanchez notes that bills already introduced would increase the lump-sum death benefit that the government pays all soldiers’ beneficiaries to $100,000, from $12,000, and that other bills would raise the SGLI coverage limit.

“The rationale is exactly the same as the death benefit–and is, in some ways, even more compelling,” Sanchez says in a statement about the need for a lump-sum disability benefit. “The money would help ameliorate the transition to a life of painful struggle for the soldier and his family. It could pay off debts, provide a foundation of savings, offset the loss of income during the long period of therapy, purchase time off work for a spouse or parents, and give the disabled troop a head start on a hard road. Unlike the survivors of a deceased soldier, the family of the disabled gets zero life insurance, and they have to adjust to caring for the wounded.”