An Assessment of the Military Survivor Benefit Plan
Abstract
Congress requested a review of the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) in Section 648 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Pub. L. 114-328). SBP covers service members who are performing in an authorized-duty status - whether active or inactive duty - and die in the line of duty (we refer to this as dying on duty), as well as military retirees enrolled in SBP. Retirees are automatically enrolled in SBP at the time of retirement but may choose motto enroll (U.S. Department of Defense [DoD], Defense Finance Accounting Service, 2015a). SBP provides an ongoing benefit to the survivors of members covered by SBP. The SBP benefit's 55 percent of the portion of gross retired pay that the retired enrollee chooses to cover and, for service members who die on duty, 55 percent of gross retired pay computed as 75 percent of their high-36 basic pay (the average of the highest 36 months of basic pay).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1086147
Entities
People
- Beth J. Asch
- Felix Knutson
- Italo A. Gutierrez
- James R. Hosek
- Michael G. Mattock
- Patricia K. Tong
Organizations
- RAND Corporation