When my students get sick, they don’t go to a doctor’s office. They go to a hospital.
Like most people in China, they rely on state-run hospitals and clinics for their medical care. Even if they only have a cold or a headache, they’ll visit a hospital rather than the rare private physician because it’s cheaper and more accessible. (Yes, I realize that some uninsured Americans also use hospitals for minor ailments.)
When I started teaching at Henan University of Technology, a lot of students told me they missed class because they were in the hospital. I thought it was strange that so many of them had serious illnesses until I learned that’s just the way the Chinese health system works.
Most people in China have some type of health insurance, but it usually only covers basic needs. Patients frequently wait a long time to get Western-style treatment for serious illnesses, and even then the cost may be prohibitive.
Though China has instituted major health-care reform in the past decade, many of the rural poor still don’t have coverage and there is a severe shortage of doctors trained in Western medicine. Most doctors in China are salaried employees of state-run institutions and don’t have the prestige or economic status of physicians in the U.S.
China’s long-term plan calls for universal health care. With all the fuss over Obamacare, I wouldn’t be surprised if China reaches that goal before the U.S.
