We should not be so quick to dismiss this general idea out of hand. The easiest way, I think, for a single-payer health care system in the United States is for Canada to annex the United States.
Some of the side-effects might me nice as well--short political campaigns; three national political parties plus a bunch of regional ones; a national anthem that does not use the tune of an English drinking song; sane relations with the rest of the world; sane leaders; etc.
--tim francis-wright