Defense
Esper eyes $2.2 billion cut to military health care
Yet defense officials say troops and their families could be hurt.
By LARA SELIGMAN and DAN DIAMOND
08/16/2020 07:00 AM EDT
Updated: 08/16/2020 10:38 AM EDT
Pentagon officials working on Defense Secretary Mark Esper's cost-cutting review of the department have proposed slashing military health care by $2.2 billion, a reduction that some defense officials say could effectively gut the Pentagon’s health care system during a nationwide pandemic.
The proposed cut to the military health system over the next five years is part of a sweeping effort Esper initiated last year to eliminate inefficiencies within the Pentagon’s coffers. But two senior defense officials say the effort has been rushed and driven by an arbitrary cost-savings goal, and argue that the cuts to the system will imperil the health care of millions of military personnel and their families as the nation grapples with Covid-19.
Esper and his deputies have argued that America's private health system can pick up the slack.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/16/esper-eyes-22-billion-cut-military-health-care-395578
