SECDEF Gates: Pentagon “Being Eaten Alive” by Health Care
May 7th, 2011
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking at an Air Force base in North Carolina yesterday:
Our military health care budget has gone from $19 billion in 2000 to $53 billion this year. We’re being eaten alive by the thing. It’s 10 percent of our budget at this point.
This is an interesting comment because the military’s health care system is often offered as an example of government-run health care. It is undoubtedly first-class, but is it a good model for a deficit-conscious country?