Children Health Insurance in China
Purchasing health insurance for children is a crucial decision for parents. As it ensures access to necessary medical care and protects against unexpected healthcare costs. Children, with their unique health needs, require a policy that covers routine check-ups, vaccinations, and specialized treatments. In this article we will cover all you need to know about how you can get your children insured in China.
Key takeaways
Generally, there are 3 ways how to get your kids insured as an expat in China. Through corporate scheme under your employer, through your own individual and family health insurance plan, or simply purchase “child alone” policy.
How can I get children health insurance in China?
There are several ways how this can be done, let us look at them one by one.
Employee Benefits
If you have health insurance policy through your employer, there is a high chance you can add dependents in it. In most cases dependents can only be spouses or children. Whether it is possible or no, you will need to check with the person responsible for your corporate policy. In most of the cases it will be your HR. This is particularly beneficial, as most are corporate schemes cover pre-existing medical conditions without exclusions. Same goes for premium, the larger the policy in terms of people on it – the lower price is per head. Often, adding dependents can be done mid year, so you don’t need to wait for the policy renewal date to add your kids onto.
Individual or family health insurance
If you already have health insurance in China, you can also add dependents into the cover. This also comes with some advantages such as you can be eligible for a family discount. Some companies provide it for families of at least 2 members. Others only for 3 and more. With such option most likely you will need to wait until renew date to make extra additions. Exception here will be new born kids who can be added from the date of birth, if application documents have been submitted in a timely manner.
Child alone health insurance
If first two are not feasible for you, then getting child only health plan is your best shot. In this case one of the parents will need to apply and act as a policyholder of the plan. Meanwhile, child can be insured on their own without parents. Keep in mind not all insurance companies have such products. Most require at least one parent to be on the plan as well. Below we will review top 3 most popular child only insurance plans and compare them.
Key things to consider when getting child alone health insurance in China
Minimum age
When considering insurance for your children alone, earliest you can purchase most plans is on 31st day after birth. Some companies like AXA can only supply you with a policy if your child is 6 or older years old. Children health insurance plans are renewable until the age of 17. After that they will need to purchase a regular insurance policy as an adult.
Your healthcare needs
Do you need comprehensive insurance with dental and outpatient? Or you are okay to keep major medical policy only for big accidents? All of this impacts the health insurance premium. Major factor that drives the price up is always vaccination part. Particularly for kids under the age of 4. If you plan to include full cover on vaccinations, it is easy to expect insurance premium to be around RMB 16-20k per annum. Keep also in mind that some companies will give you an option for deductibles. That is the amount you will need to pay out of pocket before insurance provider starts covering any expenses. Below example on MSH child only insurance 2024 rates.
Plan A has RMB 10k deductibles as part of inpatient care. Also RMB 200 for each outpatient visit. Plan B doesn’t.
Outpatient cover restrictions
Very often child only insurance plans set a limit on how many outpatient visits are covered. With some companies you can use the plan after the limit is reached but some % copayment will be on you on each of the coming bills. For example, a plan can have RMB 100k outpatient limit but within this there will be a sub-limit on the amount of visits. First 5 outpatient visits are covered in full and after 6th 50% of the expenses will be on you. More comprehensive plan can have something like first 10 visits are covered in full, 11-15 are covered 90% thus 10% is on you. And 15th visit onwards it is 50% copayment. Make sure to fully understand if your policy has such limitations and if so – how many visits are covered in full.
Vaccination cover
This is by far the biggest factor that impacts insurance price. Particularly for newborn kids up until the age of 3 or 4 years old. Your plan can either cover all vaccinations in full or there may be a sub limit regarding this treatments. Make sure plan is valid if you want to follow overseas vaccination schedule, or if it is only if you follow local customs.
Mental health cover
If your plan covers mental health treatments, make sure to read small blue print on what this entails. Very often plan that have such benefits, will still not cover items such as development disorders, treatments related to ADD or ADHD as well as educational testings.
What are good child only insurance plans in China?
Apart from AXA, which is only available after your child reaches 6 years old, there are several companies worth considering: MSH, Allianz and Medilink. There is local company PingAn as well, however their plan is only available for Shanghai or Beijing residents. On top of that, you will need to limit their plan to only 1 medical facility they work with and you can’t freely use others unless it has been authorized by Pingan.
MSH plan is available for either inpatient only cover, or inpatient and outpatient. Allianz and Medilink are more comprehensive and their basic cover policies already include outpatient benefits. Keep in mind outpatient part is where insurance companies reimburse the most, and thus it is one of the more expensive parts to include into the plan. Major aspect between those 3 companies, Allianz as of 2025 provides highest number of outpatient visits that are fully covered. Before you will face copayment. On the other hand, their plans lack TCM and physiotherapy cover as compared to MSH and Medilink.
If interested to learn more, get in touch with us so one of our consultants can guide through the options available in more details.