Security Will Suffer Unless Pentagon Health Care Gets Cuts: View

An editorial on Monday identified specific weapons programs that could be targeted for cuts as the Pentagon faces growing pressure to help curb the federal deficit. There is, however, a huge area of potential Defense Department savings that doesn’t involve equipment and war-fighting capabilities: bringing under control the galloping -- and unsustainable -- cost of providing well-deserved benefits to those who serve our country.

The main issue here is Tricare, the health-insurance program for active-duty, reserve and National Guard troops and retirees, as well as their dependents. This year, the Pentagon plans to spend $52 billion on the program, or almost 8 percent of its $700 billion budget. That’s a 300 percent increase from 2001. If left unchecked, health costs will occupy an ever-greater share of military spending as overall budgets are cut, leaving less money to apportion to war-fighting and other national-security priorities.