New military health benefits could cost $116 billion

The Congressional Budget Office is set to tell Congress that all those military health care goodies the Senate passed before its summer recess would cost the nation a whopping $116 billion over the next decade.

Where would a President Gore or a President Bush find that kind of money? Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen doesn't know, and has warned lawmakers not to leap before they look as they finish the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill.

"More work is needed on these proposals," Cohen wrote. "I urge the Congress to proceed with caution and refrain from mandating new unfunded benefits." Cohen's letter undercuts any Republican efforts to make the Democrats look weak on health care for soldiers and veterans in this election year.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner, R-Va., got the Senate to pass a provision that would allow veterans to stay on the military's Tricare health care program rather than be switched to Medicare when they reach age 65. This provision would cost $42 billion over 10 years, according to the CBO.

House and Senate conferees will almost certainly pare the Senate military health care package when they take up the issue after the summer recess.