W&L Politics Professor Publishes Chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Governance and Public Management for Social Policy Zoila Ponce de León’s chapter is titled “Health Care and the Public-Private Mix in Mexico, Chile, and Peru” and appears in the Latin American section of the publication.

By Brian Laubscher
May 8, 2023

Zoila Ponce de León, assistant professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, recently published a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Governance and Public Management for Social Policy.

Ponce de León’s chapter appears in the Latin American section of the publication and is titled “Health Care and the Public-Private Mix in Mexico, Chile, and Peru.” Her chapter outlines the development of the private sector in the 1980s and 1990s when the public healthcare systems in all three countries struggled to provide insurance coverage and access to healthcare services to much of their populations.

“This situation prompted the coexistence of the public and private sectors in a system characterized by fragmentation,” said Ponce de León. “One of the main consequences of these fragmented systems is the high out-of-pocket expenditure citizens face. The governments of these countries sought aid from private providers to guarantee access to healthcare services for their populations. However, the government purchase of private services remains marginal in the three countries. The important role of the private sector in the healthcare systems of Mexico, Chile, and Peru in terms of provision, insurance, and funding resembles a common trend in the Latin American region.”

Ponce de León went on to add that “the growing presence of private providers, as well as private insurance companies in several Latin American countries, has demanded a further development of the state apparatus for the supervision of both public and private services and insurance. Future research should seek to compare the impact of the different institutional arrangements present in the Latin American region, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Ponce de León has leaned heavily upon her students to assist with her research, and she credits Bo Garfinkel ’21 for providing necessary support.

“I am extremely grateful to Bo for her excellent research assistance in the completion of this chapter,” Ponce de León offered. “Bo, like all my student research assistants, was key to improving the quality of my work.”

Ponce de León has been teaching at W&L since 2018. In addition to serving as an assistant professor of politics, she is a core faculty member for the university’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies program. She holds degrees in political science from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (bachelor’s) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (master’s and doctorate).

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