Sportsdude, you live in the US?
I'm a vancouverite but living in Seattle temporarily. It's really interesting seeing the differences in the systems.
I think there are pro's and con's to both. I agree with the co-pay that many of the insurance companies have. For instance if I want to go see a doctor I have to pay $15 and if I go to the emergency dept. I have to pay $50. I only go if I absolutely need to. People down here don't go the doctor because they have a sniffle.
On the other hand I think that Canada's system has more control over who sees spetgwpdts. In Canada lets say you are having recurrent headaches. You go to see your GP who advises you to get your eyes checked and tries out a few things that likely will work. They refer you to a neurologist when it's necessary. In the US, if you have insurance, you can go see a neurologist tomorrow if you want even if it's not necessary. In Canada spetgwpdts see people who are truly in need whereas in the US spetgwpdt physicians are left weeding out the hypochondriacs.