# Plain Language Summary: Faster Payments to Veterans' Survivors Act of 2022

When a veteran with life insurance through the Department of Veterans Affairs passes away, their family members are supposed to receive the insurance payout. But right now, there's a problem: the process for getting that money to survivors can take a very long time, and sometimes families never receive benefits they're entitled to because the VA can't locate them. This bill speeds up the process and makes it easier for families to actually get paid.

The bill makes two main changes to how fast the VA must act. First, it cuts in half the time the VA has to identify and pay out benefits when a veteran dies without naming a specific beneficiary. Currently, the VA can take up to four years to figure out who should get the money; this bill reduces that to two years. Second, it shortens the initial waiting period from two years down to one year before the VA must start looking for beneficiaries. These changes apply to two types of VA life insurance programs that many older veterans have: National Service Life Insurance and United States Government Life Insurance.

The bill also tackles the bigger problem of "hard-to-find" beneficiaries—people who are owed money but the VA can't locate them. It requires the VA to improve its website search tools, do better outreach to veterans and their families, work with other government agencies to track people down, and hire dedicated staff specifically to find and pay these beneficiaries. The goal is to pay out all the money that's currently sitting unpaid within two years of the bill becoming law. The VA must also report back to Congress within six months on how well they're doing at finding and paying these beneficiaries.

Faster Payments to Veterans' Survivors Act of 2022

Pappas, Chris

Faster Payments to Veterans' Survivors Act of 2022 This bill modifies policies and procedures related to the payment of benefits under certain life insurance programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). If a primary beneficiary has not made a claim for payment within one year (currently two years) after the death of the insured under the National Service Life Insurance (NSLI) program or the United States Government Life Insurance (USGLI) program, the VA is authorized to make payment to another designated beneficiary as if the primary beneficiary had predeceased the insured. If no designated beneficiary makes a claim within two years (currently four years) after the death of the insured, the VA is authorized to make a payment to a person the VA deems to be equitably entitled to such benefit. The bill also modifies the beneficiary designation process under NSLI and USGLI. Specifically, if a person does not designate a beneficiary for insurance, or if the designated beneficiary predeceases the insured person, the VA must determine the beneficiary in a specified order of succession. Additionally, the bill requires the VA to improve its processes and procedures with respect to identifying, locating, and paying hard-to-find beneficiaries of life insurance policies, including by improving its website search tools.