[quote=@mdk]
<Snipped quote by POOHEAD189>

Not buying that. I waited 14 months in 2014 and I'm still waiting after 18 months in 2016-2017. Granted, sample size of one, but frankly it's the one I care the most about.
[/quote]
I understand. And granted, I know less about this than you who have experienced it, or [@Penny] as a physician. I'm just going by this study [url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/va-hospital-scandal/va-numbers-how-big-it-who-uses-it-n101771]here[/url], and it seems unbiased to me. 
Although now that I look at it again, it was published in 2014 so the days the waiting period lessened 119 days would be between 2013-2014. I find it kind of weird that it would have 8.92 million patients then like it is today as you say. The number just hadn't changed. I'm just going by the chart. I'm not a socialist, so I'm not advocating for tearing down an entire system and hope for the best with a system that has failed other countries in the past. I'm simply saying it's a huge, complicated process, and perhaps that while it's not good, it used to be even worse. And I think that affordable healthcare is a good thing.