Professor Huang Delivers Talk on China’s Healthcare Challenges

Professor Yanzhong Huang delivered a lecture on “China’s Healthcare Challenges” at Yale Law School on March 7, 2016. The event was organized by the China Center and co-sponsored by the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy.

Professor Huang’s wide-ranging talk covered history, policy, and empirical work. After describing the history of healthcare policy in China beginning in the Mao era, he assessed the accomplishments and shortcomings of the Chinese government’s healthcare reform efforts beginning in 2009. He identified a complex web of present-day challenges for China’s healthcare system, including managing ballooning costs of care, ensuring adequate coverage for individuals, and devoting sufficient government resources to reforming public hospitals and limiting vested interests and corruption. 

During the lively Q&A period following his talk, Professor Huang discussed the relationship between the high private savings rate in China and the goal of encouraging consumer spending, social unrest relating to healthcare access, and adequate training for doctors to handle growing demand for medical care, among other topics.

The talk drew a large and diverse crowd of students and faculty from the Law School, the Yale School of Medicine, the Yale School of Public Health, Yale College, and other parts of the University.

Yanzhong Huang is a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also professor and director of global health studies at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, where he developed the first academic concentration among U.S. professional schools of international affairs that explicitly addresses the security and foreign policy aspects of health issues. His book Governing Health in Contemporary China looks at health care reform, government ability to address disease outbreaks, and food and drug safety in China. He has taught at Barnard College and Columbia University. He obtained his BA and MA degrees from Fudan University and his PhD degree from the University of Chicago.

The China Center is the primary home for activities related to China at Yale Law School. Founded in 1999, the Center is a unique institution dedicated to helping advance China’s legal reforms, improving U.S.–China relations, and increasing understanding of China in the United States. The Director of The China Center is Professor Paul Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School.

Established in 2015, the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School is the first of its kind to focus on the governance, business, and practice of health care in the United States. The Center brings together leading experts and practitioners from the public and private sectors to address cutting-edge questions of health law and policy, and to train the next generation of top health lawyers, industry leaders, policymakers, and academics. The faculty director is Professor of Law Abbe R. Gluck ’00.