Just a small example on this. My father-in-law is an anesthesiologist in Germany, but he also goes out with the ambulance on emergency calls. It's the law in Germany that a doctor go out on emergency calls because he has to make the decision on whether they should try to keep people alive. If they're too old or not likely to survive, etc. they may not try to resuscitate, primarily because it's too expensive to revive someone who will most likely die in a day or two anyway.
I'm not terribly familiar with the U.S. ambulance/emergency system, but I believe that they try to keep everyone alive regardless of the cost and leave the decisions about unplugging, etc. to the family.
Just one example of the wonders of socialized medicine.
Having said that, though, the actual quality of care in Germany is better in some ways and worse in some ways than in the U.S., but overall, I'd say they're about equal. People do pay less out of pocket for care there, and it's generally very good. But if you factor in the taxes and the cost-based medical decisions, I'd vote for the American system.