Make no mistake: Health insurance in Germany is a ghastly behemoth, full of red tape, nonsense and costly as well. Trying to reform it a nightmare, because you don't know where to start and what side effects small reforms in places have. The pharma industry, the insurers, the hospitals and doctors and even the patients have all settled into it very comfortably, danke schön, and every group abuses the system at one point or another.
But the alternative of a voluntary health insurance system isn't one. No, a mandatory health insurance system won't buy you the newest Porsche in medical treatment (but doesn't keep you from doing it if you are wealthy enough), but it guarantees a minimum sensible standard for those parts of the population which for whatever reason don't have the economic might to always keep themselves reasonably insured on a private basis. An insurance being able to withdraw cover from someone when he needs it the most is an obscene thing in any non-Third World Country. I'm not talking about shiny teeth implants, abortions or cosmetic surgery, I'm talking about something fundamental like cancer treatment which you should be entitled to no matter how many cancer-stricken relatives and ancestors you have.
I understand that to liberty-minded Americans, the state forcing yourself to insure yourself is a discomforting thought (though people accept mandatory car insurance without complaining), but trust me that in a generation from now US citzens will not need a law to compel them. If developments are anything like they are in states that have had mandatory health insurance for a while, then loss of health insurance will be perceived as a most devastating event/threat in any individual's life, an event to be prevented at all costs out of your own personal interest.