How Safe Is The Chinese Health Care System?
Wow, I can’t believe I thought about trying to put this huge subject into one post, Thank goodness I came to my senses in time. So here I will bite off a just a piece, something that you can readily digest.
Let me say this, I have had my fair share of encounters with the Chinese health care system and have made friends with several doctors and people who monitor different aspects of the system. It’s fair to say that if I had a choice between being hospitalized in America (or Europe) and China there is no question I would choose America mainly due to the overall quality and modern facilities. However there is a big BUT that must be fairly stated. China is a safe place to be treated for 85 to 95% of what can go wrong health wise in your life and the quality vs. price ratio tilts in favor of China.
Today, I will focus on one experience that I witnessed a good friend go thought in a second/third tier city in China. My buddy, in his mid-fifties from England, was teaching English at a private school as he had been for years and with that he was required to get a yearly medical exam at a clinic set up for foreign workers. During one of his yearly exams his EKG was showing a problem with his heart and prompted a visit to a regular hospital, where the doctor told him his heart was going south and in a few years he would need a value replacement. Well, sure enough a few years later he developed symptoms that led him back to the hospital. And the diagnosis was that he needed to get one of his heart valves replaced ASAP. My friend had no insurance and frankly little cash but he was able to gather up enough cash from family to proceed.
He entered the hospital several days before the scheduled surgery for prep. The room was old and grungy but clean, the same for the bed and bathroom. He brought in a cushion to make the bed more comfortable which is normal for those of us that need a soft place to lay. Another friend and I went to visit him on a daily basis to sit with him and bring him food (food is normally not served by the hospital so family is expected to provide that for the patient, among other things, and since his Chinese wife was working a lot his expat fiends made up the difference.) His doctor was a very nice man, with seemingly significant experience with open heart surgery, who actually could speak passable English which was a big help with all of his questions.
The day of the surgery, I was with him in ICU, just after he came out of the anesthesia. He was asking the doctor when the surgery was going to be…haha. He had a massive slice stitched up down the middle of his chest. We were told the surgery went smoothly and was a success. Which, as time has passed, has proven to be true. I am happy to report three years have passed since the operation and I still talk to him regularly. He reports that his heart is doing just fine now.
Now, for me, the interesting thing about the whole experience was the total cost to him for the surgery. He was billed in Chinese yuan the equivalent of $12,000 which he paid in cash. I thought to myself at the time that that was f**king cheap. If he had been in the U.S. the total cost would, on average, according to American Heart Association not counting doctors fees be around $164,238. Let that sink in for a minute, yes the facilities are much nicer but what a huge diffidence. Is it really worth the much higher price? Of course, if your had decent heath insurance your out of pocket may be out 5-10% of that so your total out of pocket expenses might be very similar to what my friend paid not counting the years of paying out insurance premiums. I should also mention that while his hospital room was old looking and not apparently well equipped, the ICU looked state-of-the-art and each patient had a dedicated nurse sitting at the foot of the bed keeping a constant watch on the patient, you won’t get that in the U.S.
Overall, I give this experience a B to B+ and it greatly lowered my apprehension about the Chinese health care system’s ability to provide reasonable care at a fair price. Having said that I still recommend not getting yourself into my friend’s situation. It’s much better if you obtain quality travel health insurance if you are coming to China on a short-term basis or a long term policy for those intending to stay longer or work. You will have many more options available to you if you do.
Most of the large cities in China now have western style hospitals available with western trained medical staff but these will carry a much higher cost so you better be prepared if that is what you are looking for yourself. Here are my personal recommendations for travel and long term health insurance in China. Please take some time and look at them closely before you make any decisions about your health care while in China.
