At a joint press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Obama responded to critics who compare his health care plan to the Canadian system, saying the U.S. needs something “uniquely American.”
Obama said a single-payer system wouldn’t work in the United States, since “we’ve evolved differently” from Canada.
He also said he expects that opponents of health care reform will continued to drag Canada into the debate, “Even though I’ve said nothing about it.”
“I don’t find Canadians particularly scary,” he said, but “opponents of reform think they make a good boogeyman.”
Obama also said that the “vigorous debate” happening over health care reform is “healthy.”
