Skip to main content

Military Personnel: Survivor Benefits for Servicemembers and Federal, State, and City Government Employees

GAO-04-814 Published: Jul 15, 2004. Publicly Released: Jul 15, 2004.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 noted that it was the sense of the Congress that "the sacrifices made by the members of the Armed Forces are significant and are worthy of meaningful expressions of gratitude by the United States, especially in cases of sacrifice through loss of life." In addition to offering expressions of gratitude, the government offers a variety of benefits, including Social Security benefits, to survivors of servicemembers who die while on active duty. GAO was asked to address two questions: (1) To what extent are the survivor benefits provided to servicemembers different from those provided to federal, state, and city government employees in general and (2) To what extent do federal, state, and city governments supplement their general survivor benefits for employees in high-risk occupations?

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

Comparative analysisEmployee benefit plansEmployee survivors benefitsFederal employeesMilitary personnelMunicipal employeesSocial security benefitsState employeesDependentsGovernment employees