Prognosis
U.S. Is Open as Canada Shuts Down. The Difference? Their Health Care Systems
- U.S. free-market system has more surge capacity than Canada’s
- Omicron exposes a trade-off of government-run health care
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As omicron sweeps through North America, the U.S. and Canadian responses couldn’t be more different. U.S. states are largely open for business, while Canada’s biggest provinces are shutting down.
The difference partly comes down to arithmetic: The U.S. health care system, which prioritizes free markets, provides more hospital beds per capita than the government-dominated Canadian system does.