The New York Review of Books: The Health Care Crisis and What to Do About It:
"We're talking about large cost savings. Indeed, the available evidence suggests that if the United States were to replace its current complex mix of health insurance systems with standardized, universal coverage, the savings would be so large that we could cover all those currently uninsured, yet end up spending less overall. That's what happened in Taiwan, which adopted a single-payer system in 1995: the percentage of the population with health insurance soared from 57 percent to 97 percent, yet health care costs actually grew more slowly than one would have predicted from trends before the change in system."

I believe the "tipping point" for this to happen is fast approaching because General Motors needs this. The only problems, and they're big ones, are the AMA and the insurance lobby. If enough momentum can be achieved politically, a long shot I know, they may be overcome.