The widespread and world-class COVID-19 testing capacity and U.S. success rate in saving lives amid the global coronavirus pandemic have been a result of capitalism and American innovation, according to Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, on Newsmax TV.
"You know it's worth pointing out that in the socialized medicine countries – on a per capita basis, and that's the important statistic to focus on – they have far less, orders of magnitude less, ICU beds, ventilators, things like that," Crenshaw told Monday's "Greg Kelly Reports."
"We have far more. We have far more capacity in this country because of our healthcare system."
Crenshaw admits U.S. healthcare still warrants reform, because "it's not perfect," but says capitalism has put America in the position to have world-class healthcare for its citizens and to be world leaders in medicine and medical technology.
"That has a huge effect on our innovative capacity and our general capacity to take on a pandemic like this," Crenshaw told Kelly. "And we're gonna be talking about things like that in our healthcare more."
Crenshaw, author of "Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage," lamented the timing of his book's recent release, but said the context does provide some scope for how the pandemic has led to a general misinterpretation of the U.S. response.
Republicans do have solutions to hot-button Democratic agenda items like the Green New Deal and healthcare reform, Crenshaw added.
"In the future, I think Republicans need to focus on the things that a lot of independent voters care about, too," Crenshaw said. "We have to have solutions to those things, our energy and environment questions, our healthcare questions.
"That's what a lot of people want to hear about, and guess what, we do have conservative solutions to those things that don't ruin the enemy and don't put us in a terrible socialized medicine kind of world."
Important: See Newsmax TV now carried in 70 million cable homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, or Find More Cable Systems – Click Here.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.