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Posted: 11:00 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011

Military spends $363,000,000 on weight loss surgery

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By KIRO 7 Investigator Chris Halsne

 

Free gastric bypass, lap-band, tummy tuck, and other weight-loss related surgeries are fast becoming the “it" thing for military dependents, especially soldiers’ wives.

 

Using the Freedom of Information Act, KIRO-TV (CBS-Seattle) Investigative Reporter, Chris Halsne, uncovered the never-before known cost to federal tax payers. [See document]

 

Defense Department records show from 2001 to 2010, the Army spent around $186,000,000 on bariatric surgeries. The Air Force spent nearly $75,000,000. The Navy $73,000,000. Active duty Marine wives and retirees accepted about $22,000,000 in weight loss surgeries, while Coast Guard dependents accepted around $7,000,000 worth. [See document]

 

All branches combined, we calculated a minimum $362,971,831. That number includes the costs of post-surgery tummy tucks, offered to about a third of the patients. [See document]

 

Overweight active-duty soldiers and sailors either get fit through diet and exercise or get kicked out of the military. Their spouses on the other hand, have another option: The Army loosely calls it The Surgical “Pathway" to Health.

 

While their husbands were off serving the country, training for, then fighting in several wars,

Federal health records show tens of thousands of military wives, like Heather McClellan, were at home gaining unhealthy amounts of weight.

 

“I know I suffered from depression and would just want to eat. I put the kids to bed. There's no one to talk to. OK. I'll just sit in front of the TV and eat," McClellan tells Halsne.

 

Embarrassed, exasperated, and worried about her deteriorating health, McClellan did what most overweight moms would do, she hit the gym.

 

“No matter what I tried, all the diets, exercising, everything, I wouldn't lose it."

 

Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis McChord had a different fix: Declaring McClellan "obese", (with a Body Mass Index over 35%) - doctors approved a bariatric surgical weight loss procedure called a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Heather has already lost 75 pounds and nearing her goal weight.

 

“From the moment I woke up from surgery, I was at peace. I knew it was the best thing I could ever have done. Over a year later, I absolutely do not regret it one bit. I'm happy with the results. Very happy with the way I look and my energy level is so much better."

 

The surgery didn't cost McClellan anything. It was covered entirely by taxpayers via TriCare, the military's version of health insurance.

 

Chief of bariatric surgery at Madigan, Lieutenant Colonel James Sebesta, MD, says this year, the facility will do more weight loss procedures than ever. Surgeons there normally average about 200 annually, but expect to do about 350 of them in 2011.

 

 

“For us - we change lives. We take somebody who can't function. Can't exercise. Can't play with their daughter because they're obese, and we give them the ability to do all those things. Again, that’s on top of making them more healthy."

 

During an on-camera interview with KIRO-TV, Lieutenant Colonel Sebesta says he believes shedding 100-plus pounds through surgery saves tax-money by reducing long-term medical costs associated with obesity; high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, and depression.  

 

“It seems like a lot of money upfront. It’s actually cheaper to have the surgery done than to allow them to remain obese and then have to deal with all the medical complications that follow."

 

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense of Health Affairs tells us weight loss surgeries cost around $18,000 each.

 

At what point do taxpayers recoup that cost in other health care savings?

 

KIRO Team 7 Investigators gave Tricare months to offer proof. We’re still waiting. Tricare is the military’s version of a health insurance company and is funded by federal taxpayers. They declined our repeated questions for an interview.

 

We shared our findings with Todd Harrison, budget director for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington DC research group focused on national security and military investment.

 

He says the Department of Defense is likely having a tough time calculating savings, if there are any. That's because, according to CSBA, 83% of active duty troops quit and move their families onto another health insurance system before qualifying for free lifetime health benefits.

 

Harrison told Halsne, “That's something that DoD (Department of Defense) hasn't done a lot to measure. We're spending more, but it doesn't appear we're getting more value for it."

 

On top of approving more than 20,000 bariatric surgery procedures since 2001, KIRO Team 7 Investigators found that Tricare has also been approving what some insurance companies might consider elective or cosmetic surgeries. Halsne spoke with a number of military spouses who told him they received free brow lifts, tummy tucks, and breast augmentations as part of their follow-up care. Madigan surgeons say, if that occurs, then it’s “medically necessary".

 

Several of the recipients of such procedures also told Halsne spouses often coach each other into how to game the system; making sure doctors approve secondary procedures that improve their looks. A quick search of popular military spouse and weight loss websites and blogs gave Team 7 Investigators a flavor of that mindset. We found comments like:

 

• I am over the moon happy with the results…of my tummy tuck!!!!! The tummy tuck is still free!!!

• I’m having an eyebrow life and upper eyelid blepharoplasty. Thankfully, it’s not considered cosmetic so Tricare (is) covering it."

• I just had a breast lift and my stomach done here at MAMC. I like my lift.

 

One potential enlistee, who was not overweight, even told Halsne that a military recruiter told her if she signed up, she could get a free breast augmentation.

 

Harrison was not surprised.  

 

“When anything is free, people are going to tend to use it more than they would, even if they had to pay some nominal amount for it. Numerous health care studies show this is contributing to health care inflation, not just in the military, but across the broader economy."

 

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. [See document] The military banned bariatric procedures for active duty soldiers and sailors in 2007, yet it appears they approved around 57 of them after that. Again, neither the Department of Defense, nor Tricare would not offer us an explanation.

 

Trent England is Vice President of Policy at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

 

“The fact that they banned it and it's still going on? There are a lot of questions for the Defense Department to answer there about how that can be the case. One would think their policies would actually be followed down the chain of command. The Pentagon should figure that out and explain it to the public."

 

England, who previously worked in Washington D.C. analyzing defense spending for the Heritage Foundation, says our findings are going to reverberate with tax payers.

 

“This is big money. The bottom line question is, do we want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on gastric bypass surgery for people who could probably be eating less and working out more - like Michelle Obama has been telling all of us. Do we want to spend money on those things or do we want to spend it on better body armor for the troops?"

 

As for the $363 million spent on dependents, Madigan doctors estimate about 80 percent of the surgeries are for medically obese or morbidly obese military wives. Military dependent men do get bariatric surgery, but it’s a small percentage. The other 20 percent of the cases are done for qualified, retired veterans, like former Army nurse, Lieutenant Colonel Pat Schommer.

 

She couldn’t be happier with the results of her Laproscopic ROUX-en_Y gastric bypass done at Madigan.

 

“I had high blood pressure. I had diabetes, sleep apnea, arthritis, high cholesterol," she shared with KIRO-TV during an on-camera interview. “Now, I’m very much healthier. All the things I said were wrong with me are gone. I’ve gotten off almost all of my medicine."

 

Schommer has dropped 135 pounds in 20 months and has a new attitude about the effectiveness and practicality of getting weight loss surgery.

 

“Before I had the surgery, I used to think people who had this type of surgery were just taking the easy way out; didn't want to do the diet and exercise or have the discipline that it took. I’m no longer of that mindset."

 

Less inexpensive enticements to help military dependents stay fit just haven’t caught on. Many bases offer free family gym memberships, some with free childcare. Others, like the Whidbey Island Naval Station, help fund mommy-and-me stroller fitness classes and Biggest Loser type contests.  

 

The military's offer of free weight loss surgery, however, remains it’s most expensive and popular operation.

 

A tummy tuck isn't weight loss surgery so this author shows he's a ding dong in his very first sentence.