HEALTH - Living Abroad in Beijing - page 222

Even if you plan to stick to the local hospitals, a single night in a VIP suite at Peking Union
(Xiéhé) can cost around RMB3,000 per night.
Expense aside, in many cases you won't even be treated if you can't either pay upfront or
guarantee payment through an insurer. Another incentive for covering yourself is that many
health-care policies build checkups into their coverage. Regular checkups are one way of
staying healthy and catching things early. With appointments costing at least RMB1,000
at some international clinics, if you are paying directly out of your own pocket, you may
be more likely to skimp on your health care and visit a doctor only when something goes
wrong, which might be too late.
You may already have insurance in your home country, or pay into programs such as
Medicare or Medicaid. Don't assume any of these will cover you in China. It's quite likely
that they won't. Be sure to consult your provider before you depart your home country, and
if you are covered in Beijing, find out exactly which hospitals they accept and whether or
not medical evacuation is included.
The difficulty with choosing health insurance is that you need to wade through a seem-
ingly endless array of options. If your company is going to provide insurance for you, then
that will likely cut out a lot of the mental exhaustion of the selection process. Often inter-
national companies will collaborate with one or two providers, so then it's just down to you
find the plan that's right for your individual circumstance. Even if this is the case, however,
you should still check to see how comprehensively your given options will cover you in a
worst-case scenario and if you can use a provider of your own choosing if preferred.
FINDING AN INSURER
There are various ways to try to sort through insurance companies. You can do it yourself
by going directly to an insurance company; using an agent, who will have connections to
various insurers; or speaking to a broker, who typically deals with a wide array of insurers
and who can give you a better comparison of policies to try to match you as closely as pos-
sible to what you need.
Most international insurance companies are not licensed in China, but this isn't as scary
as it may sound. If you're going to restrict yourself to the international hospitals and clin-
ics it won't be a problem. You will, however, need a China-certified insurer if you plan to
use local hospitals and if you need a f ā piào (invoice) for your insurance. There are ways to
get a f ā piào through uncertified insurers, but this can be troublesome process and possibly
more expensive.