Summary: America pluses are quality and speed, minuses are cost and connection to work.

Here is a comparison by Americans living in Canada who are presumably famliar with both American and Canadian health care systems, one of which is slightly more socialistic than the other, both of which are heavily shaped by government intrusion. There are obvious problems with this kind of comparison; this is only one of the most meaningful comparisons that I have seen, which is saying little.

Americans living in Canada prefer the U.S. health-care

system for speed, quality and diagnostic technology, says a new study.

But they also applaud the equity and cost-effectiveness of Canada's

system. And in the final analysis, 40 per cent prefer the Canadian

system. [...]

Overall, the Americans said they preferred the U.S. system for emergency,

specialist, hospital and diagnostic services, and said they preferred

the timeliness and quality of the American system. [...]

In all, 260 [out of 310 total] of the Americans identified wait times as the most significant negative feature of the Canadian system, while 192 identified quality

of care as the most positive feature of the U.S. system.

In all, 196 of the Americans said cost efficiency was the best thing about the

Canadian system, while 223 said cost inefficiency was the worst thing

about the U.S. system. [...]

Meanwhile, 32 per cent also noted that while they lived in the U.S., health

insurance concerns affected their decisions about where to look for a

job, and 29 per cent said it influenced decisions about whether to

remain at a workplace.