The Pentagon’s Feverish Health-Care Tab

Patrick O’Rourke’s second parachute jump as an Army cadet marked him for life. Soon after leaping out of the plane over Fort Benning, Ga., he made a mistake that caused him to hit the ground hard and get knocked out. “That began a long career of getting banged up and knocked around,” says O’Rourke. Now 49, the retired lieutenant colonel has spent the past 20 years being treated for a host of foot, back, neck, and shoulder complaints.

The former paratrooper’s frequent trips to the doctor contribute to one of the military’s most intractable challenges: keeping a lid on soaring medical costs for active-duty personnel, retirees, and their dependents, which will reach an estimated $52.5 billion in 2012, up from $19 billion in 2001. With a congressional supercommittee hunting for as much as $1.5 trillion in future budget savings, the Pentagon’s health insurance program, known as Tricare, may be a target for reductions.