OTTAWA — In the United States, where debate over public-versus-private health care has had pulses racing, Danny Williams’ heart surgery is drawing attention.

A scathing editorial in the Wednesday New York Post, entitled “Oh (no) Canada,” chided advocates of a publicly funded American system.

“You’ve heard the mantra, chanted by everyone on the left, from Michael Moore to The New York Times: America’s profit-centric health-care system is dismally inferior to that of Canada’s purely pristine humanitarian-driven version,” the newspaper said.

“Well, tell that to Danny Williams,” it crowed, adding Williams “prefers to put his trust” in the American system.

Fox News featured the Williams story with one health expert arguing it showed the U.S. “remains the global destination” for international patients.

A report on Williams’ cardiac care by the Associated Press also appeared in prominent newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

And his case was swiftly picked up on the private-care advocacy blog “Patients First,” which described the premier as travelling south “in lieu of waiting for Canada’s system to eventually call his number.”

christina.spencer@sunmedia.ca