Job Discussion Forums

[mat chen]

Lately the favorite topic has been taking money out of China. What should one bring here to be on the safe side? My present school offers medical insurrance of 2,000 rmb. It really means that you can bill the school clinic for up to 2,000 rmb. They will not cover medical bills from other hospitals or doctors. I paid for my medical and was reimbursed after passing the test. Having lived and worked in other countries I found that most doctors don't charge foreign teachers for their services. Here in China you are looked on as a cash cow and easily run through a years salary if something goes wrong. You get free diagnosis but treatment must be paid in cash. Foreign insurrance will reimburse but cash up front is a must.
Also you need to have a return air ticket in case the school folds or things just don't work out. And then there is the trip to Hong Kong which can cost a bit if you are living in the north
I think at least 50,000 rmb is required for protection from rainy days.

[Zero]

The Chinese have the same issue, due to lack of comprehensive welfare and health care in China. The only answer: You can never have enough.

That's why the Chinese are such savers. Your suggested 50k would cover most things that come up. But if something truly major came up, like you were hit by a car or had serious heart problems, I doubt it would suffice.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[Zero]

Yes, get an expatriate health insurance policy.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I personally think that if was badly hurt my medical policy would be to bandage myself up just enough to make it to the plane on time to fly home. After my first, and hopefully last, experience with a Chinese hospital I found myself vowing to never step foot in one again.

I think it was the stool sample they wanted. Which was fine, it was just wanting me to carry it in an open container from the loo, into the hall, down the stairs, across the parking lot, up three flights of stairs, and to the lab people.

Other little niggling things like being prescribed a medication that wasn't even available in the city I live in and so forth didn't help much.

End result, I paid 100 RMB or so for 3 bags of IV fluids and being told I have the squirts.

[mat chen]

It wasn't free but they wanted me to help them with their English. In Korea and Taiwan I had many doctor friends who just wanted to talk with a foreigner. I lived in a medical clinic in Taiwan and at the end of the night I would chat with the doctor and drink tea. He wouldn't take money from me when I was sick. In Henan I was told of a volunteer teacher who donated a $ 6,000,000 medical machine to a hospital. This was a good thing to do but left an impression that English teachers are rich. As in the novel RIVER TOWN , the volunteer teacher comes to China with an expensive camera and creates the impression of being wealthy. This is not the case today. How many people today can take a year of their lives to teach as a volunteer?

[Midge]

[mat chen]

Stool samples are not taken in China. Urine samples are taken in a plastic cup. You just need to change your sample with the other 200 samples when you place the cup on the table.
Medicals are a source of income here. Everyone passes. But even though you have one in your home country you will hve to have one here.
If you fail the test you must pay your way home. Even if the test are a joke here, don't try to trick them.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

[chinatwin88]

Stool samples are taken in Beijing Chinese hosp (WangJing Hosp near Lido) and they use a stool container which is a little jar with a cap and attached spoon.

If you really want med care in China to be like the Hosp back home, there is United Family in Beijing where you will pay, the same as you would for stateside care. Rooms start at 11K rmb and hover around 18K rmb, per day. there is ins. policies that will pay for care and many of the Beijing ExPat edu. and corp. companies spring for the cost or half the cost. I think policies start at around 18Krmb per year.

[norwalkesl]

[bnej]

Are there not medical insurance policies you can buy from your country of origin to cover the costs? setting aside 50k RMB seems ridiculous...

[foreigndevil2]

Yes of course saving money for emergencies is a good thing. But as another poster said, you can't save enough for an unforeseen medical emergency. Good healthcare is expensive. 50,000 rmb? That is nothing. If you had to undergo surgery and post-operative care, along with days or weeks of hospital stay, you would burn through 50,000 rmb in three seconds.
I had a broken arm and underwent surgery with local anesthetic (was not put under.) That and a few days hospital stay ended up costing me 20,000 rmb. My insurance company later reimbursed me.

So I guess the ideal solution is to both save cash, and invest money in good health coverage. But this is hard to do. I am not a good saver.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

[LoPresto]

Personally, I think spending $15 USD on something that wasn't needed to be done is "expensive".

Has anyone ever tipped a pizza delivery guy $15?

My advice to younger newcomers, "straight off the boat" so to type, is to stop thinking in terms of dollars and start thinking in terms of rmb. 100 kuai here, 100 kuai there adds up.

I paid 100 kuai for a 4 cup coffee maker here, on sale. I could have bought the same thing for less than $10 in the USA.

The morale of the story is this - they will get you, one way or the other. I prefer the original.

The "alternative" reeks of "getting it where the sun doesn't shine!"