And then my friend the Doctor asserted, “In Spite of Everything Said We Have the Best Health Care System in the World.”

I still remember; I will never forget; you would never believe the sincerity and the conviction with which he said it. I am sorry good doctor friend you are so wrong! It is our American arrogance, coupled with its ignorance, bonded to our denial, immersed in the power of that propaganda machine feeding us justification, viz. Media + Politics + Fueled by Lobbyist Influence + Managed by Profiteers convincing us to sit back wait and watch.

Watch, what are we waiting for, "the train of course dummy.” So said to a passerby seeing her on the platform in the train station empty of all movement of people and trains, both being long gone. ”Cheez!” responds the passerby, the trains already gone, you know they quit running, everybody flies nowadays.”

Do we keep the train running and the schedules met? Or, do we adapt to what is now and new?

I am posting an article today that was in this morning’s New York Times, entitled In a Land of the Aging, Children Counter Alzheimer’s. click on the title to read it in the Archive.

What is the significance of the article? It talks of the people in South Korea who have an influx of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and what they are doing as a nation and as a society about it. They have lessons for us. I recommend its reading.

Their measures are right on the mark and do not incur expense.

They recognize early diagnosis, early attention to people with AD. They reason is saves in the long run both prolonging the early stage and more importantly teaching people to care for their AD at home. In this they recognize the country can not afford to simply keep building expensive nursing homes as the final solution of care.

Long term Health Care Insurance is paid for by the government. Their practice in care directs itself both to helping and to finding economy of care for all afflicted with this horrible disease.

It enlists all levels of society in providing assistance and pays special attention to the value of the young, the children, in what they can do and the effectiveness of what they do.

They recognized the coming calamity that AD is; they are starting now to prepare to meet it head on.

This is remarkable, more so it is admirable. If we try and compare it to what is being done by the “Best Health Care System in the World” our efforts rank inexcusable.

This blog comment is not intended to rant or to criticize. Giving us the Benefit of Balance, South Korea’s aging population is greater than ours. They are coming to the calamity sooner. They recognize that and the article is showing what they are doing to meet the problem and avoid its potential for causing catastrophe.

This article is a lesson; a lesson in learning what can be done, should be done and ultimately will need to be done. Not doing will only make the coming calamity that much worse, that much more costly and above all finally devastating to our entire society here in America.

It is ours to ask: “Not should I or should I not, but, what, when and how much do we do, where do we start, can we afford to delay?”