Military and Veterans' Health Care

The Department of Defense provides health care to service members, retirees, and their eligible family members through the TRICARE program, and the Department of Veterans Affairs provides health care at little or no charge to veterans. CBO examines the budgetary and other effects of the current programs and proposals to change them.

Report
Income of Black Working-Age Veterans
May 1, 2024
CBO describes economic outcomes of veterans who are Black, male, and working age and whose service began during or after 1990. CBO compares the outcomes of that group with outcomes of Black nonveterans and White veterans from 2017 to 2019.
Report
Income of Working-Age Veterans Receiving Disability Compensation
December 14, 2023
CBO compared the earnings, personal income, and household income of working-age male veterans who received disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs with those of veterans who did not receive such payments.
Graphic
Atlas of Military Compensation
December 5, 2023
In the President’s 2024 budget request, total military compensation is $551 billion, including veterans' benefits. That amount represents an increase of 134 percent since 1999 after removing the effects of inflation.
Report
Options for Reducing the Deficit, 2023 to 2032--Volume II: Smaller Reductions
December 7, 2022
CBO issues a volume that contains short descriptions of 59 policy options that would each reduce the federal budget deficit by less than $300 billion over the next 10 years.
Report
The Veterans Community Care Program: Background and Early Effects
October 26, 2021
CBO describes how the Department of Veterans Affairs provides health care to many veterans through the Veterans Community Care Program and how that program has affected veterans’ access to care and other outcomes.
Report
A Review of CBO’s Estimate of Spending From the Department of Defense’s Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund
October 15, 2020
In a cost estimate prepared in October 2000, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that spending for new health care benefits for military retirees would total about $57 billion over the 2003–2010 period; actual costs over that period were about $55 billion.
Report
Approaches to Changing Military Compensation
January 14, 2020
This report examines military compensation and its effects on recruitment, retention, and motivation. CBO also provides a comparison with civilian compensation packages and examines five possible approaches for altering the way that DoD compensates military personnel.
Report
Comparing the Costs of the Veterans' Health Care System with Private-Sector Costs
December 10, 2014
Recent legislation calls for the Veterans Health Administration to expand the availability of health care to veterans. Research suggests that VHA-provided care has been cheaper than private-sector care, but future costs are uncertain.
Report
Costs of Military Pay and Benefits in the Defense Budget
November 14, 2012
For fiscal year 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested about $150 billion to fund the pay and benefits of current and retired members of the military. That amount is more than one-quarter of DoD’s total base budget request.