Deciding whether or not to move the family from Los Angeles to Beijing: How's the health system?

Hi:

Beijing is very expat friendly compared to other parts of China and there a number of international health clinics here that cater to the expat community:

You can see the full list in our directories here -

http://www.beijing-kids.com/directory/Family-Health

Among them, Beijing United Family Hospital, Beijing Intl SOS Clinic, IMC, Vista and Bayley and Jackson are popular.

These clinics can all handle insurance, but you'll want to consult their perspective websites for more detailed info.

Local hospitals run the gamut of the very poor to very decent, and foreigners tend to go to Peking Medical Union Hospital and the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital for treatment.

For a much better idea of what you can expect and want to know living here in Beijing, you might want consider reading The Insiders Guide to Beijing 2009 Edition, which our company publishes. It contains a lot of useful info pertaining to living and working in Beijing, including health care issues.

You can order on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Beijing-Annual-Chinese-English/dp/7802029...

healthcare is not really a big problem these days. Beijing United is great, there's other western-operated clinics and good local hospitals as well.

having said that, there's always some bug or two going around -- one year we're panicking about bird flu, the next year swine flu, the year after that hoof and mouth disease or something like that ...

i suppose it's not all that different from elsewhere ... though the population density here means disease transmission happens a little faster ...

Hi - You can contact the insurance agent our company uses - her name is Paige Mushinsky and she can be contacted at paige@expatsolutions.com

She represents a range of providers, including the one our company uses, William Russel (a UK based provider) - you can google them for more info.

At the end of the day, after all the panic and worry and stress, you'll probably find that moving to Beijing is one of the most positive and life changing experiences you and your family will ever have. I was just as nervous as you when I moved from clean, sunny Australia to China, but I wouldn't change my decision for the world -- even on the bad days! Hopefully we'll see you soon.

The brunt of expats in Beijing are in the CBD area, so you should have no trouble meeting people and getting around town, as that general area is the part of town that has developed the fastest. Any more specific idea of where you will be living?

If it was me, I'd live near work. It sounds like your office is in the CBD and your friend is in Sanlitun -- in which case, they're a quick 10min cab ride away. Living in the CBD gives you quick access to Sanlitun and you'll find people flow back and forth from those areas very easily.

Traffic here can be crazy (10min cab ride turns in to a 45min cab ride) and long subway rides do get tiring. The less you have to travel, the better. And in my experience, travelling to and from work everyday is pretty stressful. In short -- live close to work, you'll be better off.

Live near work for sure - Beijing's traffic is the worst in the world

http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2010/06/07/Its-Official-Beijing-Has-Chi...