Does combat deployment affect life insurance coverage or eligibility?

Most civilian life insurance policies include a war exclusion clause — they will not pay a death benefit if death occurs as a result of war or military service, particularly in combat zones. This exclusion is standard in civilian individual policies and is why SGLI exists for active-duty personnel deployed to combat zones.

If you are applying for civilian coverage while on active duty, most carriers will consider your service and deployment status in underwriting. Some carriers will not issue new individual policies to active-duty personnel deployed in war zones; others may issue coverage with war exclusions.

Veterans who have completed active service and are no longer deployed typically qualify for civilian coverage without war exclusions — their prior service is not a barrier to obtaining standard civilian life insurance. The key timing consideration is that civilian policies issued after military separation generally do not carry war exclusions.

Agents in our network can identify carriers with the most favorable underwriting approaches for current and former military personnel.