China’s Medical Boom
From Time
Acquiescence to substandard health care is changing in China, especially where rapid economic progress has improved the financial well-being of the country’s growing zhong chan jie ji, or middle class. More and more Chinese are willing to pay for superior health-care services. Their presence, combined with an increased number of expatriates and business travelers, has created a niche opportunity for foreign businesses. Several U.S.-based companies are setting up and managing hospitals and Western-style outpatient clinics through joint ventures with Chinese companies. About half the physicians of such companies are expats–typically from the U.S., Canada and Australia.
[...] Patients with foreign passports accounted for the vast majority of those treated at United Family Hospital in Beijing. But today wealthy and upper-middle-class Chinese make up 40% of patients across United Family Hospital locations.
