China, Medical

While we were in Beijing, we spent a lot of time with Mung-Mung, the daughter of a woman we met online, who volunteered to show us around her hometown. When we first met Mung-Mung she had a pretty bad cough. Her mother was concerned enough about it that she took Mung-Mung to the clinic to see a doctor. The doctor had done his diagnosis and made some recommendations. They were trying Option B: a traditional herbal remedy and waiting it out. When we left, a week later Mung-Mung was still coughing as much as ever and a return to the clinic was expected. They may have to switch to plan A, but that would be very expensive.

We heard this and similar stories a lot from people we asked about the healthcare system in China. Doctors are available, but medicine is very expensive and as a result, for most people, hard to come by.

One of the conclusions that I came to as a result of my visit to China was that Communism had pretty much disappeared from the “Peoples Republic”. The healthcare system is an example of how far from communism they have come. Mung-Mung’s case is instructive. Her mother has insurance but the insurance has a deductible that exceeds a month's wages.  The first couple thousand Yuan is on them. The insurance then is really more catastrophic than routine and even then it seems prescriptions are another matter.

From our perspective, we would think the costs involved in receiving medical care in China are quite modest. They may be out of pocket for care (unlike most of us) but at least the bills are small (by US standards). But it is all about purchasing power. We spoke to a number of people who struggle to keep their family well.

Rich people do okay. You can buy better insurance and you can visit private clinics or even travel to Hong Kong to get the care you’d like. Their system is a lot like ours. If you have money, you'll get good care. Not unusual, unless you thought you were in a communist country.