What seeing a doctor in China costs without Chinese insurance
What does it cost to see a doctor in China if I do not have Chinese insurance?
The short answer
The consultation itself is cheap and the price is published by the government: an ordinary outpatient visit at a Beijing tertiary hospital is 50 CNY, Shanghai lists 25 CNY at a city-level public hospital, and Shenzhen lists 25 CNY at its top facility price band. As a visitor you pay the full published figure rather than the smaller insured contribution printed beside it. The same hospital’s international department, and private hospitals, are a different product at a different price — several hundred to over a thousand yuan. And the consultation is the small part of the day: imaging, laboratory tests and medicines are billed separately, each paid before it is carried out.
Guide last reviewed:
Who this applies to
Self-paying foreign visitors, outpatient care, in mainland China.
The three government figures are Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Other cities publish their own tariffs; do not carry these numbers to a city that is not listed here.
Consultation and registration only. Inpatient admission, surgery and emergency care are priced separately and are not covered here.
Published figures, with the source of each
Each figure links to its full record on the price page, with the document it came from.
50 CNY (Tertiary hospital · per visit) · 30 CNY (Secondary hospital · per visit) · 20 CNY (Primary hospital or grassroots facility · per visit)
Government-published reference Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau · Source checked:
500–1800 CNY (Published consultation range · per visit)
Published by the institution · not independently verified Beijing United Family Hospital · Source checked:
These are dated published references with stated scopes, not quotes for your visit.
Step by step
1 First work out which of three things you are buying
Ordinary outpatient care, a VIP or international department inside the same public hospital, and a private hospital are three different products. Shanghai’s municipal guide notes that almost all district- and city-level public hospitals have VIP departments, and PUMCH’s own notice separates ordinary, special and international services. A published price only means something once you know which one it describes.
Peking Union Medical College Hospital · Source checked:
2 Ordinary outpatient care has a government tariff you can read yourself
Beijing’s schedule is set by Jing Yi Bao Fa [2026] No. 6, effective 11 July 2026, item AAAA0005, attachment 1, PDF page 142. Shenzhen’s comes from Shen Yi Bao Fa [2026] No. 3, effective 30 March 2026, attachment 5, item 011102020010000, PDF page 78. Shanghai publishes its figures in the municipal service guide. These are the documents themselves, not somebody’s summary of them — follow the links and check the date before you rely on a number.
City News Service, republished by Shanghai municipal government · Source checked:
3 Read the published figure, not the insured contribution
Chinese fee tables commonly show the full charge next to the smaller amount an insured local resident pays. PUMCH’s ordinary outpatient notice is laid out exactly this way. A visitor without Chinese basic medical insurance pays the full charge. If a figure you find online looks unusually low, check which of the two columns it came from.
Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau · Source checked:
4 The international department is the same hospital at a different price
PUMCH’s own schedule for 14–20 September 2026 at the Dongdan campus lists international general medicine sessions at 300 and 600 CNY, against ordinary fees of 50 to 100 CNY depending on the doctor’s seniority. That gap buys language support, scheduling and facilities. It is not a different standard of medicine, and it is not a fixed tariff — it is one dated example from one hospital.
Peking Union Medical College Hospital · Source checked:
5 Private hospitals publish ranges, not prices
Beijing United Family’s English price list groups its primary outpatient visit codes 99201B–99205B into a single published range. A range is not a quote: ask which visit code applies to you and request an itemised estimate before booking. Do not assume the bottom of the range.
Registration is paid first, each imaging or laboratory test is generally paid before it is performed, and medicines are paid at the pharmacy. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a linked Visa or Mastercard before you travel — the single-transaction limit for overseas visitors is 5,000 US dollars with a 50,000 annual cap — and keep RMB cash as a backup. What moves a bill is how many tests are ordered, not the consultation fee.
Shenzhen’s tariff prices ordinary consultations by facility price band rather than by hospital reputation. The bands are an administrative classification, not a ranking of clinical quality or an insurance copayment — ask the hospital which band it is in.
Government tariffs and institution lists are different evidence
Our price page separates figures published by a government body from figures an institution published about itself, and marks the second group as not independently verified. Compare like with like before concluding anything about value.
These are published references with dates and stated scopes. They are not quotes, and they are not what your visit will cost.
Tariffs change. Each figure below carries the date we last checked its source; check the original document before relying on it.
We do not book appointments, negotiate prices or take commission from any institution.
Nothing here says which hospital or department is right for you. That is a clinical question.
Insurance reimbursement depends on your own policy. A published price says nothing about whether your insurer will pay it.
Common questions
Why is the consultation so cheap compared with my country?
Ordinary outpatient consultation fees in Chinese public hospitals are set by government tariff rather than by the hospital. The published figure covers the consultation slot only. Imaging, laboratory tests, procedures and medicines are billed separately, and that is where the cost of a visit actually accumulates.
Do foreigners pay more than local patients?
Not for the same ordinary service: the published tariff is the same. What differs is that a locally insured patient has part of it reimbursed and you do not, so you pay the full published charge. Choosing an international department is a separate decision that does cost several times more.
Is the international department worth the extra cost?
That depends on how much of the visit you can otherwise manage. It buys language support, scheduling and facilities, not a different standard of medicine. If you have someone with you who can handle registration, queuing and instructions in Chinese, the ordinary department covers the same clinical ground for a fraction of the fee.
Can I get a written estimate before I travel?
Ask the institution directly, naming the campus, department and service tier. Private and international departments are more likely to quote in advance. For ordinary public care the consultation fee is published, but the tests a doctor will order cannot be known before you are seen, so no honest estimate can cover the whole visit.
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