Accident in Beijing – They should have had expat health insurance in China
Living and working in China is an exciting adventure. Many young people and entrepreneurs are heading overseas to take advantage of economic advantages, learn a language and a culture and maybe even meet someone special while traveling.
Alex. W, 24, had recently finished college and was living with his girlfriend, teaching English in China and having a grand adventure for sure. His Facebook posts showed him enjoying exciting restaurants and eating exotic food. On the weekends, Alex and Alissa were traveling around China and exploring the sights, food and culture to its fullest.
All of that changed on February 23rd when Alex and Alissa were riding on his motorcycle through the streets of Beijing and were struck by a car turning right, as they went straight through the light. The motorcycle went down, the car smashing into it: glass, metal, and blood. Alex was the lucky one, he walked away without major injury. A helmet had protected his head and his pants provided enough protection for his legs. He was bruised and shaken and had some bad road rash, but other than that, he was fine.
Alissa wasn’t so lucky. She was alive, but was badly hurt. Riding on the back of the bike, she took a direct hit to her left leg from the car which shattered it in multiple places. Lying in pain on the asphalt, blood oozing out of her bad road rash, she waited for the ambulance.
An ambulance rushed both of them to a local hospital for treatment. Alissa was in bad shape and required several expensive surgeries to put her leg back together. Neither of these young adults had even considered getting international health insurance for their stay in China.
She should have listened to my advice
Alex’s mother was a friend of mine, and I had suggested it to her when I learned of their plans. She wasn’t interested and saw it as an unnecessary expense. Her comment was, “Oh, he’s still covered on my insurance until he’s 26.” I replied that while that was true for medical care in the U.S., if there was an accident abroad it would be very difficult to make a claim and get reimbursed. She still wasn’t interested.
Alissa had substantial medical bills, and even thought they were less expensive than they would have been in the U.S., they still amounted to thousands of dollars that she had to pay out of pocket. She received excellent care at the private hospital, but it really put a damper on her adventure in China. Although Alissa is almost fully recovered now, it was an eye-opening experience for sure and could have been a lot less expensive if they had taken out some international health insurance for their adventure.
Expat health insurance would have saved her a lot of money
My first choice for some expat health insurance in China would have been a very affordable plan like Seven Corners Reside Prime, at only $75-90.00 USD/month each. Click here for a look at all the expat international health insurance plans on my website.
These plans are all long term, annually renewable insurance. There are other plans available for short trips, business trips and everything in between.