Single Payer Provides Comprehensive Benefits

Many suggest that we should guarantee only “basic” benefits
for all of us, but then, for those who have the money and wish to pay for more
comprehensive services, we should allow them to do so. But what does that mean?
Would a person with disabling arthritis of the hip be denied hip replacement
surgery because that is an elective procedure? Would that person be granted the
“basic’ benefit of a walker or wheelchair for the rest of his/her life?

Most
who really care about the health of others would agree that hip replacement
surgery should be covered. Once you accept that level of health benefits for
everyone, you are really accepting the fact that everyone should have
affordable access to all reasonable, beneficial health care services.
Exclusions from care should be limited to services such as vanity cosmetic
surgery or penthouse suites in hospitals. The single payer model specifically
includes all reasonable, beneficial services and products.