[dsfyu404ed]

>I do not understand the mental gymnastics to reach the conclusion that citizens as a whole would pay more in a single-payer system

The reasoning goes like this:

The entrenched well funded (and money loosely translates to political power) interests influence the legislators doing the implementing in order to ensure a regulatory capture that allows them to continue swindling people at their current level but because it is now proxied through the additional overhead of government the net cost to the citizenry is greater than the current "get swindled directly" system and we have little/no net change in outcomes.

Basically people don't trust the government to not screw it up so badly that it actually costs more. I'm sure the cost would come down over time but with the high cost and uncertainty involved that's a tough sell.