"Sometimes, chief of staff Dr. Ellen Mangione said, veterans would rather wait for a familiar face at the VA than be seen more immediately by a doctor outside the system, even when given the choice to do so."

Really, a familiar face. A friend of mine has seen 3 different doctor's on his last three appointments with the VA who were not the physicians he was scheduled to see. 

The "21.6 days" wait to see a surgeon is an improvement considering in 2014 this same friend had to wait 65 days to see a surgeon, only to be told the surgery could be done in 8 months.

If Congress, their families and staff had to use the VA things would be different. Unfortunately the VA is a glaring example of a program run by incompetent bureaucrats, a program where people actually die as the result of their incompetence.