Martha Roby ‘not amused’ by VA secretary’s Disney comments

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Martha Roby Benghazi Committee

When Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald compared wait times for veterans’ medical treatment to the lines at Disney theme parks, Republican U.S. Rep. Martha Roby was “not amused.”

Roby is sick and tired of vets — particularly in Alabama, where care was recently reported to be among the worst in the U.S. — being left sick and tired at the hands of the VA.

“Comparing the wait times veterans experience for health care to lines at Disneyland is beyond absurd, and I’m really not amused,” said Roby. “Wait times do matter, and the VA shouldn’t be able to hide them.”

“This is exactly why my bill makes VA Medical Center performance data public on the federal register. By requiring key VA health metrics to be published for everyone to see we can ensure that severely failing facilities receive the attention and corrective action they require.”

Roby referred to her proposed VA Medical Center Recovery Act, which passed the House in February but has not been taken up by the Senate. The bill currently sits on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Roby has a history of taking up veterans’ causes, not only by introducing the above legislation but by working with whistleblowers who revealed massive systemic problems in the Central Alabama VA.

“Sometimes I wonder, what would have happened if our courageous whistleblowers hadn’t stepped up? Or if the reporters we worked with didn’t think it was a story?” asked Roby. “What if the truth about the missing X-rays, the manipulated pulmonology records, or the crack house never came out?”

“What if we hadn’t exposed all that? Would our veterans in Central Alabama still be subject to the worst health care in the country? Would we even know?”

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