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The schpiel about the "poor" quality (comparitively) of health care in the U.S. is, of course, much hooey.  
As Matt said, it is often spouted by those who wish a socialized/single-payer system to become the "American way."
But there is much recent data that demonstrates the silliness of all of this.  Examples:
 
1.  A 2008 study showed that the US lead ALL nations in the 5 year survival rate for breast cancer (women), colorectal cancer (both men and women) and prostate cancer.  If the nation performs so badly, why do we do so well in these deadly areas.
2.  Using a regression method and a standardized mean, the average life span in the US was greater than in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Canada, German and Belgium  (leading nearly every nation, in fact) when you factored out auto accident deaths and murder, both of which are much more prevalent in the US and have a disproportionate impact on the young.  Both of these mean of death are largely out of the control of the health care system.  The US lifespan increased from 75.3 to 76.9 using this method.  
As well, we live in a nation of generally greater obesity and high smoking rates than most developed nations.  These are behaviors that certainly negatively impact life expectancies and drive up overall health care costs (because of the long-term/chronic health care demands they create) while being beyond the control of the "system."
Anyway, our health care providers are world class, as is our "system."