Job Discussion Forums

[Seuss930]

If you are looking for some kind of security, then forget it.
If you are looking for the same coverage/benefits as you get
back home, forget it.
If you are looking for someone to hold your hand and say "Ill take care
of you if something happens" forget it.

If you are looking for medical coverage that will cover physical injuries and short hospital stays in the city where you work, then demand it. This is the lowest basic package a school should (for me-must) offer.

If you are looking for more than this, then be prepared to buy it separately yourself.

This is as clear as I can state it.

[killian]

emergency? forget about an ambulance. get yourself to the hospital ASAP. stay conscious. if you go unconscious you are as good as dead. carry your passport at all times. no pasport, no hospital admission. bring a wad of cash. they'll admit you, pay fee. see the doc, he'll diagnose. then pay fees. someone will have to do the walking between pay window and dr. for you if you canot traverse the stairs. no one to walk for you? you die.

i wish i was exaggerating.

[Cdilts]

Cool, thanks Seuss. I appreciate your being so straightforward.

I figured it was going to be difficult to find something equivalent to what I have here in the US, and wasn't expecting for it to be easy to find anything on par with what I currently have (if I could find it at all, which it sounds like I won't).

[Zero]

[killian]

if anything, locals have it better because they have their kin/support network should they have a late night emergency. a foreigner in some backwater where the hospital closs at 8 pm? RIP.

[MisterButtkins]

[choudoufu]

imagine it's 3am, you're in a decent-sized town of maybe 300k,
you feel a bit strange, check your pulse, you're skipping beats.
walk to the main gate of the apartment complex, no taxis, so
walk the 2km to the main hospital (affiliated with the medical
college), wake up the duty nurse, who then has to locate the
on-call doctor who is sleeping on a gurney in one of the exam
rooms. the doctor is unable to find the clip-on/tape-on leads
for the ekg, and the suction cups don't work due to incredibly
sexy chest hair. he could at least just listen to your heartbeat,
yes? no. um, we don't have a stethoscope. the following day
you buy two stethoscopes from the medical supply store
across from the hospital for 19 rmb each, and donate one to
the emergency room. for next time. you also consider
shaving your chest.

[PattyFlipper]

[DixieCat]

PICC has a policy for HK and foreigners that will pay 80 % of medical cost and has a rider that extends the policy for outpatient. Find out what insurance the local hospitals use and purchase a policy.

[maotouying]

[Old Surrender]

I had one experience with Chinese medicine for a case of strep throat while I was in Dalian. I give it a "C." Three days of IV meds and week of cough syrup and it seemed to do the trick. They made me do some blood work (really?) and I got to share an examination room with another patient but it only cost me about 150 RMB total. I would go to the same place if I broke a bone or something like that.

Anything more serious than, though, I would've hopped over to Korea. Now that I'm in the interior, um, er...

[mat chen]

If you get a chance check out all the precautions Edward Snow took before coming to China. He took injections for everything known to man.
As a seasoned traveller the best advice I can give you is to stay healthy.
Don't let the job turn into 80 hours a week no matter how much they pay you. Don't eat from dubious places. Street food in the afternoons is a no no. Drink lots of water. Boil top water for five minutes before drinking it. Chinese green tea has medicinal properties. I drink copious amounts and don't get the common colds everyone else does.
Relax it is like going to the mountain top and you think it is so wonderful to be able to see so far. And then your mind plays these games with you. You worry about mosqitoes and maybe a fall on the way up. So you call off the whole thing. Your just as likely to have a medical crisis at home especially if you don't live a healthy life style. And you are just as likely to see an incompetent doctor at home.
Here in China I have been treated by local clinics for peanuts after spending wads of money at the large hospitals. I am a firm believer in Chinese medicine. It is different than the west. It is not a medicine to save your life but it puts things in ballance and will prolong your life.
The government of China talks about reforming it's medical care but I don't know if anything is being done. In Korea and Taiwan when you see a doctor usually they give you free service because they know you are a low paid teacher. In China they think all foreigners are well heeled.

[bluetortilla]

Wow! Just like the old days! Well, we're all going to die one day, one way or another...

Anyway, I have 'accidental medical health insurance' on my contract too (not in China yet) and wonder whether it's worth finagling over or just take care of it myself as I've heard hospital visits are 'dirt cheap' several times in this thread, and that it would only take a few hundred yuan to get six months worth of medical insurance.

If that's all it costs, I'd just assume to let the misers that be keep the pocket change.

[choudoufu]

you want expat health insurance, the kind that includes repatriation.

like this:

http://www.healthcareinternational.com/pdf/international-health-insurance/ComparisonPlans_USD.pdf

or seven corners, or bupa, or.........

affordable plans run from $500-$2000 per year.

or you can go with the chinese PICC, should run around 1200 RMB/yr.

http://www.picchealth.com/english/tabid/496/InfoID/439/frtid/371/Default.aspx

[bluetortilla]