What is Second Medical Opinion?

If you ever feel uncertain about your medical condition, or feel you have been misdiagnosed – this is when you need to use Second Medical Opinion services. This is a very popular option many expatriates in China prefer to use. In particular, due to need for having a better understanding of local health practices. Which is why many insurance companies offer such services on top of regular insurance protection. Sort of a value added services.

Why would I need second medical opinion in China?

If you are looking for a peace of mind and want extra certainty for your medical conditions – using second medical opinion will be a great choice. Through this, you will get extra reassurance through insurance company’s own medical team. They will go through your diagnosis and all medical report, and highlight if there is any discrepancy in your treatment plan.

When can I use it?

If your China health insurance plan has second medical opinion services, you are welcome to use them. Make sure to check policy wording of your plan regarding any waiting period. With some companies you may need to wait a couple of month after insurance plan was first purchased. before you can utilize those benefits. Once waiting period is gone, this will not apply again if you renew on the same plan structure next year.

How to use those services?

Checking policy wording of your insurance plan will be a good start. Quite often there are clear guidelines on how to use such services. Generally speaking, you have to get a diagnosis first with a licensed medical practitioner. Should you feel need of a review by another doctor, or simply double checking if everything was alright, you will need to contact your insurance hotline team. They will arrange their second medical opinion team to review and get back to you with feedback. Quite often large insurance companies employ their own doctors for those matters. Smaller tier insurance companies outsource it to third parties. Regardless what option it is, after contacting hotline support you will be assigned a doctor of their own. They are referred as Case Managers. All future communication will go through them.

Keep in mind that using second medical opinion doesn’t use any benefits from your policy structure. However, there might be some restriction regarding how many times per year such services can be utilized.

If you are still looking for good china expat health insurance, let us guide you and show you what’s available. 

Our Editorial Team

Hangzhou – Expatriate Healthcare

Hangzhou, conveniently located within 2 hours train ride from both Nanjing and Shanghai. It is one of the major hubs in the country for high tech companies. All because of lucrative policies cherishing SME and MNCs that decide to move headquarters there. Home to more than a dozen of high tech giants, Hangzhou becomes more So where to get good expatriate healthcare in Hangzhou?

Hangzhou is capital of Zhejiang province. It is in between Jiangsu on the north, Shanghai on the east, Fujian on the south and Anhui on the west. You will come across several major international schools in the city. Additionally, a good number of bilingual schools and kindergartens. Most of the expats in Hangzhou are employed either in education sector or in high tech. Third largest sphere for foreigners in there is cross border trading.

Hangzhou Expat Health Insurance

Below is the list of some of the most popular medical facilities with English speaking doctors in Hangzhou. Foreigners and expatriates can get very good quality care in Hangzhou in those. If you have good expat health insurance in China already, you will most likely enjoy direct billing in those. Meaning, most of outpatient care can be done cashless. In that case, medical facility will settle the bill directly with you insurance provider. Keep in mind that certain things shall be pre-authorized. Such as major scans or inpatient stays. It is always a good idea to clarify such with the medical facility you are heading to in advance.

Hangzhou Amcare Hospital 杭州艾玛妇产医院

Hangzhou Aima Maternity Hospital 杭州艾玛妇产医院

Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital 浙江大学医学院附属邵逸夫医院

Hangzhou Sino United Health Clinic 杭州曜影门诊部有限公司

How to receive a treatment in hospital in Hangzhou

Most of the time you can enjoy direct billing or guarantee of payment for outpatient care, if your insurance provider has such services. Inpatient care or hospitalization is very different. In many public hospitals they will require you pay deposit upfront before you can access any long term care.

Hospital will return you deposit once they received payment from insurance company. Keep in mind, pre-authorization for planned surgeries on average takes 3 working days. We always recommend clients to apply for such at least 5 days in advance. Simply because insurance company has to verify treatment plan and costs estimations together with a hospital. In emergency situations, it is quite common that guarantee of payment (GOP) will be issued within 24 hours. All depends how experienced the nurse at a clinic is when dealing with insurance companies.

If you are already in Hangzhou and looking for health insurance to give you great services and access to expatriate level of medical care – get in touch so we can help.

Check out our ultimate guide for more details on English speaking and foreign doctors in China. 

Our Editorial Team

Dental Insurance in China

This article will guide you through dental health insurance options in China. We will cover not only dental raiders as part of regular insurance policies, but also dental insurance plans that you can purchase separately. Keep on reading to learn more!

Who needs dental insurance?

First of all, why would you need dental insurance cover? This is a question you need to ask yourself. We always recommend clients to check on how much medical expenses they encountered in the past. For example, a person has perfectly aligned teeth and only does cleaning once per year. In this case, there is no need to get top of the line expensive plan that will cover orthodontics care. So check your own situation, start by figuring out:

1. how much do I usually spend on medical for my teeth? Take this amount on average per year.
2. is there any future dental work I need to get done? What’s the approximate costs of it? This will help us find you the right plan to cover the expenses you will face.

Does China have dental insurance?

Most private insurance plans in China can include dental benefits as part of your cover. Those, typically, will be optional benefits, meaning you will need to pay extra premium to get them. There are also option where you can opt for dental only insurance plan. More on this below.

What does dental insurance include?

This depends on how comprehensive insurance plan is. A lot of policies will cover emergency dental care even if you don’t have additional dental raider. This usually goes as part of the core benefits. In other words, inpatient part of your insurance plan. So check carefully table of benefits and figure out if you have those already or no.

Most insurance companies in China can let you purchase dental raider for extra costs. This is an optional add-on. Meaning, you pay extra premium and those benefits will be added to your plan. Typically, with options dental care is classified under 3 options.

Class 1 – preventative care. Sometimes you will see the term “basic care” in your policy documents. Under this, you can claim things such as: routine examinations and cleanings. As well as, scaling and polishing. Keep in mind that some companies can apply restriction on how many cleanings you can do per year. Certain insurance companies offer 100% cover for this type of treatment. Most, however, will require a certain copayment from your side, which is usually 20-25%.

Class 2 – restorative care. This includes more complex things such as dental surgeries or crowns. Composite fillings and extractions in most cases are part of this benefit as well.

Class 3 – major care. Here is where you will encounter large medical bills. Not all insurance companies offer such services, so if you need it, let your insurance broker know. If you are concerned about one of the below type of treatment or need to get some of such done, you will definitely want them to be as part of your insurance cover. Orthodontic care, including braces and even aligners, bridges and dental prostheses, as well as implants. Most of the time, insurance companies have a copay of 50% on such care.

How much benefits limit should I get?

Dental insurance raiders that cover preventative care, will provide you with RMB 3-6,000 limit. You can use those per person and per year. On each renewal limit gets renewed. Generally speaking, this is enough. We will need of course look at the costs of dental care.

Is dental care cheap in China?

The rate varies and largely depends on what clinic you visit. In Tier 1 cities in China regular cleanings in international hospitals will cost you RMB 500-900. Deep clean and scaling will be towards RMB 800-1,300 mark per time.

If your major concern is class 2-3 dental care, first of all, there are not many plans that have high enough limits to cover such. For example, German implants will roughly cost you RMB 16,000 in Beijing or Shanghai. Korean brand will be more around RMB 13,000 mark. Whole 2 years course of braces or aligners will be around 20,000-60,000. Those primarily depend on complexity of situation as well as what materials and treatment you use. For those, we suggest clients to consider dental insurance plan with minimum amount of cover of RMB 10,000 per year.

I have insurance through my work, but it doesn’t include any dental care. Can I purchase those separately?

Yes, you can. Be prepared, plans that meet such requirement as of 2023 are only offered by local insurance providers. We are not aware of any international insurance company that has such a plan. Below example is from one of the largest local insurance companies. This is a very popular option these days if you need major dental care done.

Such plans work as a package. You can carry medical expenses out of pocket, but bills that clinic will give you are different from what they give to insurance companies. The better relationship there is between them and insurance provider, the lower will be the price. This is why, insurance companies can sell you such packages. Below one is another example of similar level cover but less limits.

If you need help from reliable insurance broker in China, get in touch. Our bilingual consultants will be happy to show you options available, and make sure you have access to best healthcare for expats in China.  

Our Editorial Team

Travel Insurance in China.

If you are looking for a reliable travel insurance in China, this article will guide your through the options available. Get in touch with our experts so we can help you explore even more options. Below list, however, is some of the most popular solutions based on our clients’ experience.

Is travel insurance mandatory for China?

There is no such requirement to have valid travel insurance before arriving to China. Ultimately, travel insurance is designed to cover medical expenses when one is traveling outside of the country of residency. Which is why most expats prefer to get it prior to traveling. Keep in mind, many comprehensive travel insurance plans in China will include extra benefits as well. For instance, loss of luggage compensation, loss of credit/debit card, or even flight delays. So on the top of the basic medical cover, you will be getting such extra level of protection.

Another important aspect of travel insurance is evacuation and repatriation benefits. Many places, for example EU or Schengen area, even have a visa requirement in terms of the below:

1. minimum level of cover on medical side
2. evacuation and repatriation benefits

With those in mind, keep reading and you will find some of the most popular solutions if you plan to travel outside of China for short trips.

Who can buy travel insurance?

Generally speaking, requirements are similar among all companies. Some of them are: maximum enrollment age of 79. Additionally, plans shall be purchased before you left your country of residency. This in particular is important, many companies will not let you purchase a plan if you are on a trip already.

Allianz International Travel Insurance China

We all know Allianz. They are one of the largest insurance conglomerates in the world. On top of regular health insurance, you can purchase a standard travel insurance from them. They have 7 different plans available. Some explicitly designed for people traveling to Europe. Needless to say, they meet all Schengen requirements in that case. Plan has to be purchased prior your travels.

Allianz travel insurance in China has plans with as little cover as RMB 100,000. Their top end plan will cover you for almost RMB 1mil. Same as most other insurance plans, higher premium refers to higher benefits in the policy. Below is policy structure for your reference on Allianz travel plans.

Starr Insurance

Another very popular travel insurance for those going out of China is from Starr. Below is also QR code that can let you purchase it all online. Similarly to Allianz, they have 6 plans available. As little cover as RMB 100k under the first one. And around RMB 1mil for the high-end option. Price-wise Starr is very similar to Allianz and is around RMB 60 per week of travel under most cost effective plan. On the other hand, highest limits plan will be more around RMB 250 mark per week of travel.

If you are looking for experts to guide you through health insurance in China, get in touch.

Our Editorial Team