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Policy, legal and insurance guides primarily concern mainland China. Scope and sources ↗

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Health and social insurance

Find the conditions before the queue.

Mainland Chinese medical reimbursement, social insurance and assistance: check eligibility, records and local procedures.

All 62 guides in this topic →
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Chapter 7 editorial cartoon: Out of money needn't mean out of information. Enlarge illustration
Out of money needn't mean out of information.

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Editorial cartoon · Chapter 7Out of money needn't mean out of information.

Original illustration with Chinese lettering; the English dialogue is below. Humour is a reading aid, not evidence.

English dialogue
  • My wallet ran out of battery.
  • Let's check the eligibility rules.

Three starting points

Selected from 62 guides

Apply online for unemployment benefits if you’ve lost your job

If both your employer and you have paid into the yibao (basic medical insurance) system for at least one year and you didn’t resign voluntarily, you c…

Cost
There is no cost. You can submit the application via smartphone using any of three portals…
Benefit
To qualify you must meet three criteria: (1) your employer and you have each contributed t…

For common illnesses, patients should first visit community clinics; referrals then proceed stepwise to larger hospitals, after which the hospital deductible is calculated only once.

Start by going to a community clinic, which will then refer you to a larger hospital for inpatient care. The amount you pay out-of-pocket at the start…

Cost
No expense is required. You must first make a trip to a community clinic. The hard part is…
Benefit
Insured patients who follow this stepwise referral process can have their hospital deducti…

Save pay stubs, attendance records, employment contracts, social insurance documents, and chat logs before leaving your job

Employers carry the evidentiary burden in certain dismissal and wage-reduction disputes, but workers initially need to show overtime occurred. Employe…

Cost
No expense required. It takes about half an hour to save all these documents. The tricky p…
Benefit
Labor-dispute claimants generally must support their claims. An employer must produce evid…