Reporting for KIRO-Seattle, Chris Halsne used FOIA requests to find out how much the military’s TriCare plan is paying for weight-loss surgeries for soldiers and their dependents. Including post-surgery tummy tucks, Halsne calculates (PDF) that the government was on the hook for at least $362,971,831 for such procedures over the past decade.
The military defends the expenditures by pointing to the long-term savings of having healthier TriCare enrollees, though Halsne found those savings difficult to prove, as 86 percent of soldiers and their families leave the plan before they qualify for lifetime benefits.
Halsne found that even some active-duty personnel are getting bariatric procedures, which are officially off limits to them as they are required to stay fit through diet and exercise to remain in the military.
While analyzing Defense Department records on health-related costs, KIRO Team 7 Investigators also discovered the military continues to pay for some weight loss surgery for active duty personnel. Records show $2,400,000 worth since 2001. The military banned bariatric procedures for active duty soldiers and sailors in 2007, yet it appears they approved around 57 of them after that.
Tricare, the military’s health insurance program funded by federal taxpayers, declined KIRO’s repeated questions for an interview.
