This page holds our vietnam expat insurance sources. It names the decrees, hospital pages and embassy guidance we checked for this page, each with the date we opened it. You can check each one yourself.

Raffles Medical Vietnam names five insurers on its own billing list [4]. They are Aetna International, Allianz Worldwide Care, Bupa International, Cigna, and William Russell.

Raffles Medical Vietnam runs clinics in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Vung Tau [4]. That list shows which insurers those clinics will bill directly. It does not show whether your own policy, from any of those insurers, covers your visit.

This page does not name the best expat health insurance vietnam has to offer. It names our sources instead. It points you to our policy comparison page for specific plans.

What are our vietnam expat insurance sources, by type?

We group our vietnam expat insurance sources into four types. They are government law, hospital billing pages, embassy guidance, and national statistics. Each type answers a different question.

Source type Named record Figure we can verify What it supports
Government law Decree 143/2018/ND-CP and Decree 158/2025/ND-CP Decree 143/2018's 14 and 8 percent shares from 1 January 2022; Decree 158/2025 from 1 July 2025 Compulsory social insurance rules for foreign workers [1][2]
Government law Law 51/2024/QH15 Self-paying group defined by a catch-all clause National health insurance eligibility categories [3]
Hospital billing page FV Hospital Over 100 direct billing insurers One private hospital's own insurer network [5]
Hospital billing page Hanoi French Hospital 43 insurers, 7 support units A second hospital's own insurer network [7]
Hospital billing page Hoan My Da Nang More than 30 insurers A Da Nang hospital's own insurer network [6]
Hospital billing page Raffles Medical Vietnam 5 named international insurers One clinic group's own direct billing partners [4]
Embassy guidance UK Government Five checks for a travel policy What a policy should cover for visitors and residents [9][10]
Embassy guidance Government of Canada Medical evacuation cost warning A caution about paying for evacuation without cover [11]
National statistic Vietnam Social Security, via Vietnam News 95.2 percent coverage, an estimated 195.5 million visits Scale of the national health insurance scheme in 2025 [12]

Source: the nine records above, checked 2026-09-23, drawn from 11 sources [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][9][10][11][12].

How do we tell a government scheme from a private policy?

Vietnam runs a national health insurance scheme and a separate private market. That scheme is not the compulsory social insurance program.

We cover that other program later on this page. We never blend the numbers into one figure.

Vietnam health insurance through the government scheme covered 95.2 percent of the population by the end of 2025 [12]. It handled an estimated 195.5 million insured visits that year [12].

A Vinh Thuan commune notice shows a household's own premium for that scheme rising on 1 July 2026: the first member now pays 1,366,200 VND a year [13].

Household member Annual premium (VND) Share of the first member's rate
First 1,366,200 [13] 100 percent
Second 956,340 [13] 70 percent
Third 819,720 [13] 60 percent
Fourth 683,100 [13] 50 percent
Fifth and later 546,480 [13] 40 percent

Source: Vinh Thuan commune portal, An Giang province, household health insurance premium notice, checked 2026-09-23 [13].

Private insurance runs beside that scheme, not inside it. FV Hospital, Raffles Medical Vietnam and Hanoi French Hospital each publish their own insurer list [5][4][7].

Why does the same hospital treat two insurance cards differently?

Vietnam insurance direct billing rules vary at FV Hospital. Its partner table sets one rule per insurer, not one for the hospital [5].

Insurer Outpatient rule Inpatient rule
Allianz Worldwide Care Based on the plan's own benefit table Pre-authorization required
Cigna International Only when the plan includes outpatient cover Pre-authorization required
Generali Vietnam Patient pays and claims Guarantee of payment required
GeoBlue Patient pays and claims, unless a guarantee comes first Pre-authorization required

Source: FV Hospital, health insurance partner pages, checked 2026-09-23 [5].

FV Hospital also states its own timing rule. A network insurer usually confirms in 4 to 48 working hours [5]. Other insurers take 1 to 3 working days [5].

Outpatient billing fails outside that network. The patient pays in full, then claims the money back later [5].

What changed in the law behind foreign workers' social insurance?

Decree 158/2025/ND-CP took effect on 1 July 2025 and governs compulsory social insurance [2]. Whether it fully replaces Decree 143/2018/ND-CP's own foreign-worker provisions is unclear from the text we opened, as the next section explains [1][2].

Before that, Decree 143/2018/ND-CP set the rules [1]. A foreign worker needed a work permit, a practice certificate or license, plus a contract of one year or more. They then got five benefits: sickness, maternity, occupational accident and disease, retirement and death.

The employer paid three shares under the old rule. They were 3 percent for sickness and maternity and 0.5 percent for occupational accident and disease [1]. The third share was 14 percent for retirement and death, from 1 January 2022 [1].

The employee paid into that fund too. Decree 143/2018/ND-CP set the employee's own rate at 8 percent of monthly salary, also from 1 January 2022 [1].

Decree 158/2025/ND-CP names its own list of covered workers. It points to specific categories in the Social Insurance Law's own Article 2 [2].

We could not find a foreign-worker contribution rate in that decree [2]. So whether the 2018 rates above still apply is not something we can confirm from the text we opened.

What do we do when a number is missing from the primary text?

We checked whether a 1.5 percent health insurance rate sits alongside the 8 percent employee rate above. Neither Decree 143/2018 nor Decree 158/2025/ND-CP's own text names that figure [1][2]. Health insurance runs under a separate law, not this social insurance decree.

One more question stays open too. We could not confirm whether the 2018 decree's 8 percent and 14 percent rates still apply now that Decree 158/2025/ND-CP has taken effect covering the same subject [2].

Confirm the foreign-worker contribution rate and the health insurance figure above with a licensed Vietnamese lawyer before trusting any other number.

What should a travel insurance policy cover here?

UK health advice for Vietnam names five checks for a policy. It should cover existing health conditions and an air ambulance [10]. It should also cover full medical cover and repatriation of remains or family [10].

The same page says the embassy will not pay medical bills [10]. It gives 115 as the number for an ambulance [10]. It tells travelers to call their insurer fast after any referral [10].

Canada's government adds its own warning. Medical evacuation from Vietnam is very expensive [11].

Does a large insurer count prove your claim will be paid?

A large insurer count does not decide your claim. It only proves network size on the day we checked. Insurance in Vietnam still comes down to your plan's terms.

Raffles Medical Vietnam says this outright. Carrying insurance does not mean full payment [4]. The patient stays liable until the insurer settles [4].

City International Hospital marks its own prices as support prices for patients without international private insurance [8]. That is a separate pricing tier, not a coverage promise.

FV Hospital lists over 100 insurers [5]. Hanoi French Hospital lists 43 [7]. Hoan My Da Nang lists more than 30 [6].

None of those counts describe your plan's exclusions or limits.

Which sources could we not open?

Two sites blocked every attempt. Vinmec's English homepage and the Joint Commission International's own accreditation list both returned an access-denied error again.

Neither site opened for us to check. This page names no JCI accreditation figure for any hospital. It also names no coverage or billing number from Vinmec's own pages.

We could not confirm one more thing: whether a foreign resident without a work permit can join national health insurance as a self-paying member. Confirm this with a licensed Vietnamese lawyer instead of guessing.

Not legal, tax or financial advice. We disclose any company we own or are paid by.