> in China I heard that if you go to hospital in a different household registration, you have to pay the full medical costs.
When talking about paying such full medical costs, let me share some concrete numbers with you, all numbers are from tier 1 cities like Shanghai -
Chest CT scan is 170-200 RMB, or 25-30 USD
MRI scan is 260-460 RMB, or 35-65 USD
Ultrasound is 20-170 RMB, or 3-25 USD
PET CT is 6500 RMB, or 900 USD
https://ybj.sh.gov.cn/cmsres/9b/9baabfec6f6c4e3fa03d6289f5e7...
Ambulance cost is shockingly low, 30 RMB per call plus 7 RMB per KM, that is 4 USD per call plus 1 USD per KM.
https://wx.sh120.sh.cn/mobjsp/helpinfo/FeeScale.jsp?communit...
when you can't afford those tests in the west or facing a stupidly long waiting period, don't be sad, just jump onto an airplane to get yourself checked & treated in Shanghai. You'd still save heap of money saved after such extra travel costs.