How the Military Health System Can "Fulfill the Promise". An Analysis of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program for the DOD

Rising health care costs consume an increasing portion of the United States economy. These cost increases exist in the Department of Defense, and based on recent requests to increase TRICARE enrollment fees, an inevitable cost increase to the DoD beneficiary will occur within the next few years. Instead of increasing beneficiary costs, DoD could control health care costs by looking at other health care delivery models. An option available to DoD is utilizing the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program FEHBP - the nations largest voluntary employer-sponsored health insurance program. This study looked at the structure of TRICARE and FEHBP, then looked at advantages and disadvantages to converting DoD beneficiaries to the federal civilians program, and finally presented recommendations for the future.