How to Pay Hospital Bills in China as a Foreigner (2026)

How to pay hospital bills in China: your options

Beijing’s official medical guide ↗ lists the payment options below at hospitals serving international patients. Other cities and individual hospitals may differ, so check each hospital’s own list before you go. For public-hospital outpatient visits, Shanghai’s official guide to public hospitals ↗ describes paying as you go: at the registration desk, then at the cashier before collecting medicines.

• RMB cash.
• International credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club and JCB.
• UnionPay debit cards.
• WeChat Pay and Alipay.
• Direct billing to some commercial insurers (see below).

Card, mobile wallet or cash?

For large hospital bills, an international credit card used at the hospital cashier can be the simplest option, provided the hospital accepts your card network. Mobile wallets are handy for smaller payments such as pharmacies, taxis and meals. Cash is a useful backup: ATMs showing your card network’s logo dispense RMB, although Shanghai’s official payment guide ↗ notes that a single ATM withdrawal is usually limited to CNY 3,000, and your home bank may set its own limits.

Carry at least two payment methods, ideally on different card networks, and tell your bank about your trip so that large overseas payments are not blocked.

Setting up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card

Foreign visitors can link international cards ↗ such as Visa and Mastercard to Alipay and WeChat Pay. Do this at home before you travel: install the app, follow its registration steps, add your card and complete any identity verification it requests using your passport details. Check that the card shows as successfully linked before departure, so any problem shows up while you can still call your bank.

Limits: for overseas visitors who link international cards, regulators cap Alipay and WeChat Pay at USD 5,000 per transaction and USD 50,000 per year (Shanghai’s official payment guide, updated July 2026; first announced in April 2024). A large inpatient bill could exceed the single-transaction limit, so plan to pay such bills by card at the cashier or through insurer direct billing.

Fees: check current terms in the app and with your card issuer, as they change. For example, Beijing’s official site reported in March 2026 ↗ that WeChat Pay waives its 3% transaction fee on international-card payments under CNY 200; larger payments, such as hospital bills, may not qualify for that waiver.

Currency conversion and card fees

Hospital bills are charged in renminbi (CNY). When you pay by foreign card, the Beijing guide says the amount is converted at the day’s exchange rate; your card issuer may add its own foreign-transaction or conversion fee. If a terminal or app offers to charge you in your home currency instead of CNY, compare the rate before accepting.

Before you travel, ask your card issuer about foreign-transaction fees, daily spending limits and whether large overseas payments need pre-approval, and ask the wallet provider about fees on international cards. Beyond the officially reported example above, we do not quote fee levels, because they vary by provider and change often.

Deposits and pre-payment

Hospitals set their own rules on paying in advance, and there is no national figure a visitor can rely on. For admission, surgery or a package of tests, a hospital may ask for an advance payment, often called a deposit (预交金 or 押金). Ask the international department, ideally in writing:

• Whether a deposit or pre-payment is required, how much and when.
• Which payment methods it accepts for the deposit — card, mobile wallet, cash or bank transfer.
• Whether an insurer’s guarantee of payment can replace the deposit.
• How the deposit will be reconciled against the final bill, and how top-ups work if costs rise.

Receipts, itemised bills and medical records for claims

Insurers reimburse against paperwork. Shanghai’s official insurance guide ↗ (written for international students) lists typical claim documents as invoices or receipts for hospital charges, a discharge summary or hospitalisation records for inpatient stays, a copy of the medical record and a list of medications. Check your own policy’s list before treatment starts.

Depending on the hospital, the official proof of payment may be a medical-charge receipt (医疗收费票据) rather than a tax invoice (fapiao, 发票). A 2019 notice ↗ from the Ministry of Finance, the National Health Commission and the National Healthcare Security Administration set national electronic formats for outpatient receipts, inpatient receipts and itemised charge lists. For every payment, ask for the official receipt and the itemised list (费用清单), and ask whether English versions are available.

Under China’s regulation on medical records management ↗, patients can apply with valid identification to copy parts of their records, such as admission notes, operation records, discharge records, test and pathology reports and imaging; hospitals may charge for copying. Request copies before you leave the city, and arrange translations if your insurer or doctor at home needs them.

International insurance: direct billing and pre-authorisation

Some hospitals bill international insurers directly. According to Beijing’s medical guide, patients with eligible insurance can skip paying upfront by showing their insurance card and passport, and the hospital settles with the insurer. Insurers named include MSH China, Ping An, AIA, Cigna & CMB and Allianz Partners, but each hospital has its own list of contracted insurers. Shanghai’s government site ↗ also reports direct billing at some hospitals.

Direct billing depends on your insurer as much as on the hospital. Before travel, ask your insurer whether planned treatment in China is covered, whether it needs pre-authorisation (a guarantee of payment) for this hospital and treatment, what it needs from the hospital, and how long approval takes. Then ask the hospital’s international department to confirm in writing that it can bill your insurer directly, and whether that covers outpatient visits, inpatient stays or both. Expect to pay yourself for anything your policy excludes.

Use our hospitals directory to shortlist hospitals, then check each one’s own list of contracted insurers.

Refunds of unused deposits

Before you pay a deposit, ask how any unused balance is refunded: whether it goes back to the original card or wallet, whether you need the original deposit receipt, whether the patient or an authorised person must be present, and how long it takes. Keep every deposit receipt.

Where possible, settle your account and collect any refund before you leave the city; sorting it out from abroad is usually harder. If the refund goes back to a foreign card, the amount you receive in your home currency may differ from what you paid, because exchange rates move.

Pre-travel payment checklist

medicalBridge is an independent coordination service, not a hospital or insurer: hospitals set prices and payment rules, and insurers decide coverage. For the wider picture, start with our medical tourism in China guide. Before you travel:

• Ask the hospital which payment methods its cashiers accept and whether a deposit is required.
• Ask for a written cost estimate if the hospital offers one, and treat it as an estimate, not a fixed price — see treatment costs in China.
• Call your card issuer about travel notices, foreign-transaction fees, limits and large-payment approval.
• Set up Alipay and/or WeChat Pay with a foreign card and confirm it is linked.
• Carry some RMB cash or know where to find a compatible ATM.
• Get your insurer’s answers on coverage, pre-authorisation and claim documents in writing.
• Confirm direct billing with both the insurer and the hospital.
• Plan to collect official receipts, itemised lists and medical-record copies before you leave.
• Check your entry route too — see China medical visa options.