"America's decentralized authority, expensive health care and skimpy safety-net will all make the pandemic response harder to deal with"
Then you know it's a corrupt, propaganda piece promoting more government and less freedom.
America is more free because we have a smaller, (non Soviet style) decentralized government. America is more free because for the most part, the free market regulates our healthcare industry. America is more free because most Americans aren't in a welfare state and relying fully on government.
If anything hindered the response, it was the CDC (large government bureaucracy) not giving authorization for local health officials in Washington to take drastic measures to address the issue very early on.