Military leaders look for way to cut health care costs

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is looking for ways to cut health care costs in the nation's military care, "an area that members of Congress have so far been reluctant to tackle," Politico reports. "Gates's drive for efficiency has run the gamut — from overhauling acquisitions to better tailoring military spending for current worldwide missions, including the war in Afghanistan and the one winding down in Iraq." Costs continue to rise but premiums have stayed the same in military care, however, costing a total of $51 billion in 2010, up from $19 billion in 2001. "Military health care now represents about 6 percent of the defense budget. By 2015, it's expected to account for about 10 percent." Gates hasn't made any proposals so far and is slated to step down from his post next year (Lubold, 11/4).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.