Job Discussion Forums

timkelly · Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Yangshuo

Boring subject, but does anyone know what kind of insurance their school took out on their teachers and students? If so, what was covered?

I have quotes from China Life and China Pacific.

Sorry, but needed to ask.

Guest · Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 3:57 am Post subject:

I really do not think I am covered by the School and as I spent 19 nights in Hospital in Shanghai earlier this year (at a cost of $14,500 Australian) I made sure that I took out "Travel" Insurance again this time. It costs me about $125 Australian per month.

I would be interested to know where to aquire "expat" Insurance or similar. How much were your quotes for - if you don't mind the question?

timkelly · Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Yangshuo

Hi,

Sorry to hear about the hospital stay. We're looking at a quote from China Life which covers:
Y9000 for Death
Y3000 for Disability
Y20,000 for Hospital Treatment

All this for Y39 for the year. Not much, but something. I think we'll be recommending to teachers and students that they also have travel insurance.

Would be interested in anyone else's experiences.

oprah · Joined: 26 Apr 2003 Posts: 382

Do we know the clauses in the insurance policy in China.. Will it be honoured? Accident insurance on the quote is hardly worth it, but the hospital coverage would be worth it. Does this China insurance company have someone that speaks English? I am an expert on insurance in my country so I know what to look for and look out for in insurance policy.

timkelly · Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Yangshuo

Hi Oprah,

No one who can speak English. Have had a translator helping me, but that hasn't been the easiest process. Insurance is enough of a nightmare in English.

I think both China Life and China Pacific are fairly major companies and they seem to have the lion share of the market in China (if only because no one else is allowed to operate). I'm still having things translated but will post a summary of my findings shortly.

Thanks for your interest and I'd be interested in your feedback.

Cheers,
Tim

cmoseley · Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 299 Location: Touring

Ralf · Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 6:47 am Post subject: My experience

Regarding health insurance, my previous school gave me 500 RMB per term in cash for medical expenses (got sick twice and paid then a total of about 6.000 RMB for the hospital treatment Sad

).
I was told that I could have used the money to enroll in some local health insurance (about 100 to 150 RMB a month) Confused

.
Right now, working at another school, I have an 80% (school) - 20% (me) full-coverage agreement for medical expensens - hope it works when I become sick again....

laodeng · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 481

FYI, my school--a 2nd-tier university--has no insurance for its teachers, and its on-campus clinic looks like something out of the Dark Ages ("bring out your dead, bring out your . . ."). At age 68, there's no way in hell I can get medical insurance. My solution (as discussed previously here): going to a first-rate Chinese (i.e., non-expatriate) hospital at 18 RMB for a visit wih a specialist and having my wife interpret. So far, so good.

burnsie · Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 489 Location: Beijing

When you come on a 1 year contract and you have medical insurance most schools spend between 500-1000Yuan for the year. This is for Chinese med insurance not western. Western costs about 1,200 US a year.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Our old and westeemed, but absent, colleague Peter Bol used to point to HSBC as an insurance policy seller. I have some brochure here, but have been too lazy to study it. It might be worth, it certainly is, considering it costs some HK$ 95 or so per month.
The snag is you have to cross the border once in a while to benefit from it.

But who knows how flexible they are? And the exact terms and conditions?

Check out for yourselves at www.hsbc.com (add .hk, perhaps, I dunno).

deezy · Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:11 am Post subject: Insurance

It's really important that you do get good insurance. There are a number of companies that supply insurance, but they do tend to be very expensive. The best way is to get the company you are going to work for to get the cover, as part of the deal.

oprah · Joined: 26 Apr 2003 Posts: 382

The cost of insurance is based on your age, your health.. so saying insurance is cheap means nothing. If it is cheap for one it could be because of your age, the cost of insurance increases as you get older.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I checked that flyer from the HSBC again, and it says they charge you around HK 300 per month, and you must be absent from HK no longer than 60 days at any one time.
I guess it is not unreasonable to take out an insurance from them in Hong Kong and reside somewhere in Guangdong; farther afield it's a bit costly, of course.
Yet they seem to cover the whole range of medical necessities, though they accept invoices only from "designated hospitals". These seem to number in the hundreds, though, throughout the PR of C!

nolefan · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 1458 Location: on the run

is anyone using these guys?

http://www.globalhealth.cn

They seem pretty legit but I know nothing about insurance as I've always had some sort of coverage at work or school ('till now, that is..). Someone mentioned that they used to work for an insurance company before coming over, it would certainly help if that person looked over their pilicy for all of us. They do advertise special rates for teachers