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.

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Approaches to Changing Military Health Care
October 11, 2017
CBO examined possible changes to the Department of Defense’s Military Health System, analyzing the effects of those changes on the federal budget, the quality of military health care, and preparedness for wartime missions.
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Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2017 to 2026
February 14, 2017
CBO estimates that existing plans for U.S. nuclear forces would cost $400 billion over the 2017–2026 period—$52 billion more than CBO’s 2015 estimate for the 2015–2024 period, largely because modernization programs will be ramping up.
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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.
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Approaches to Reducing Federal Spending on Military Health Care
January 16, 2014
Between 2000 and 2012, the cost of providing health care to service members, retirees, and their families increased by 130 percent (after adjusting for inflation). What approaches might curtail the growth in those costs?
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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.
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The Veterans Health Administration's Treatment of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury Among Recent Combat Veterans
February 9, 2012
Through September 2011, about 740,000 veterans from overseas contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan had been treated by the VHA. That number is slightly more than half of all recent veterans eligible for care by VHA.