The Military’s health care provider, Tricare, is aptly named in the case of pregnancy benefits because being pregnant for some, involves three parties.

Newsweek reported industry experts estimated 1,000 surrogate births in the United States last year, while the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) that tracks surrogate births, counted about 260 in 2006, and 400 in 2007. The numbers vary because at least 15 percent of clinics across the United States don't report numbers to SART. Not included in these estimates are private agreements made outside an agency or pregnancies in which one of the intended parents does not provide the egg, such as gay male couples.

Of late, military wives and some female recruits, are becoming surrogate mothers. These military women are the beneficiaries of premium health care, paid for entirely by the Department of Defense budget, funded by the American taxpayer.

Case for Fraud?

The Los Angeles Times reported that military wives who are covered by Tricare have access to comprehensive prenatal care worth as much as $10,000. The coverage is so enticing that some surrogacy agencies, such as Chula Vista-based Surrogate Alternatives, offer surrogates who have it a $5,000 bonus.

Young military wives make popular surrogates, the Times reported, especially in California where, unlike other states, surrogacy is legal and case law protects parents' rights to hire women to carry their babies.

Surrogate mothers such as Angel Howard, 32, of La Jolla, said she and other military wives pay their premiums and have earned their benefits.

"If our husbands are putting their necks on the line in Iraq or wherever they happen to be at that point in time, we should be able to do what we want with our insurance," she said. "We're going through a lot here and if we're trying to do something for our families and other families, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that" she told the Los Angeles Times.

Karen Synesiou, director of the Center for Surrogate Parenting Inc. of Maryland and California, told ABC News that military wives don’t necessarily make better surrogate mothers. In fact, her agency specifically discourages couples from choosing surrogacy if the husband is to be deployed.

The Center specifically states on its web site that the surrogate mother must not be on any form of government assistance.

Although Tricare requires paid surrogates to pay for prenatal care, compliancy is spotty. the agency is faced with compliance with medical privacy laws which prevents Tricare from compelling women to disclose information. Last year, in the western Tricare region that includes California and 20 other states, only two surrogates paid, both in San Diego. Tricare officials said they suspect there are many more.

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