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The Comptroller General
of the Umted States
Washington. D.C. 20548
Decision
Matterof Master Sergeant Joseph A. Macrina, USAF (Retired) -
Survivor Benefit Plan - Refund of Costs
File: B-229438
Date: August 10, 1988
DIGEST
1. The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is an income maintenance
program for the surviving dependents of deceased service
members. Military retirees who elect to participate in the
SBP program are assessed costs to defray the expenses of
annuity payments. The SBP law prohibits any refund of
properly assessed costs, except in limited circumstances
when an SBP participant is survived by a widow or widower
whose SBP annuity is reduced or eliminated because of a
concurrent entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation from the Veterans Administration. Hence, an
Air Force sergeant who elected to provide SBP annuity
coverage for his wife may not be allowed, based on the
termination of their marriage by divorce, a refund of the
costs he paid for that coverage over an 11-year period.
2. Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) election are irrevocable,
SBP participants who are determined by the Veterans
Administration to have a total service-connected disability
for 10 consecutive years may, however, suspend previously
elected SBP annuity coverage for a spouse and stop paying
the costs of coverage. The reason for this is that the laws
governing veterans benefits give the surviving spouse of
those SBP participants a vested entitlement to Dependency
and Indemnity Compensation, so that the spouse's SBP
entitlement is then either substantially reduced or totally
eliminated. Until the 10-year period has elapsed, the
spouse's ultimate entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation remains uncertain, so that SBP coverage during
that 10-year period provides genuine and substantial income
maintenance protection. Thus, an Air Force sergeant may not
be allowed a refund of SBP costs he paid during such 10-year
period on the basis of a theory that his payments
purchase[d] absolutely nothing.
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