thedrifter
09-20-06, 10:16 AM
September 20, 2006
Think tank: Reconsider benefits for military personnel
By William Matthews
Staff report
Rising weapons price tags cause sticker shock, but it’s escalating personnel costs that are going to cripple the U.S. military, say defense budget analysts at the Heritage Foundation.
Skyrocketing health care costs, higher pay, generous wartime bonuses and benefits such as housing allowances, subsidized child care, fitness centers, tax exemptions and retirement pensions have caused military personnel costs to soar, said Baker Spring, a defense budget expert at the conservative think tank.
Spending per person in the military has more than doubled in a decade, and now tops $45,000 per uniformed member. And that doesn’t count health care costs — which are rising rapidly for military personnel, as they for are for everyone else — and certain retirement benefits, Spring said.
In 2004, pay and benefits cost the Defense Department $112,000 a year per uniformed service member, according to a study by MIT researcher Cindy Williams. And it’s more than that now.
Personnel costs in 2007 defense spending bills passed by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are about $110 billion.
Spending on weapons, by contrast, is about $85 billion.
Spring said he would not urge Congress to radically reduce military pay, but he said lawmakers should reconsider some of the benefits it offers. At the top of his list is health care.
Defense Department statistics show that health care expenses have doubled in the past five years, from $18 billion to about $36 billion a year. What’s more worrisome is that they are expected to top $50 billion by 2010.
And most of that — 70 percent — will be spent on military retirees, Pentagon officials say.
Rapidly escalating health care costs are a looming problem for U.S. civilians as well. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that U.S. spending on health care will increase from $2.16 trillion this year to more than $4 trillion in 2015. That translates into an increase from $7,110 per person now to $12,320 per person a decade from now.
“The core problem is, how much are you going to spend on health care in our country?” Spring said.
For the military, personnel costs are the problem, not weapons costs. Still, weapons aren’t cheap.
F-22 stealth fighters are priced at $360 million apiece. Joint Strike Fighters, now called F-35 Lightning IIs, go for about $113 million each. V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft cost about $115 million apiece.
Aircraft carriers fetch about $14 billion nowadays, and the Army’s Future Combat Systems program has ballooned to $161 billion.
Spring said research-and-development (R&D) and procurement budgets should be increased to about $200 billion a year so the services can better afford the new weapons they need.
President Bush asked Congress for about $157 billion for R&D and procurement for 2007.
Lawmakers are expected to approve that and as much as $20 billion more in emergency supplemental funding to repair and replace Army and Marine Corps equipment damaged in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ellie
Think tank: Reconsider benefits for military personnel
By William Matthews
Staff report
Rising weapons price tags cause sticker shock, but it’s escalating personnel costs that are going to cripple the U.S. military, say defense budget analysts at the Heritage Foundation.
Skyrocketing health care costs, higher pay, generous wartime bonuses and benefits such as housing allowances, subsidized child care, fitness centers, tax exemptions and retirement pensions have caused military personnel costs to soar, said Baker Spring, a defense budget expert at the conservative think tank.
Spending per person in the military has more than doubled in a decade, and now tops $45,000 per uniformed member. And that doesn’t count health care costs — which are rising rapidly for military personnel, as they for are for everyone else — and certain retirement benefits, Spring said.
In 2004, pay and benefits cost the Defense Department $112,000 a year per uniformed service member, according to a study by MIT researcher Cindy Williams. And it’s more than that now.
Personnel costs in 2007 defense spending bills passed by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are about $110 billion.
Spending on weapons, by contrast, is about $85 billion.
Spring said he would not urge Congress to radically reduce military pay, but he said lawmakers should reconsider some of the benefits it offers. At the top of his list is health care.
Defense Department statistics show that health care expenses have doubled in the past five years, from $18 billion to about $36 billion a year. What’s more worrisome is that they are expected to top $50 billion by 2010.
And most of that — 70 percent — will be spent on military retirees, Pentagon officials say.
Rapidly escalating health care costs are a looming problem for U.S. civilians as well. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that U.S. spending on health care will increase from $2.16 trillion this year to more than $4 trillion in 2015. That translates into an increase from $7,110 per person now to $12,320 per person a decade from now.
“The core problem is, how much are you going to spend on health care in our country?” Spring said.
For the military, personnel costs are the problem, not weapons costs. Still, weapons aren’t cheap.
F-22 stealth fighters are priced at $360 million apiece. Joint Strike Fighters, now called F-35 Lightning IIs, go for about $113 million each. V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft cost about $115 million apiece.
Aircraft carriers fetch about $14 billion nowadays, and the Army’s Future Combat Systems program has ballooned to $161 billion.
Spring said research-and-development (R&D) and procurement budgets should be increased to about $200 billion a year so the services can better afford the new weapons they need.
President Bush asked Congress for about $157 billion for R&D and procurement for 2007.
Lawmakers are expected to approve that and as much as $20 billion more in emergency supplemental funding to repair and replace Army and Marine Corps equipment damaged in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ellie