Understanding Pet insurance in China
As pet ownership continues to rise across China and globally, more and more owners are seeking ways to protect their animals from unexpected veterinary expenses. Luckily for us, pet insurance in China works very similar to your own health insurance. Let’s dive in to figure out the details.
Key takeaways
- currently it is a requirement for all insurance providers to make sure your pet has a valid China license before enrolling them on insurance plan. In Shanghai and Beijing for example this is a chip that is inserted under your pet’s skin.
- most of the pet insurance plans have either deductibles (a fixed amount you will need to pay by yourself towards the medical bills). Or a certain form of copayment, e.g. insurance company covers 50-80% of the costs while remaining part is on you
- while insurance premium is typically fixed, there is no lifetime insurance you can get for your pet. Most will terminate cover at their 10th birthday, some plans from companies such as ZhongAn and Allianz can even set a limit at 6 years old
- make sure to check direct billing (cashless services) network on your pet insurance
- most of the pet insurance plans in China can be purchased via Alipay
- it is very common to get Third Party Liability insurance as part of regular health insurance for yoru pet. In this case should your pet cause an accident on the road or injure someone, this will come in handy
Pet insurance in China basics
First things first, before purchasing any pet insurance in China you have to make sure your canine friend if fully vaccinated and has a valid license. Only after getting those you can enroll your pet on the policy. Currently the most popular insurance providers covering pets are Allianz, ZhongAn, PingAn and China Continent. Most of them are all set up in a similar way with prices ranging from few hundreads and towards RMB 2000 annual fee. How about we review some of them in details?
Pingan Upgraded pet insurance plan which is currently one of the best “value for money” options
Similar as a health insurance for humans, pet insurance has it’s own limits. Starting from the top we see this plan has RMB 30,000 yearly limit. Most of the plans are somewhere in the range of RMB 10-80k.
Second from the top is a unique feature for almost all such plans, maximum pay out at a single time. This Pingan plan has a RMB 3,000 limit which is somewhat among the highest on the market. Most plans currently have RMB 1-2k limit while some more premium options around 5-8k. It is definitely enough for most of the medical bills which usually are under few thousands anyway. However, should a big surgery come with costs RMB 20,000 – you will be left with quite a bit of out of pocket expenses.
Copayment on every medical bill
Another universal feature among pet insurance plans in China is copayment. Which is how much of the bill as a percentage they cover. Low cost options will cover around 50-60%. of the bills, more premium ones such as that plan are 70-80%. There are rumours that soon there will be plans that cover 100% of the bills up to the limits. We will update this article once there is one.
Third party pet liability insurance
Most of the insurance plans include such too. What does it include? If your pet causes some accident or injures to another pet/person, this is where this benefit kicks in. Similar as medical part, this insurance also requires some % copament plus deductibles.
Overall summary, pet insurance is cheap, that plan from Pingan is only RMB 799 per year, however there are a lot of restrictions in terms of deductibles and copayments. It is not designed to cover all expenses in full but rather make sure pet owner carries some out of pocket too. Our opinion on such plans, it definitely worth it for the money you pay. Clearly, you can easily claim back all of it with a single accident, however be prepared for lots of out of pocket expenses.
What are other pet insurance providers in China?
While we did mention some of the most popular options above, here is a good summary of what we call Tier 2 providers. Unfortunately all such plans are in Mandarin, same goes for enrollment procedures as well as policy terms&wording of the insurance details.
- budget RMB 400-2000 for an annual fee on pet insurance
- you can get medical part on it’s own, same as libility part. However we recommend get those together to ensure better protection against potential lawsuits in the future
- factor the age limit, it is never a life time renewal
- factor deductibles and copayments to be prepared for out of pocket expenses
How can I buy pet insurance in China?
Pretty much all of the plans can be purchased online either via wechat or alipay. If you are pron to use the latter one, just search “宠物医疗保险 (chongwu yiliao baoxian)” and you will promptly see some of the popular options online.
If you know already what provider you want to use, then you can buy such plans already directy through their wechat official account.
Another option would be to buy insurance at your vet. Most pet hospitals have partnership with one or more insurance providers that already have direct billing services with them. So if you are already a regular client at places such as Shenpu, Ruipeng or PAW veterinary clinics, just bring this up at reception next time you are there so they can guide you through the options.
You can also purchase pet insurance through third party platforms such as Taobao or JD, we do not recommend such options since in most cases they can’t enroll you as a pet owner with your passport number. Most insurance providers here will require a China national ID card number to finalize the purchase.
At China Access Health we do not only help you find the right insurance protection but also assist you with claims and servicing whenever you need those. Unsure what pet insurance you need at this moment? Get in touch so one of out consultants can guide you through what might be a good fit for your situation.
This article was written with help from our friends at Smartshanghai, make sure to check their full article here.
FAQ
Can I change percentage copayment and deductible on my pet insurance?
At present – no. Your only option here would be to consider some of the more premium plans with higher price. At the moment what we see as “best protection” for pets are usually limited to a single payout of RMB 10,000 plus only covering 90% of the medical bills.
Can I switch between insurance plans?
Yes, you can but only on renewal date. Mid year changes are not allowed.
What pet health insurance makes most sense?
We see that furry friends under the age of 5 usually tend to focus more on Third Party Liability insurance rather than medical. As pets get older, the focus switches towards the medical as older dogs and pets tend to have more health issues.