Health care for the children of Army service members: cost of alternatives.

The United States Army is committed to providing quality health care for active-duty service members, their dependents, and retired service members. Historically, the Army has never had enough active-duty physicians to provide care for all its beneficiaries. Alternatives utilizing civilian health care providers have been established to provide the balance of the medical services. In this review, the cost of each of the civilian health care providers in the Ft. Hood, Texas area is compared to that of the Army pediatrician. The Army pediatrician proves to be the least expensive of the health care providers.