Strategic Goal: Honor and serve veterans in life and memorialize them in death for their sacrifices on behalf of the Nation. Veterans will have dignity in their lives, especially in time of need, through the provision of health care, pension programs and life insurance, and the Nation will memorialize them in death for the sacrifices they have made for their country.

Objective: Enhance the financial security for veterans’ families through life insurance and other benefits programs.

Performance Goal: Provide policyholders with the best financial value from their policies and give them the same or better policy services that would normally be provided on a commercial policy.

VA’s program compares favorably with the commercial insurance industry. The A.M. Best Company, a leading information source for the insurance industry, uses an index to compare the average annual cost of life insurance policies from various companies. This index is an excellent benchmark because it includes premiums, dividends and cash values as well as the time value of money. Based on this index, VA’s insurance programs have been the best performing life insurance value in the country by a wide margin.

VA is studying options to improve the service of VA insurance programs. Some strategies for improvement will await the study of survivors’ benefits under PL 105-368, which we expect to complete by June 2000.

Achievement of this goal is not directly dependent on other agencies.

There are no major management challenges that will affect achievement of this goal.

VA will use the Life Insurance Fact Book, published by the American Council of Life Insurance, to indicate what the average American is purchasing in insurance coverage. VA will calculate competitive premium rates using the 1980 Commissioner’s Standard Ordinary Mortality Table with a 5 percent interest rate.

We will not independently validate this information.

(For additional information on this performance goal, refer to General Operating Expenses, Volume 4, Chapter 2F.)