Online Viewing

In light of the rapidly developing COVID-19 outbreaks, Harvard University has restricted on-campus events. As a result, we will not be allowing in-person attendance at this event. Instead, the event will be available for viewing online. To ensure that you will receive access to the livestream and be kept up to date on any changes to the event, register now. We will send out a link to the livestream of the event to all registrants three days before the conference.

Hosting events, even ones that are largely virtual, is a constantly moving target these days and we appreciate your patience and flexibility as we fine tune our approach. In the meantime, we hope you all stay well.

Description

Each year in low- and middle-income countries thousands of people are detained in hospitals for non-payment of medical bills, despite the fact that such detention is a violation of national and international law. Hospital detention for nonpayment of bills disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people, including post-partum women.

In the US, medical debt manifests itself in other ways, including bankruptcy, litigation to garnish wages, and foregone care.  In both contexts, these scandals are the result of failures of financing, priority-setting, and legal oversight.

Without addressing these systemic issues, a “human right to health care” will remain a hollow slogan, as will political promises to achieve universal health coverage.

This event will feature Robert Yates of Chatham House, which has conducted an in-depth investigation of the global phenomenon of hospital detentions. Additional panelists will address manifestations of predatory lending and surprise medical fees in the United States, the ethical imperatives of financing and priority setting for UHC in general, and the implications for thinking about health care as a human right.

Agenda

9:00 – 9:05am, Welcome and Introduction

• Alicia Ely Yamin, Senior Fellow in Global Health and Rights, The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School

9:05 – 9:45am, Keynote Address

• Robert Yates, Director, Global Health Programme and Executive Director, Centre for Universal Health, Chatham House

9:45 – 10:30am, Debt in the American Health Care System

• Wendi C. Thomas, Editor, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism and investigative reporter of “Profiting from the Poor: Inside Memphis’ Debt Machine,” which was produced in partnership with ProPublica.
• Jay Hancock, Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health News and contributor to KHN’s investigation of the University of Virginia Health System’s aggressive billing practices

10:30 – 10:45am, Closing Reflections

• Alicia Ely Yamin, Senior Fellow in Global Health and Rights, The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School

Register

This event is free and can be viewed online by the public, but registration is required. Register now!