Author
Ms LEI Xue
Organisation/Institution
City University of Hong Kong, School of Law
Country
HONG KONG (SAR OF CHINA)
Panel
Law and Society
Title
How Private Insurers Regulate Public Hospitals in China
Abstract
Currently, China is undergoing a process in which regulation is being devolved to the private sector, with insurers leading this process. The existing scholarship on “regulation by insurance,” however, is primarily situated within developed democracies, where public acceptance of insurance is high and liability insurers possess significant bargaining power, enabling them to establish effective hierarchical regulatory structures in contractual relationships. By Contrast, China presents a different scenario where public acceptance of insurance remains limited. Thus, the experience of “regulation by liability insurance” from other countries may not fully explain China’s case. Building upon existing scholarship, this article establishes a research framework for applying the theory of “regulation by liability insurance” to the Chinese context. It then employs this framework to analyze the role of medical liability insurance in regulating the risky behaviors of public hospitals. Drawing upon data and interviews collected from insurance companies and medical institutions in a developed coastal city in Eastern China, this study provides a detailed description of how liability insurance regulates public hospitals, thereby reducing medical risks and enhancing patient safety. This study not only provides robust empirical evidence for exploring the institutional function of liability insurance in China’s healthcare sector but also engages with the global scholarly discourse on “regulation by liability insurance,” thereby enriching the scope and depth of the theory.
Biography
I am LEI Xue, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Law at the City University of Hong Kong. My doctoral research, under the esteemed supervision of Professor DING Chunyan, centers on the empirical dynamics of liability insurance as a regulatory mechanism within China's unique socio-legal context. Specifically, I investigate how insurers influence policyholder behavior to mitigate risk. My broader scholarly interests span insurance law, medical law, and socio-legal studies.
