It's all about tradeoffs.

According to Greg Mankiw, when it comes to healthcare reform, it is all about trade-offs. He asserts that to get more equality, we have to give up efficiency, because of higher marginal tax rates and reduced work incentives which will lead to a smaller economic pie.

I wonder if this is right? Perhaps to some degree. But, if reform makes the healthcare sector more efficient, it seems that the cost in overall efficiency could be lower.

I still think my professor at Harvard Law School was onto something when he suggested that a reward system should be substituted for patent protection in the case of some drugs, for example. It is awfully unfortunate when people are denied care when the cost of the drugs are much less than what they would be willing to pay. Maybe encouraging drug companies to engage in greater price discrimination so that lower income individuals pay less would be a second-best policy to increase efficiency.