My friends always have the same skeptical reaction to the reason behind my recent bout of food poisoning, "You ate oranges?" While difficult to believe, it's true. The excruciating pain and discomfort inflicted upon me by a severe case of gastroenteritis for three days had its origins in a seemingly benign fruit. However, this article is neither an attempt to admonish the large supermarket chain (that will go unnamed) that sold me these oranges nor caution against eating oranges (although I will be staying away from them for a while). I intend to elucidate how my visit to the emergency ward at Peking Union Hospital is related to health care reform in the States. Coincidentally, my visit was quite timely as my own country goes through a legal battle over the recent healthcare bill supported by President Obama. While I certainly appreciated the cheaper prices in Beijing, I soon realized that the Chinese and American medical systems are placing far too much pressure on physicians to perform well with increasingly limited rewards.

After my local Chinese friend, a medical student at Peking Union Medical College, insisted on my visiting the hospital last Wednesday night, I gathered a little bit of courage and attempted to put aside the anxieties I had about visiting a hospital in China, which were mostly created by my mother's many warnings about non-American hospitals. When I arrived, he helped me every step of the way with funny commentary about the price disparity between Chinese and American medical costs. Last spring, he had gone to Boston for an exchange program, and ended up paying US$1000 out-of-pocket after visiting Massachusetts General Hospital. I had never been to the emergency room in America, let alone China, so I wasn't sure how much my visit would cost me.

Overall, my expenses were: hospital card (10RMB), doctor consultation (25RMB), blood test (20RMB) three types of Western medicine (65RMB), and round trip taxi fare (40RMB). For a total of 160RMB (US$24), I was healed within two days. While I have a great fear of hospitals, the courteous staff and relatively clean conditions of this hospital dispelled my previously misplaced anxieties.

Glad that I did not have to pay a significant amount, I happily told my friend how great I thought Chinese hospitals were. However, he shook his head and told me, "Yes, it is cheap, but there are many problems." He went on to tell me that doctors are overworked and some hospitals are more driven by profit than others so doctors do not have as great a reputation in China as in the States.