On September 24, the Government Accountability Office released Military Installations: Remote and Isolated Locations Face Challenges Delivering Critical Support Services, report number GAO-26-108231. They visited nine military installations in Alaska, New Mexico, Florida, and California and found serious problems with delivering healthcare in all nine military healthcare systems.
Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, for example, had difficulty attracting qualified staff to provide these critical health care services. In 2024-25, the military health agencies spent $28 million on care outside the military facilities because they couldn’t provide the care themselves.
Unfortunately, it’s the patients that suffer the consequences. For example, Naval Air Station Key West in Florida, because they could only offer basic healthcare services, patients had to travel more than 150 miles to Miami to get necessary care.
These types of staff shortages can lead to gaps in medical care for the military patient population. For example, they can impact when a diagnosis is made. When a military hospital or clinic doesn’t have specialty care available and a patient must travel for that care, that delays care.
An active-duty service member still cannot sue the United States due to negligent medical care under the Feres doctrine. But they can file a claim under the Military Claims Act. Of course, we represent family members of military service members who are provided care at military hospitals. Family members of active-duty service members can bring a claim for medical malpractice when they’ve suffered catastrophic injury and they can have it heard in federal court.