Social insurance and commercial cover in China

If you are employed in mainland China

Foreign employees are covered by the statutory social insurance system through their employer. The employer handles enrolment from the point the work documents are processed; you cannot enrol yourself as an individual for the employee scheme.

The five employee schemes are pension, medical, work injury, unemployment and maternity.
Employers in mainland China are already inside the mandatory scheme, so enrolment is part of the hiring process rather than a separate application.
Social insurance agreements exist between mainland China and a number of other countries. If your home country is one of them, certain contributions can be exempted or credited — check the agreement that applies to you.

If you hold a permanent residence card

A holder of the foreign permanent residence card can use that card as valid identification for social insurance purposes, and in most respects enjoys the same rights and obligations as Chinese citizens in financial and insurance matters. Participation in the resident pension and resident medical schemes, where the local rules allow it, is on a reference basis set by the local authority.

Using the card as identification removes the practical difficulty of producing a passport for every transaction.
Resident-scheme participation is decided at local level, so check with the local social insurance or medical insurance bureau in your city.

If you are an overseas Chinese citizen returning for treatment

Basic medical insurance does not pay for treatment abroad. It also cannot be used to settle overseas costs through a cross-border filing channel. What it can do is settle your treatment when you come back to mainland China, provided you have filed for cross-provincial outpatient settlement and your treatment is provided by a designated institution.

Use the national cross-border outpatient filing service to register before you travel back.
The settlement rules are: the treatment location sets which items are payable, while your home province sets the deductible, the reimbursement rate and the annual cap.
Long-term residents can obtain a long-term filing that does not expire on each trip.
Carrying a filing does not extend cover to treatment outside mainland China. That is what private medical insurance is for.

Order of payment

What happens at the hospital desk

Knowing the sequence in advance is what stops a double claim or an uncovered bill.

1. Social insurance first

Costs inside the reimbursable scope are settled through social insurance at the designated institution.

2. Commercial cover second

Anything social insurance does not reimburse may fall to a commercial plan, if that plan covers it and the terms are followed.

3. You pay the remainder

Out-of-catalogue drugs, non-designated providers and anything outside both plans remain yours.

4. No double recovery

The same expense cannot be recovered twice. Insurance compensation follows the principle of actual loss.

Social insurance and product terms are set by national and local rules and change over time. Confirm the current position with your local social insurance or medical insurance bureau — the details above are a working map, not a substitute for the current rule.

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Check what you are already covered for

Send us your status and where you are based. We map the statutory layer first, then look at what is left.

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We use these details only to prepare your brief. No premium is collected through this form, no policy is placed without your instruction, and no application is submitted in your name.