I defy anyone to defend this....

[cairns]

especially any so called conservatives whose salary is payed by taxpayers.....

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Monday compared the length of time veterans wait to receive health care at the VA to the length of time people wait for rides at Disneyland, and said his agency shouldn't use wait times as a measure of success because Disney doesn't either.

"When you got to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what's important? What's important is, what's your satisfaction with the experience?" McDonald said Monday during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters. "And what I would like to move to, eventually, is that kind of measure."

McDonald's comments angered House Speaker Paul Ryan, who tweeted out Monday afternoon, "This is not make-believe, Mr. Secretary. Veterans have died waiting in those lines."

[widgeon13]

They only see headcount, disregard the deaths. It's just another statistic?

The guy is an a hole!

[speeder]

Unbelievable.

[Dantilla]

I can't imagine anybody defending that.

I can't imagine somebody stupid enough to say that in the first place. This maroon was actually given some authority?

[nostatic]

What he's talking about *conceptually* is correct, but he worded it poorly, and from follow-on comments, doesn't really understand the details of what he should be talking about.

Here's what he should be saying - "wait times are not the only metric that we should use to judge the VA. We should also be focusing on patient outcomes (that is the most important), and quality of care - both objective, which is tied to patient outcomes, and subjective, which is where the patient satisfaction comes in. Wait times make up part of those two metrics."

But he didn't say that, and probably won't because he's maybe not the brightest bulb in the knife bucket.

[wdfifteen]

^^

Correct. Wait times don't matter if you have bad outcomes. Wait times are an element of the "experience." However, in matters of health, wait times can cause considerable discomfort and stress and seriously effect the outcome, so they are much more important with medical issues than with entertainment.

[jyl]

Yeah. I get what he is saying. They probably consider patient outcomes the most important metric. Wait times are probably important but not as critical. For one thing, it matters what you're waiting for. Long wait for a less important procedure is not as important as long wait for a critical procedure. But he chose his words very, very poorly.

[Brian in VA]

Also, he's wrong. I'm sure Disney cares a hell of a lot about wait times. Otherwise why would they go all hi-tech with the bands etc.

What an idiot.

[Hugh R]

I work for Disney, but not in the theme park division. As was said, they are constantly working on wait times. We move over 40,000 people per day at Disneyland and over 50,000/day at Disney World. Each and every day.

[island911]

Here is the defense...

Our wait times are not as bad as Canadian medical.


...yet.

[LWJ]

My FIL lived 7 consecutive months in a VA hospital. Two in ICU. It is not perfect. The people were nice, respectful, and put out real effort. The system's inefficiencies almost killed him. Like anything, the VA is a mixed bag.

[quicksix]

Cigarette and a blindfold.

[flatbutt]

Agreed and I wonder how they define wait time. Is it sitting in the VA waiting? Or is it waiting for the day that you go to the VA?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Pathetic and inexcusable.

[URY914]

Th federal government should not be in the hospital business. Maybe after WWII there was a need but no more.

[jyl]

Medical care is incredibly expensive. The govt probably couldn't afford to pay commercial rates to care for veterans.

[dafischer]

Waiting for a Disney park ride, and waiting for treatment of your illness and/or pain seem like opposite ends of the "waiting" spectrum to me.

[fintstone]

The same folks who constantly complain about government spending are the same ones who constantly complain about wait lines. Provide enough money to hire enough good doctors and the problem goes away. It is not a particularly difficult concept. How many thousands of dollars are each of you willing to pay to treat veterans a little faster?

[M.D. Holloway]

Trump hates wait times. Hates them.

[Evans, Marv]

I would think Disney would consider wait times to have reached a critical point when people started to leave rather than wait longer. Hasn't reached that point yet. I would think the VA would (should ?) think the critical point is reached (passed ?) when people die waiting. That point has been reached (passed) already.