| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Boost in Death Benefits |
| 2005-02-22 |
| The families of Massachusetts National Guard members killed in action would receive $100,000 in death benefits from the state, up from the current $5,000.00, under a bill filed by Gov. W Mitt Romney yesterday. The bill would make the benefits retroactive to October 2001 to cover National Guard members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The death benefit would apply to individuals killed in state and federal actions. |
| Posted by:Andrea |
| #1 I forgot to add in this info. Under the new bill, the state would also pay the $195 annual premium for life insurance policies for National Guard members from Massachusetts. Romney's bill is modeled after legislation at the federal level recently proposed by President Bush to boost the federal death benefit from $12,000 to $100,000.00 If both bills become law, the family of a member of the Massachusetts National Guard killed while federally activated would be eligible for death benefits of up to $200,000.00 The total cost to the state of Romney's plan is less than $1 million. The bill would also: 1) Make payment the $1,500.00 annual annuity to Gold Star surviving spouses who receive the US Department of Veterans' Affairs Dependency and Indemnity Compensation; 2) Expand the annuity to benefit the spouces of those injured while on active duty but who ultimately die from nonservice related causes; 3) Treat National Guard call up as creditable service toward a state pension. Andrea Jackson |
| Posted by: Andrea 2005-02-22 8:46:14 PM |