Seeing a doctor in China

Chinese hospitals charge you before every step, not at the end. Expect three or four separate payments, a few hundred yuan, and a passport at every window.

The short version: Chinese outpatient care is pay-as-you-go. You pay before every test and every medicine, at a cashier window, several times in one visit. There is no bill at the end. Expect three to four separate payments and keep every receipt.

The Chinese side of card 13: numbered sentences for hospital registration and cashier windows — Card 13, the Chinese half. Show it at the registration window first — that is where the queue starts.

The order things happen in

Registration (挂号). Find the 挂号 window, or a self-service machine with an English option. Passport out. You are choosing a department, not a doctor, at most hospitals.

See the doctor. They order tests and write a prescription. Nothing has been paid yet.

Pay at the cashier (收费处) before the test. This is the step that surprises every visitor.

Take the test, then return to the doctor with the result — often requiring another registration fee.

Pay again for medicine at the pharmacy window, then collect it.

What it costs

Item	Rough cost
Registration (普通门诊)	10-50 yuan; a specialist or international clinic is much more
Basic blood test or scan	50-300 yuan per item
Common medicine course	30-200 yuan
Simple outpatient visit, all in	Roughly 300-800 yuan

Foreigners without Chinese insurance pay the full self-pay price. That is normal, and it is not a penalty — the quoted price is the price.

What to bring and keep

Passport, every time, at every window.
Cash, plus a working payment method. Hospital cashier windows take cash; not every one takes a foreign card.
Every receipt (发票 / 收费单). Ask for 自费 receipts specifically — travel insurance at home will want them itemised.
A translation app, downloaded offline. Doctors in smaller cities will not speak English.

Emergency versus outpatient

For a genuine emergency, go to the 急诊 entrance, which operates around the clock and usually triages you before payment. Call 120 for an ambulance. For anything you can walk into, use outpatient — it is dramatically cheaper.

Do not wait for a bill. If you sit in a waiting room expecting to settle up at the end, you will sit there indefinitely. Every step needs paying first, and staff will assume you already know.

Two things worth setting up before you fly

Save the address and phone number of the nearest international clinic in the big city on your route. They exist, they speak English, and they cost more.
Check whether your travel insurance requires you to call before treatment. Most do, and retroactive claims are often refused.

Card 13 has the words for the windows

Numbered Chinese for registration and the cashier, English underneath. Free, works offline.

Get the cards

Sources

Checked on 20 October 2026. Where this page and an official notice disagree, the notice wins.

国家医疗保障局 — 医疗服务价格

Something out of date? Email d9blguanli@hotmail.com.