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Canada is larger, more geographically dispersed and less homogeneous than the United States, and yet manages to have a functioning single-payer medical system.

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Larger by land mass, perhaps, but much smaller by most other measures. And substantially more homogenous (not sure how you're getting a different impression). "Functioning" is maybe a decent description and a pretty low target.

> And substantially more homogenous (not sure how you're getting a different impression)

Not sure what you define as 'homogenous' but over 20% of Canada's population is foreign born, and less than 57% are english speaking by mother tongue.

I would not consider 80% white Western European to be as diverse as the US. I don't think the Canadian French thing contributes a whole lot to diversity.

Important to note that while Canada is geographically large, it's population is far from dispersed. Half the population lives in a ~700mi corridor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City%E2%80%93Windsor_Cor...

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