Understanding mental health cover in your insurance plan in China
Navigating mental health coverage in your insurance plan in China can be challenging yet essential for accessing the care you need. Understanding what your policy includes, such as therapy sessions, medication management, and inpatient services, is crucial for fostering well-being. This guide aims to demystify the complexities of mental health benefits and show what benefits most of us can use in their health insurance plan.
Key takeaways
This guide is primarily for those looking for individual and family insurance policies. If you already have a group plan from your employer than all your benefits have been already set by your HR and in most cases can’t be altered. On individual side, not all insurance plans provide cover for mental health care. Some will either give you a limit per sessions that can be spent, others will also limit the amount of sessions. In few occasions insurance company can just give you a limit and it is up to you on how many sessions you can stretch it out.
Importance of having mental health benefits in your health insurance
Mental health coverage is increasingly becoming a crucial component of insurance packages in China. The country’s growing awareness of mental health issues, coupled with rising stress levels and anxiety, leads to a surge in demand for mental health services. Insurers are responding by incorporating mental health coverage into their policies, offering counseling, therapy, and other support services. However not all policies on the market include such. You will need to read the fine print of your policy to determine if your package has any of such benefits or no.
According to WHO, over 50mil in China suffer from chronic depression, while over 40mil people from anxiety. All of this leads to why you need mental health cover in your policy.
Source: WHO website
What mental health benefits can I expect in my insurance package?
If your health insurance does include such benefits – then coverage level can be pretty comprehensive. Let’s review win details what most companies include in such cases.
Outpatient cover
This is by far the most popular what expats might need during their time in China. This is usually prescribed if your symptoms are mild and can be treated and/or well controlled through medications and therapies. What’s included in here is coverage for medical cost of outpatient treatment administered by a registered psychologist and/or a registered psychiatrist. Keep in mind after certain amount of sessions you may need a referral from GP/Family Doctor in order to continue the treatment plan.
Sometimes you will have a limit on the number of sessions covered. Sometimes limit on how much you can use in total in a single policy year. In some case those two will be combined as in this example.
Inpatient cover
For several severe conditions hospitalization might be the only way to manage the situation well. In this case if your plan includes inpatient mental health benefits, you may expect to get cover for the following items:
- Room and board for the duration of the inpatient psychiatric treatment
- Prescribed drugs and diagnostic procedures as part of the treatment plan
Keep in mind most health insurance for expats in China set a limit on the number of days that are covered as part of this benefit. This greatly varies from several days up to several months, depending on insurance company. Furthermore, such benefit may require pre-authorization with your insurance company.
Telehealth and remote consultations
In order to provide more accessible mental health consultations, some insurance providers include cover for those on remote basis. This will only apply to outpatient medical care. Sometimes you may freely use any medical facility that provides telehealth consultations, in other cases insurance provider will already have an “approved provider list” for such treatment. So you can only get remote consultations in those.
- Online drugs delivery can also be covered under such benefit, in case specialists prescribes any
Tips when reviewing your mental health cover in insurance
Here are some tips for you to keep in mind when reviewing your mental health raider in the insurance plan:
- What mental health treatments are covered? For example you can be covered for treatment and consultation with psychiatrist but not for a therapy with psychologist
- What are the limits within this benefit? Is there a limit per session I can use? What’s the total amount of sessions I can claim?
- Do you need pre-authorization or referral before you can access mental health treatment?
- Any waiting period? Sometimes insurance companies will need you to be continuously insured for up to 180 days before you can start using any of the mental health benefits
There is no universal insurance plan in China that fully meets requirements of every expat. It is always best to identify hospital in your area where you most likely will go for a medical treatment. Start investigating further on how much are the average costs for mental health consultations there. Based on this, you can have a better picture on what level of protection you will be comfortable with when choosing your health insurance.