[chii]

> There are no 'surprise' denials after the fact.

this is the crucial difference.

It's absolutely fine (and required even) that single payer public healthcare doesn't cover every conceivable thing under the sun. It should cover the most common, easily scaled and mass produced items.

For the remainder, the patient should be told and know what to expect price wise - private or self-paid etc. And this also allows competition between entities offering this thing that's not covered.

Having opaque and unknown pricing (until after you've done it) is basically a form of highway robbery.