Life Insurance

Faculty, University and Academic Professionals, Classified employees, and Postdoctoral Scholar employees who work 20 or more hours per week are eligible for basic and optional life insurance coverage from the Virginia Retirement System (VRS).

Basic Life Insurance

Basic coverage provides life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance. This program is managed for VRS by Securian Financial.

Basic life insurance benefits include:

• Group life insurance without a medical examination
• Natural death benefits
• Double indemnity for accidental death
• Dismemberment payments for accidental loss of one or more limbs or eyesight
• Accelerated death benefit for a terminal condition

The life insurance benefit is equal to your annual salary, rounded to the next highest thousand, and then doubled. An accidental death benefit is equal to the annual salary, rounded to the next highest thousand, and multiplied by four. If group life insurance coverage exceeds $50,000 for natural death, policyholders may be required to report a portion of the premiums paid as income for state, federal and FICA tax purposes.

For the accidental loss of one limb or sight of one eye, policyholders receive a payment equal to the annual salary rounded to the next highest thousand. For the loss of two or more limbs and/or total eyesight, payment is equal to the annual salary rounded to the next thousand and doubled.

View the Certificate of Life Insurance (PDF)

Optional Life Insurance

For a summary of optional life insurance benefits, including rates and enrollment instructions, visit the VRS optional group life insurance website. Further information about optional life insurance, enrollment forms and the optional life premium calculation worksheet is available on the Securian life insurance website.