Washington Insight

OH, CANADA: The health care debate has gone international, causing a strain between the United States and one of its best and oldest foreign friends. . . . That would be Canada, whose single-payer health care system, favored by some Democrats, is the target of loud and consistent Administration criticism. One particularly vocal complainer: Constance Horner, the former undersecretary of Health and Human Services who is now White House personnel chief. She says such a system would have “all the compassion of the IRS and the efficiency of the postal service--at Pentagon prices.” . . . Enough is enough, said the Canadians, and a call went out from their embassy in Washington to the White House saying the Canada-bashing had to stop.