Last week, when asked by reporters about the arguably deadly wait times that vets have endured (or not), Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald replied, “What really counts is how does the veteran feel about their encounter with the VA. When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? … What’s important is: What’s your satisfaction with the experience?”
The national commander of the American Legion, Dale Barnett, calls the remark “an unfortunate comparison”:
“People,” after all, “don’t die while waiting to go on Space Mountain.”
The secretary also errs about Disney, as Fox News’s Neil Cavuto noted. Disney does measure the time people must wait in line. The for-profit company goes out of its way to entertain folks while they wait.
But the clowns running the Veterans Administration shouldn’t take up entertainment.
Fix the problem.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders both seek to throw more money at the VA. They seem most concerned in protecting the Veterans Administration, not veterans. And Sanders’s real beef turns out to be with Disney.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, tweeted: “Obama’s VA Secretary just said we shouldn’t measure wait times. Hillary says VA problems are not ‘widespread.’ I will take care of our vets!”
But will he? Through the VA system?
A zillion reform efforts have failed.
Let’s demand more than a simple promise sans details.
Do congressmen wait months to get a medical appointment? No. Then why not close the VA and give veterans the same healthcare coverage as our (pardon the term) representatives?
On this Memorial Day, who comes first: the vets or the politicians?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Photo credit: Xiaojun Deng on Flickr
3 replies on “Disneyland vs. Politicians”
The VA takes care of my medical needs and I have been very happy with the care I’ve received. I was talking to the nurse at the VA I go to the other day and he said the doctors at the VA get 15 minutes more per patient than private facilities doctors get with there patients. He also said my doctor sees 12 patients a day. I believe the doctor I used to go to at a private facility seen at least 30 to 40 patients a day.
.… (“the nurse”) said my doctor sees 12 patients a day. I believe the doctor I used to go to at a private facility saw 30 to 40 patients a day .…
Twelve patients per day (three productive hours work, that is) — versus, say, forty — goes a long way toward explaining why the VA’s mindless bureaucrats (including those bureaucrats with medical degrees) get so little done.
Reduce the VA to a Richard Branson-HQ-sized staff (of +/- 6) and have wide-open transparent bidding to the kinds of private companies whose employees and/or sub-contractors are incentivized to see 40+ patients apiece, per day.
And there go the wait times!
Paul, Our veterans should be able to visit any doctor or medical facility they want to the same as the illegals are (thanks to Obama), and at the same cost ($000) . They have earned the right whether they fought in battle or had a desk job in the states, during war time or peace time. They were serving the country and protecting the “rights” the illegals have been given to get everything handed to them at no cost while they do what they want with their time while our veterans spent years in the military, most time know knowing where they would be stationed from one day to the next . Has Clinton or Sanders either one, ever visited a Vet’s Hospital or talked to these men and women? I doubt it. They might learn things they don’t want to know.