Going to China is a very exciting venture and 9/10 of the planning is pure pleasure. Should we go to Tibet or Shanghai during our holidays? How do I figure out the bus route map? How do I pronounce Carrefour? (a French grocery store with a presence in Dalian). The remaining 1/10 consists of what-if scenarios - what happens when I break my leg in Dalian? Do I want Chinese doctors working on me? Will they be able to speak English? Who is going to pay for it? What if I have an accident in the countryside far from any decent hospital? Yes, if you're going overseas it is important buy good international health insurance - if you can find some that won't break the bank.
During my investigation of overseas medical, I've found that the international medical plans that are available fall into 3 general categories.
1) Short term travel insurance that includes medical coverage
2) Full international medical with overseas (non-US/Canada) coverage only
3) Full international medical including US/Canada
You typically can't get 1) if you're going an extended trip (greater than 6 months). The payouts as well are limited (max of $1,000,000 medical on the most generous plans with $50,000-100,000 being more typical). These plans seem to be more geared towards short-term travellers who have full health coverage in their home country and want a little extra comfort that they are covered. For example, a US health plan is not going to pay for emergency medical evacuation from China to the US for critical surgery. Travel insurance will cover this however, typically up to $100,000. The plan premium in this category ranges of course but tends to be $300-800 for a year. Nonethless 1) is not for us given the year-long nature of our trip.
For 2), you can get some pretty good coverage and the companies claim they have put together an international provider network to find doctors that speak English and meet certain minimum criteria. The best example of this plan is the Global Citizen EXP plan offered by HTH Worldwide. This plan is underwritten by Unicare, which seems to be the only US based insurance company that offers these types of plans. Aetna has their Global Benefits plan but they only offer it as a group rates to corporations. All the other companies out there appear to be offshore. The biggest one seems to be Multi-National Underwriters. Their plans don't seem too bad and the premiums are actually reasonable (around $1800 for my wife and I with a $2500 deductible). The problem is that they aren't regulated by any US body. So while their underwriter, Lloyd's is a reputable global insurance market, it makes me a little too nervous to get a MNUI plan given I can't even sue (they are an insurance broker, not provider in the US so they can't be sued). Of course the issue with 2) is that it's only overseas. So all the treatment would have to be in China. This makes the plan significantly cheaper but I am not getting the warmest of fuzzies from being stuck in a Chinese hospital and unable to go home because I have no insurance there.
So we fit into category 3). We need a plan that covers us in the US and abroad. Unfortunately, the Global Citizen plan which has the best looking cover from HTH Worldwide/Unicare is prohibitively expensive. For $3500, my wife and I can get 12 months of coverage with a $2500 deductible overseas and a $5000 deductible back home. We may have to bite the bullet but that's a lot of dough. Fortunately our school will provide up to 10,000 RMB in medical assistance while in China. That's not going to pay for chemo, but it should be sufficient for bumps and bruises.
Summary of companies providing various forms of international coverage:
HTH Worldwide / UniCare
Specialty Risk International
Multinational Underwriters / Lloyd's
International Medical Group / Sirius
TravelGuard International / AIG
Monday, July 10, 2006
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Dalian
In my first post, I shared that C and I will be teaching English in Dalian, Liaoning Province, PRC. So where is Dalian? And why are we going there?
Dalian is located on a peninsula that juts into the Yellow Sea between the Korean peninsula and mainland China. It is China's northernmost ice-free port, which makes it a very strategic location. Of course, this is also why Japan invaded China through Dalian in the past, and why post World War 2 the Russians also held onto Dalian until the 1950s. Although tragic, these occupations give Dalian an interesting mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Russian architecture. In today's world Dalian is still a crossroads of these nations - but this time in terms of business and trade rather than conquest. In addition, Dalian is a huge import/export terminal for oil in China. And of course being a port city, it's not complete without a maritime university, which of course is where C and I will be teaching.
Dalian's place in the world can be seen here courtesy of Wikipedia:
Dalian is also known for its fashion festivals and as a regional hub for foreign banks. It's also becoming known as a major provider of software services in Southeast Asia as many different tech companies setup shop there. Probably having the Dalian University of Technology (one of the most presitigious schools in China) and the Neusoft Institute does not hurt in this regard.
To learn even more about Dalian, check out the Runsky news site. It reads like a Communist Party advertisement for Dalian but there's definitely some good information to be had.
So why Dalian? Let's review our criteria for a city in China.
1) The city must be in North/Northeast China so that the Mandarin Chinese spoken there has less of an accent. In case you weren't aware, there are many different dialects of Chinese in use in China. The Communist party has designated putonghua, or Mandarin as the official language which is taught in schools and used in government and business. Gao Shu and I wish we could learn it all but since we need to stick to one language, so Mandarin seems like the sensible choice. Point 1 rules out Shanghai and other southern cities.
2) The city must not be heavily polluted. The sad reality is that China has a very poor environmental record and many cities in China are covered in smog daily. Although we will travel through polluted areas, we preferred not to live in one. Dalian is blessed with strong ocean winds that carry the pollution away from the city. In addition it is the site of less heavy industry than some other cities in the Northeast (such as Beijing and Shenyang).
3) The city must be of a reasonable size (relative to China) and have a reasonable number of services available. Since we're so new to this China thing, just being anywhere in China is going to be challenge enough. To help us with the transition we wanted to live somewhere we can buy what we need (as we can't bring it all) and maybe see another Westerner or two once in a blue moon. Good thing they've got Walmart!
4) The city must not be unbearably cold. This rules out cities in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces - aka Chinese Siberia.
The only downside to Dalian I've read about so far is that it is missing some of the other ancient charms of China (e.g. the Great Wall, the Forbidden City). To me this is minor however as we primarily want to experience the people, the culture, and the language. Travel to tourist destinations will be easy enough during time off.
Dalian is located on a peninsula that juts into the Yellow Sea between the Korean peninsula and mainland China. It is China's northernmost ice-free port, which makes it a very strategic location. Of course, this is also why Japan invaded China through Dalian in the past, and why post World War 2 the Russians also held onto Dalian until the 1950s. Although tragic, these occupations give Dalian an interesting mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Russian architecture. In today's world Dalian is still a crossroads of these nations - but this time in terms of business and trade rather than conquest. In addition, Dalian is a huge import/export terminal for oil in China. And of course being a port city, it's not complete without a maritime university, which of course is where C and I will be teaching.
Dalian's place in the world can be seen here courtesy of Wikipedia:
Dalian is also known for its fashion festivals and as a regional hub for foreign banks. It's also becoming known as a major provider of software services in Southeast Asia as many different tech companies setup shop there. Probably having the Dalian University of Technology (one of the most presitigious schools in China) and the Neusoft Institute does not hurt in this regard.
To learn even more about Dalian, check out the Runsky news site. It reads like a Communist Party advertisement for Dalian but there's definitely some good information to be had.
So why Dalian? Let's review our criteria for a city in China.
1) The city must be in North/Northeast China so that the Mandarin Chinese spoken there has less of an accent. In case you weren't aware, there are many different dialects of Chinese in use in China. The Communist party has designated putonghua, or Mandarin as the official language which is taught in schools and used in government and business. Gao Shu and I wish we could learn it all but since we need to stick to one language, so Mandarin seems like the sensible choice. Point 1 rules out Shanghai and other southern cities.
2) The city must not be heavily polluted. The sad reality is that China has a very poor environmental record and many cities in China are covered in smog daily. Although we will travel through polluted areas, we preferred not to live in one. Dalian is blessed with strong ocean winds that carry the pollution away from the city. In addition it is the site of less heavy industry than some other cities in the Northeast (such as Beijing and Shenyang).
3) The city must be of a reasonable size (relative to China) and have a reasonable number of services available. Since we're so new to this China thing, just being anywhere in China is going to be challenge enough. To help us with the transition we wanted to live somewhere we can buy what we need (as we can't bring it all) and maybe see another Westerner or two once in a blue moon. Good thing they've got Walmart!
4) The city must not be unbearably cold. This rules out cities in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces - aka Chinese Siberia.
The only downside to Dalian I've read about so far is that it is missing some of the other ancient charms of China (e.g. the Great Wall, the Forbidden City). To me this is minor however as we primarily want to experience the people, the culture, and the language. Travel to tourist destinations will be easy enough during time off.
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