Here’s the misconception that keeps disabled veterans overpaying or underinsured: “I’m rated 70%, so private life insurance won’t touch me.” Private carriers don’t price your VA rating. They price the medical conditions behind it — one at a time, the same way they would for a civilian. A 70% combined rating built from tinnitus, a knee, migraines, and well-managed PTSD can quote Standard. A 30% rating for an uncontrolled cardiac condition can’t. The rating number is a VA compensation figure, not an actuarial one.
TL;DR
- Carriers underwrite conditions, not percentages. Your combined rating never appears in a rate manual.
- Musculoskeletal ratings (knees, backs, shoulders), tinnitus, hearing loss, scars, and migraines are effectively non-events in life insurance underwriting.
- Well-managed PTSD — stable treatment, no hospitalization in recent years, working, no substance-abuse complication — quotes Standard to table 2 at veteran-experienced carriers. Unstable or recently hospitalized profiles need time, not a different sales pitch.
- VALife (the VA’s guaranteed-acceptance whole life, open to any veteran with a 0–100% service-connected rating) is a genuine option — but its two-year waiting period and $40K cap make it a supplement, not a family income plan.
- You must answer application questions truthfully, but you are not required to volunteer your VA rating — and carriers can’t see VA medical records without your authorization.
How common service-connected conditions actually underwrite
| Condition | Typical life insurance treatment |
|---|---|
| Tinnitus, hearing loss | Ignored — no rating impact |
| Knee/back/shoulder injuries, limited motion | Ignored unless opioid pain management is ongoing |
| Migraines | Standard-eligible with normal frequency/treatment |
| Scars, burns (healed) | Ignored |
| PTSD, well-managed | Standard to table 2 at the right carriers |
| PTSD with recent hospitalization or SI history | Postpone 1–2 years from stability, then insurable |
| TBI, mild, resolved | Standard-eligible with clean neuro follow-up |
| TBI with ongoing seizures/cognitive treatment | Table-rated; carrier-dependent |
| Sleep apnea (very common secondary rating) | Standard with documented CPAP compliance — full guide here |
| Diabetes secondary to Agent Orange exposure | Underwritten as diabetes — full guide here |
| Cardiac conditions, service-connected or not | Underwritten on cardiac merits — post-event guide here |
| Amputations | Insurable at Standard-ish once healed and adapted — mortality data supports it |
The pattern: orthopedic and sensory ratings are noise to a life underwriter. The conditions that need actual strategy are the same ones that need it for civilians — mental health, cardiac, metabolic — plus the documentation habits that go with them.
PTSD underwriting, honestly
Because it’s the condition veterans ask about most, and the one where carrier spread is widest:
What underwriters look for is stability, function, and time. Their practical questions: Are you in consistent treatment (therapy, medication, or both)? Any psychiatric hospitalization, and how long ago? Any suicide attempt or ideation history, and how distant? Working or in school? Alcohol/substance picture?
- Stable-and-functioning (treated, employed, no hospitalization in 2+ years, clean substance history) → Standard to table 2 at carriers with real mental-health underwriting experience. Some of the best offers we’ve placed for veterans fit exactly this profile.
- Recent instability → most carriers postpone 12–24 months from the last hospitalization or medication overhaul. That’s not a “no”; it’s a re-shop date. Group life and VALife (below) can bridge the gap.
One thing worth saying plainly: seeking treatment does not hurt your insurability. Underwriters read untreated symptoms as the risk, not the therapy. The veteran who’s been in counseling for three steady years out-quotes the one white-knuckling it without records every time.
VALife vs. private coverage: the real comparison
Since 2023, any veteran with a service-connected rating (0% counts) can buy VALife — guaranteed-acceptance whole life, no health questions, up to $40,000.
| VALife | Private term | |
|---|---|---|
| Health questions | None | Full underwriting |
| Maximum coverage | $40,000 | $1M+ |
| Benefit in first 2 years | Premiums back + interest only | Full from day one |
| Premiums | Fixed, age-based at entry | Fixed for the term, class-based |
| Best role | Final expenses; uninsurable profiles | Income replacement, mortgage, family plan |
The honest framing: VALife is a floor, not a plan. For a veteran whose conditions genuinely block traditional coverage, it’s an excellent floor — guaranteed, permanent, VA-administered. For everyone else, $40K with a two-year graded benefit can’t do the job a family actually needs done, and a healthy-enough veteran will beat VALife’s cost-per-dollar with private coverage, sometimes dramatically. Many of our disabled-veteran clients sensibly hold both: VALife as the permanent final-expense layer, private term carrying the family-sized load. And if you’re inside 240 days of separation, the VGLI conversion math belongs in the same conversation.
Disclosure: what you must share, and what stays private
- You must answer every application question truthfully and completely. Misrepresentation risks claim denial inside the two-year contestability window — the one outcome worse than a higher premium.
- Applications ask about diagnoses and treatment, not VA paperwork. There is no “what is your combined rating?” question.
- Carriers see VA medical records only with your signed authorization, and prescription-database checks will surface VA-filled prescriptions regardless — so the file will reflect your actual treatment either way. Build the application around that reality: full honesty, framed by a broker who knows which carrier reads your specific file most favorably.
The routing advantage, one more time
A veteran with PTSD + apnea + a couple of orthopedic ratings is a completely different file at different carriers — one desk tables the mental-health history reflexively, another prices it on function; one ignores the CPAP with compliance data, another wants a fresh study. We’ve placed enough veteran files to know the map. Fifteen minutes gets us your condition list; one informal round across carriers gets you real numbers with no MIB footprint; then a single application goes to the desk most likely to say yes at the best class.
Start at the veterans hub, or go straight to a quote. If VALife or VGLI is genuinely the better answer for your file, that’s the answer you’ll get from us — neither pays us a commission, and we recommend them weekly anyway.
Underwriting outcomes described reflect 2026 guidelines across the A-rated carriers Good Life Insurance Group represents and are illustrative, not guarantees. Educational content — not medical, legal, or VA-benefits advice. VALife details at va.gov.