Everything you need to know about Huhuibao insurance plan
What is Huhuibao (沪惠保)?
It is a budget private supplementary medical insurance cover for Shanghai residents. It literally means "insurance that benefits the people."
Who can buy it?
Anyone who participates in the city's social medical insurance program is eligible.
No restriction is set on age or occupation.
Expats covered by local medical insurance are "theoretically eligible," but the registration system has not yet been opened to them, said an officer at China Pacific Life Insurance, a primary underwriter for Huhuibao.
How much does it cost?
It costs 115 yuan (US$18) per person per year, or about 4.93 cents a day.
Who is buying it?
Huhuibao has received some 7.39 million sign-ups since its launch in April 2021, which means one out of three people in Shanghai has purchased it.
Among those, over 5 million enrollments were made within the first two weeks, a record surge. Young Chinese born in the 1980s have shown strong interest in the plan.
A local resident buys Huhuibao on his phone.
What does it cover?
Huhuibao pays up to 2.3 million yuan in compensation for medical expenses and mainly covers specific hospital self-funded medical expenses, specific high drug costs, proton and heavy-ion medical care, and other treatments.
How to make a claim?
Claims can be made online via Huhuibao's official WeChat account or the app Government Online-Offline Shanghai (一网通办).
How is it operated now?
As of the end of December, over 89,000 claims cases were accepted with a cumulative payment amount of 378 million yuan, the latest official data on the product showed.
And around 54.8 percent of the claims are made by women versus 45.2 by men.
Top three ailments for claims
The "big three" medical conditions, namely muscular system and connective tissue diseases, cancer and cardiovascular diseases, made up the vast majority of claims in the July-December period (37.07 percent, 35.53 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively).
Top three ailments for Huhuibao claims
Cancer facts for men & women
The three most common cancers for men were lung, stomach and thyroid cancer, whereas lung, breast and stomach cancers comprised over 80 percent of all cancers for women.
The three most common cancers for men and women
Is it worth buying?
It depends on your health and economic conditions plus private insurance packages.
