A CBO Study: Growth in Medical Spending by the Department of Defense

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) faces a growing burden in providing peacetime health care for military personnel, retirees, and their dependents and survivors-who all together number over 8 million. Adjusted for the overall rate of inflation in the U.S. economy, the department's annual spending on medical care almost doubled from 1988 to 2003, rising from $14.6 billion to $27.2 billion. Furthermore, because DoD cut the size of the active-duty force by 38 percent over that same period, medical spending per active-duty service member nearly tripled, rising from $6,600 to $19,600.' Medical spending rose from one-quarter to more than one-half of the level of cash compensation (defined as basic pay, the housing allowance, and the subsistence allowance), and it is likely to continue to increase.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA417997

Entities

People

  • Allison Percy
  • Julie H. Topoleski
  • Sam Papenfuss

Organizations

  • Congressional Budget Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Business Administration
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Governments
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Management Personnel
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Families
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Therapy

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Economics
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.