I'm hoping this information will help some of those that currently pay a lot for VGLI or who see how expensive VGLI can be as you get older. Who the heck wants to pay over a thousand dollars a month for life insurance when they are growing older. I do not get any compensation from the ones I'm mentioning, but I was surprised how many retirees didn't know about these more affordable life insurance options.
When I retired from the Army, it didn't seem like there many options for life insurance. In a conversation with someone else that's retired, he mentioned AAFMAA. It seemed like a pretty good deal, but I researched further and also found out about Navy Mutual life insurance. It's called Navy Mutual, but a retiree from any branch can get it. I submitted my application to Navy Mutual, and they had a nurse come to my house, ask some questions, draw some blood, and have me submit a urine sample. That only took about 30 minutes. It took about a week to get my approval, and my costs are much lower than what I paid VGLI and they also offer life insurance for my wife.
I can't speak for AAFMAA, but Navy Mutual is backed by USAA which you can also go through. I just found it easier to go through Navy Mutual itself.
The point of this post is to hopefully help a retired vet that may not have considered anything else but VGLI. After all, who wants to pay $1800 a month on life insurance when they are 70 years old?