No, that is not true. But, that is not necessarily a bad idea. VA Secretary Robert McDonald said the unthinkable this week when he said that long wait times at the VA medical facilities were ok because Disney World did not measure wait times1. GGA! (That would be Good God Almighty).
Actually, Disney World does measure wait times. Regardless, the two are not comparable as lives are at stake in our VA hospitals. I don’t think waiting in line to ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is an acceptable comparison.
This is really more of the same. We have a VA Healthcare System that is a total embarrassment to our veterans and our tax payers. And, this is not new news – we have seen problems with services, quality, operations, and leadership for years.
Let us not forget the problems with the IRS. Did Lois Lerner ever get indicted? That would be a negative because the agency “lost” tens of thousands of emails. The person that was responsible for the lost emails is still there – he took Ms. Lerner’s job. And, I am pretty sure they have not lost my Social Security Number and home address to make sure I have filed a tax return.
Leadership and accountability are practically invisible in Washington for our three branches of power. I guess I should not be surprised that a similar lack of leadership and accountability exists at the VA. I do hope at some point Americans will wake up and demand accountability and quality care for our veterans. That is the least we can do for them after they have given us so much.
Dr. Tom McDougal is a serial entrepreneur including founding Gylen Castle LLC, AlternaVisit, LLC, and Kerrera LLC. He also serves as an Adjunct Faculty Professor for the prestigious Brock School of Business at Samford University.
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