Americans – Medical Tourism in China
Boao Lecheng pilot zone of international medical tourism. Source
This is important for Americans. I would say that I am not in favor of what we call “medical tourism“, but the Chinese government doesn’t appear to frown on it, so I am not in position to complain. I suppose the government sees it as a social contribution to the world.
I have seen many Internet posts and articles on the US healthcare system, which appears inhuman and almost savage on occasion. The US medical system is operated on a for-profit basis, and seems driven almost entirely by greed. Many Americans cannot afford health insurance, and the greatest cause by far of personal bankruptcies in the US is astronomical medical bills.
Brian Thompson (July 10, 1974 – December 4, 2024), was the CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare; who was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. On social media, reactions to the killing largely included contempt and mockery toward Thompson and UnitedHealth Group, sympathy and praise for Mangione, and criticism of the American healthcare system and health insurance industry – primarily regarding claim denial practices. Source
All health care insurance companies have huge departments the only purpose of which is to find any justification to deny paying a claim. Very recently, the CEO of United Health Care in the US was shot and killed, with the sympathy almost unanimously for the young man who shot him. United Health Care is unquestionably one of the most inhuman corporations in the world, apparently rejecting nearly 40% of all health claims submitted. All US health insurance companies are similar, leaving American individuals with often hundreds of thousands and even more than one million dollars in debt, and having no choice but to declare bankruptcy.
Patients sometimes try to challenge the outrageous hospital and medical bills in the courts, but they seldom have the financial resources to do this effectively. Even worse, one American nurse made a video where she outlined that, in her hospital and many others, the staff were taught and trained to create medical records that painted patients in the worst possible light, because this would help them to win lawsuits initiated by patients.
Let me begin this with an analogy, which is sometimes the easiest way to communicate the intricacies of a complex concept. Some time ago, I saw a men’s leather jacket in a shop on Nanjing Road in Shanghai. It was from Italy, made of Italian leather, and the quality and workmanship were very nice, but the jacket was highly overpriced at 30,000 RMB (about $6,000 at the time). A reasonable price for that jacket would have been maybe $1,000 or $1,200; I wouldn’t have paid more.
I calculated (and I told the sales clerk) that for 6,000 RMB I could buy a return plane ticket to Italy, for another 6,000 RMB I could have purchased that jacket in Rome, for another 6,000 RMB I could have a great holiday in Rome for a week, and then returned to Shanghai with nearly half of my original 30,000 RMB still in my pocket.
This reasoning applies very well to Americans needing health care; The same process is possible. For $1,000 or $1,200 you can purchase a return ticket from the US to Shanghai or Beijing and, with most medical conditions, this will be the largest of your expenses.
In an earlier article, I discussed some of the differences in practice and cost for medical care between China and the US. I will include it here so you can envision in one place the context of traveling to China to obtain your medical care.
I am a foreigner living in China without medical insurance. I can go to a private, foreign-owned (for-profit) medical clinic (usually American), which has two distinctions: (1) everyone speaks English and (2) the prices charged are ten to twenty times those of the public hospitals. I avoid them.
If I need medical attention, this is the process:
I have registered at one of the larger public hospitals in the city. When I register, I receive a card and a little booklet I call my “hospital book”. It is about 4 by 6 inches in size, and contains many pages where the physicians make their notes about my visit, condition, diagnosis, prescriptions, etc.
If the GP thinks I should see a specialist, he gives me a piece of paper telling me which waiting room to attend. If the specialist wants to see a blood test or an X-ray, he gives me a piece of paper (that fits nicely into my hospital book) telling me which floor and lab to go to. I get the test, pay a fee of $4.00 or $5.00, wait 5 minutes for the results, (which are printed on a piece of paper that fits nicely into my hospital book) and take them back to the specialist. If a prescription is necessary, either physician gives me a piece of paper that tells me where the pharmacy is, and which of maybe 15 window stations I should attend.
The entire system is wickedly efficient and functions flawlessly, able to process huge numbers of patients with a minimum of delay. It is truly impressive. Everything has been thought through in extreme detail, and the organization is absolutely superb. I am first sent to a GP because most medical complaints are simple and common, and don’t require a specialist; if a specialist is required, the system automatically assigns one, and the process is seamless. Also, since I registered with my English name, the system automatically assigns me to a GP or specialist who is fluent in English. When I arrive at the lab for a test, the system has already informed them that I am coming, and has told them what tests or X-rays to perform. No delay. When I go to the pharmacy, my prescription has already been sent to the staff at a particular window station, and is packaged and waiting for me when I arrive at the head of the queue. I simply pay and go home. Everything is seamless.
Note that, except for tests and medications, my only cost is the registration fee of about $5.00. Note also that my “hospital book” is mine. I keep it in my possession. It contains all the notes from physicians on any medical care I have ever received, and all the little pieces of paper documenting my registrations, tests, X-rays and other scans, prescription medications, everything, my entire medical history all in one place.
A stay in a public ward in a public hospital in China costs about $10 per day. You can choose to pay as much as $200 if you want a private room in a VIP ward. By comparison, a stay in a foreign-owned (usually American) private for-profit hospital in China will cost you about $1,200 per day and, unfortunately, greed compels them to extend your stay for as long as possible. The (non-Chinese) website chinaexpathealth.com tells us that the average cost of a stay in an international hospital in China is about USD 22,000. And that’s only for the room. I covered many aspects of the US Healthcare system in an article that may be of interest. [1]
Because of this extreme profit-orientation, health care in the US is almost prohibitively expensive, with medical procedures often costing five to ten times as much as in Canada or most European countries, and almost infinitely more than in China. One day in a US hospital costs a minimum of US$1,500, and can cost between $6,000 and $9,000 per day for complicated illnesses. Hospital stays in the US typically cost on average forty to fifty times more than in China, with medications and appliances being similar. An MRI costs $50 in Shanghai, but between $4,000 and $6,000 in much of the US. A CT scan in China is also around $50, but around $3,000 in the US. An ECG is a commodity, done with inexpensive equipment essentially the same all over the world. In Shanghai, an ECG costs about $3.50, while the average cost in the US is $1,500, with some hospitals charging as much as $3,000. A root canal that costs $40.00 in Shanghai will cost $1,800 in the US. Tooth fillings and extractions that cost around $20 in China will cost $300.00 or $400.00 in the US.
Dr. Gong Yongxiang, head of the Aier ophthalmic expert team, performed a free cataract surgery on a Myanmar patient at the Sitagu Shwe Pyi Hein Clinic in Yangon on May 19th, 2017. [Photo: China Plus/Tu Yun]. Source
A personal experience: I had laser cataract surgery performed in Shanghai. I could have had it done in Canada where it would have been free, but my ophthalmologist strongly recommended I have the surgery done in China because the level of expertise was much higher than in Canada or the US, and told me his own colleagues travelled to Shanghai for the same procedure. And in the operating room, there were four American doctors watching and taking instruction – from a Chinese surgeon – on how to perform the process properly. And the cost? In the US, laser cataract surgery can easily cost between $5,000 and $7,000 per eye; the surgery in China, performed by Shanghai’s pre-eminent eye surgeon, was less than $2,000 for both eyes.
If you are an American requiring treatment for a medical condition more serious than a cold, you should seriously consider traveling to China for your treatment. It seems like a drastic solution, but it is actually eminently practical and could save your financial future.
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Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 34 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’. (Chap. 2 — Dealing with Demons).
His full archive can be seen at
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ + https://www.moonofshanghai.com/
He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com
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NOTES:
[1] The US Healthcare System
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Copyright © Larry Romanoff, Blue Moon of Shanghai, Moon of Shanghai, 2024
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THE WORLD OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
NATIONS BUILT ON LIES — VOLUME 2 — Life in a Failed State
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