Health care for military rivals cost of new fighter aircraft

May 9, 2011

Health care for military reaches $53 billion by Donna Cassata, AP

Washington— A military built for fighting wars is looking more and more like a

health care entitlement program.

Costs of the program that provides health coverage to some 10 million active

duty personnel, retirees, reservists and their families have jumped from $19

billion in 2001 to $53 billion in the Pentagon's latest budget request.

Desperate to cut spending in Washington's time of fiscal austerity, President

Barack Obama has proposed increasing the fees for working-age retirees in the

decades-old health program, known as TRICARE.

After years of resisting proposed increases for the military men and women who

sacrificed for a nation, budget-conscious lawmakers suddenly are poised to make

them pay a bit more for their health care.

The current fees, unchanged in 11 years, are $230 a year for an individual and

$460 for a family. That's far less than what civilian federal workers pay for

health care, about $5,000 a year, and what most other people in the U.S. pay.

Obama is seeking a fee increase of $2.50 per month for an individual and $5 per

month for families, which approaches the current price of a gallon of gasoline.

Future increases starting in 2013 would be pegged to rising costs as measured by

the national health care expenditure index produced by the Centers for Medicare

and Medicaid Services, which projects 6.2 percent growth.

The explosive expense of health care rivals what the Pentagon shells out to buy

fighter aircraft, submarines and high-tech weapons, and is about half of the

$118 billion that the Obama administration wants in the next budget to fight the

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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