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Office of Budget

Fiscal Year 2005 Performance and Accountability Report
Published November 15, 2005

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Strategic Goal Three: Honoring, Serving, and Memorializing Veterans

Strategic Objective 3.3: Providing Insurance Service

Maintain a high level of service to insurance policyholders and their beneficiaries to enhance the financial security for veterans' families

Performance Trends and Impact of FY 2005 Results

Performance Trend FY 2005 Impact
Key Measure: Average Days to Process Insurance Disbursements
2001 2.8
2002 2.6
2003 2.4
2004 1.8
2005 Result 1.8
2005 Plan 2.7
2006 Plan 2.7
Strategic Target 2.7
By processing these disbursements in 1.8 days on average, VA ensures that death claim benefits, policy loans, or cash surrenders are paid in a timely manner so that veterans and their families receive cash proceeds when needed either at the time of the veteran's death or as a quick influx of cash in the form of a policy loan or cash surrender to the policyholder.
Supporting Measure: High customer satisfaction ratings % (Insurance)
2001 96%
2002 95%
2003 95%
2004 96%
2005 Result 96%
2005 Plan 95%
2006 Plan 95%
Strategic Target 95%
Maintenance of high customer satisfaction levels with VA-provided life insurance services is an indicator that VA's efforts to honor and serve America's veterans and their beneficiaries are successful and that veterans and their families believe that VA is providing them with a high level of service.

Related Information

Major Management Challenges

Neither VA's Office of the Inspector General nor the Government Accountability Office identified any major management challenges related to this objective.

Program Evaluations

A program evaluation of the Insurance program was completed by ORC Macro; Economic Systems, Incorporated; the Hay Group; and Systems Flow, Incorporated in May 2001. While the evaluation concluded the program was effective in meeting its Congressional intent, there were several recommendations for improvements that have been implemented including the following:

  • Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) dependent coverage is now available.
  • Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI) premium rates have been reduced, making them more comparable to commercial quotes.
  • The "terminating age of 70" has been removed from the Veterans' Mortgage Life Insurance (VMLI) program.
  • Measures have been taken to better publicize the SGLI conversion feature.

A number of recommendations have not yet been implemented. VA will continue to address the recommendations of the program evaluation. The program evaluation recommendations that were implemented have enhanced the financial security of veterans' families.

Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) Evaluation

In relation to this strategic objective, the Administration conducted a PART evaluation of VA's Insurance program during 2005. The rating has not yet been issued.

New Policies and Procedures

VA's Paperless Processing initiative will allow VA to image the Loan and Surrender applications as soon as they are received and immediately create a loan or surrender workflow task for employees of the Policyholders Services. Additionally there will be new internal controls reports and tools for monitoring Loan and Surrender disbursements and accounting actions. These improvements will decrease the processing time of disbursements.

The Insurance Service's major training initiative, "Skills, Knowledge and Insurance Practices and Procedures Embedded in Systems," successfully implemented four new job aids that capture "best practices" for processing various work items. These improvements will result in more accurate processing with improved service to veterans and beneficiaries.

The Insurance Web site has several new enhancements including the VMLI premium calculator, frequently asked questions and facts, a bulletin board, and the VA life insurance handbook. All of these features provide visitors up-to-date information and improve veterans' access to insurance information.