Seeking medical care: How to save money and avoid unnecessary hassle✳
This section focuses on the practical steps involved in getting medical treatment — which hospitals to visit first, how to transfer between levels of care, and where you can cut down on expenses. It also explains how to wait in emergency queues, what evaluations and documents are required after serious injuries, and what benefits you may be eligible for (see Section 7). Long‑term management of chronic diseases is covered in Section 16, while immediate actions at the scene of an emergency are described in Section 13. The content is largely based on the “Several Measures on Accelerating the Development of a Hierarchical Medical System” issued by the General Office of the State Council in April 2026. This system directs patients to hospitals according to the severity of their condition. The document explicitly links using primary‑level facilities with lower medical costs. However, implementation varies by region, so the national rules outlined here should be cross‑checked with local policies issued by your social insurance and health authorities. Your “coordinated region” is simply the area where you’re enrolled in medical insurance — usually a city.
English text comes from the independent translation maintained by dlgrv. New entries without a translation appear in Chinese. The author's Chinese original is authoritative for the latest content. Translation snapshot: dlgrv/HowToLiveBetter · 11818c6
For common illnesses, patients should first visit community clinics; referrals then proceed stepwise to larger hospitals, after which the hospital deductible is calculated only once.
Start by going to a community clinic, which will then refer you to a larger hospital for inpatient care. The amount you pay out-of-pocket at the start is counted only once. If you go directly to a tertiary hospital for admission and later return to a community clinic for recovery, you might have to pay that amount twice. However, if a larger hospital refers you back to a community clinic for continued treatment, the deductible is not recalculated for the same condition during that period.
Cost
No expense is required. You must first make a trip to a co…
Benefit
Insured patients who follow this stepwise referral process can have their hospital deductible accumulated acro…
02Evidence A
Within the same medical insurance region, the lower the hospital level, the higher the reimbursement rate — the difference is roughly 10 percentage points.
For the same hospitalization bill, the lower the hospital level, the more you get reimbursed. Regions are required to set reimbursement rates that differ by about 10 percentage points between each successive level. Choosing a larger hospital when a community clinic can handle the case means you’ll have to pay roughly 10% more out of pocket. Newly allocated medical insurance funds also favor primary‑care facilities.
Cost
No direct cost involved. The real challenge is resisting t…
Benefit
Policies mandate that reimbursement rates for inpatient care differ by roughly 10 percentage points across hos…
03Evidence A
Go to a major hospital via a referral from a local clinic or the hospital’s referral center — don’t turn to scalpers.
Major hospitals must set aside a portion of appointments and beds specifically for patients referred from local clinics. They must also establish a referral center or designate a dedicated department to handle referrals — this requirement will be fully implemented by 2027. Not being able to book a slot online does not mean there is no way in. Scalpers charge exorbitant fees and may even route you to the wrong department.
Cost
No direct cost, but an extra referral step is required.
Benefit
Lead hospitals in tightly integrated medical networks must reserve a specific share of appointments and beds f…
04Evidence A
Before seeking medical care outside your home province, ask locally first — the need for such care should ideally be assessed by an associate chief physician or higher.
Whether a patient needs to travel elsewhere for treatment should, in principle, be evaluated by doctors holding the rank of associate chief physician or above at secondary or tertiary hospitals. Reimbursement rates for temporary out-of-area treatment differ from those offered at local hospitals of comparable level; exact terms depend on local regulations. Asking locally beforehand is far better than discovering later that no reimbursement is possible.
Cost
No cost involved. It simply requires asking a few extra qu…
Benefit
The necessity of receiving medical care across different healthcare regions or provinces must, ideally, be ass…
05Evidence A
Stop treating tertiary hospitals as mere prescription hubs — stable chronic disease patients should turn to primary care
Moving forward, tertiary hospitals will primarily handle emergency cases, critically ill patients, and complex medical conditions. Routine follow-ups for common illnesses and regular outpatient visits for patients with stable chronic diseases will gradually be phased out. The same expert physicians who previously saw patients in tertiary hospitals will now provide care at community clinics. Continuing to use large hospitals solely for medication refills will become increasingly difficult as appointment slots dwindle.
Cost
No monetary cost involved. The real challenge is breaking…
Benefit
Tertiary hospitals can better focus on emergency care, critically ill patients, and complex medical issues by…
06Evidence A
After every medical visit, keep a personal copy of your medical records, test reports, and imaging scans
You have a legal right to access and copy your own medical records. This includes outpatient records, inpatient charts, lab results, imaging scans, surgical and anesthesia notes, pathology reports, and itemized billing statements. Hospitals provide dedicated counters for this purpose, where only basic copying fees apply. These documents prove invaluable when switching doctors, seeking a second opinion, filing commercial insurance claims, or in case of any legal disputes.
Cost
No cost involved. Hospitals may charge a nominal fee for p…
Benefit
Laws explicitly recognize access to and duplication of medical records as a fundamental patient right. This en…
07Evidence A
If you have doubts about treatment, request to seal the medical records on the spot; both parties must be present, a list must be drawn up, and each side gets a copy.
If you’re unsure about any aspect of your treatment, you have the right to request that your medical records be sealed. Both you and the medical staff must be present for this process, which involves creating a detailed list, signing and stamping it, and each side receiving a copy. If the records aren’t fully completed yet, only the finished portions should be sealed first; the rest can be sealed later. Should you suspect that an intravenous infusion, blood transfusion, injection, or medication caused a problem, the actual fluid bag, medicine vial, and infusion set must also be sealed together with the records.
Cost
No cost at all. Simply ask the hospital to seal the record…
Benefit
Regulations clearly state that “whenever a medical dispute arises and it is necessary to seal or unseal medica…
08Evidence A
Head straight to the emergency triage desk — don’t wait in line at registration
Emergency care isn’t served on a first‑come, first‑served basis; patients are sorted into four severity levels. The triage desk at the ER entrance — not the registration window — makes that determination. Without a triage rating, even the most severely injured patients must wait in line like everyone else. First, state the most dangerous condition: heavy bleeding, difficulty breathing, altered consciousness, foreign objects in the body, or crushing chest pain.
Cost
No cost at all. Just walk a few extra steps to find the tr…
Benefit
According to the 2024 quality‑control guidelines for emergency medicine issued by China’s National Health Comm…
09Evidence A
Even without money or ID, and unable to identify yourself, emergency care must be provided first
The state maintains an emergency medical assistance fund designed to cover emergency treatment costs for two groups of patients: those whose identities cannot be verified, and those whose identities are known but who cannot afford the bills. Healthcare facilities are prohibited from refusing, delaying, or shirking emergency care for any reason. Likewise, emergency dispatch centers cannot decline or delay responses due to payment concerns. Therefore, never hesitate to call for help just because you lack funds — this fund covers only the initial emergency phase; subsequent inpatient treatment still relies on yibao (basic medical insurance) and other medical assistance programs.
Cost
No cost at all.
Benefit
This emergency assistance program is intended for “patients experiencing acute, severe, or life-threatening in…
10Evidence A
Disability assessments must be conducted only after treatment is complete; doing it too early results in a lower rating.
The amount of compensation one receives depends largely on the disability rating assigned, which in turn reflects how much functional ability remains after full recovery. Official guidelines stipulate that assessments must be performed only after treatment concludes or when clinical results are stable. If an assessment is done while bones are still healing or metal implants remain in place, it reflects the individual’s condition at that moment, effectively lowering their rating. For ordinary fractures that do not impair function even after healing, no disability rating is assigned at all.
Cost
The cost of such assessments ranges from a few hundred to…
Benefit
According to the “Classification of Human Injury and Disability Levels,” assessments must be conducted “after…
11Evidence A
After treatment, functional impairments may indeed remain; apply for a disability certificate at the county-level disability association in your hukou area.
A disability certificate serves as a prerequisite for receiving disability-related benefits; it is not a medical proof of injury. It categorizes disabilities into seven types — visual, hearing, speech, physical, intellectual, mental, and multiple — each with four severity levels. The application process involves submission, acceptance, assessment at a designated facility, public posting, review, and issuance; the certificate remains valid for ten years and can be renewed free of charge. If you do not meet the criteria, no amount of personal connections can secure one.
Cost
There is no fee for issuing the certificate itself. In pri…
Benefit
The disability certificate is “the legal proof of a person’s disability status and classification, serving as…
12Evidence A
Thank the doctors who saved you — send thank-you letters, banners, or satisfaction ratings instead of cash gifts. The rules prohibit money, not gratitude.
Offering money beforehand to “jump the queue” won’t work — allocating appointment slots, beds, scarce medicines, tests, or surgeries is strictly forbidden. After treatment, it’s perfectly fine to show gratitude toward doctors who saved your life, but the method matters. Accepting cash or alcohol gifts puts them in violation of professional ethics. Three proper ways to thank them are: completing a satisfaction survey, writing a personalized thank-you letter, or presenting a commemorative banner, plus following medical advice for follow-up care.
Cost
It costs nothing at all. Writing a thank-you letter or fil…
Benefit
Article 7 of the “Nine Guidelines on Ethical Conduct for Medical Staff” (No. 41, 2021) states: “Maintain order…