Before you start

A Vietnamese labour contract of 12+ months
A valid work permit
Employer payroll enrolment — you do not apply yourself
A separate private policy if you want the international clinics

Step-by-step

1
Check whether you are actually in scope
From 1 July 2025 foreign workers on labour contracts of twelve months or more must join compulsory social insurance. Intra-company transferees who remain on a foreign payroll, and nationals of countries with a bilateral social security agreement who are already contributing at home, can be outside it. Ask HR to confirm in writing, because the answer changes your take-home pay.
Via employerWho: Your employer and youAt onboarding
2
Understand the deduction and the cap
Social insurance is 8% from you and 17% from the employer, on salary capped at twenty times the statutory reference level — VND 50.6 million a month since 1 July 2026, up from VND 46.8 million. Health insurance is enrolled in parallel under the 2024 Health Insurance Law. Budget from the net, not the headline offer.
Via employerWho: Your employerMonthly8% of insurable salary
3
Find out which hospital your BHYT card registers you to
Vietnamese health insurance assigns an initial registration facility, and going elsewhere without a referral historically cut your reimbursement sharply. The 2024 law loosened this for specified serious conditions. Check where your card points before you need it, not in an emergency.
Via employerWho: You
4
Buy private cover for the international clinics
BHYT gets you subsidised care in the public system, where Bạch Mai and Việt Đức are genuinely strong hospitals and also crowded, Vietnamese-language and short on privacy. Family Medical Practice, Vinmec, Hồng Ngọc and Raffles are the English-speaking options in Hanoi and they are priced accordingly. Confirm your policy covers outpatient care, not just hospitalisation.
OnlineWho: You
5
Take the air seriously between November and March
Winter and early-spring inversions push Hanoi into the world's most polluted major cities for weeks at a time. Put a purifier in the bedroom, use a filtering mask rather than a cloth one on the bike, check AQI before outdoor exercise, and treat a persistent cough in February as air-related until a doctor says otherwise. Households with children or asthma should treat this as a housing criterion.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Know your evacuation route before you need it
Hanoi handles most things well. For complex surgery or intensive care, the established pattern among foreign residents is Bangkok or Singapore, four to five hours away by air. A policy with medical evacuation cover is far more valuable here than the same policy would be in Europe, and it is the clause people skim.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Work permit
Labour contract of 12+ months
Passport and temporary residence card
BHYT health insurance card issued through your employer
Private insurance policy documents and the insurer's Vietnam hotline

Things most newcomers don’t know

Compulsory social insurance for foreign workers started on 1 July 2025 and is payroll-deducted, not opt-in.

Foreign employees on labour contracts of twelve months or more are inside the scheme automatically, with 8% coming out of your salary and 17% from the employer, capped at twenty times the statutory reference level. People negotiating an offer against a gross figure they saw in a listing are routinely surprised by the net. Confirm with HR whether an intra-company transfer or a treaty exemption applies before you accept the deduction as inevitable.

Source: EY / PwC Vietnam

BHYT does not open the door to the international clinics, and that gap is the whole cost question.

Vietnamese health insurance subsidises public hospitals, which in Hanoi means Bạch Mai and Việt Đức — competent, cheap, crowded and entirely in Vietnamese. Family Medical Practice, Vinmec and Hồng Ngọc operate on private payment or private insurance. Most foreign residents end up carrying both, and the mistake is assuming the compulsory deduction has already bought what they actually want.

Source: provider consensus

Hanoi's winter air is a genuine clinical issue, not an inconvenience.

From November to March, temperature inversions over the Red River delta hold emissions at ground level and Hanoi appears repeatedly among the ten most polluted major cities in the world; IQAir logged it in the global top ten on days through January, February and March 2026, with the city's AQI in the unhealthy range. Annual PM2.5 has run at multiples of the WHO guideline. Purifiers, sealed windows and mask discipline on the bike are the ordinary local response, and newcomers underestimate all three.

Source: IQAir 2026 reporting

Your BHYT card points at one specific hospital and you should know which.

Vietnamese health insurance assigns an initial registration facility, and presenting at a different hospital without a referral has historically cut the reimbursement rate substantially, though the 2024 Health Insurance Law relaxed this for specified serious illnesses. Employers assign the facility without asking. Finding out that yours is on the far side of the city during an emergency is a bad way to learn it.

Source: Health Insurance Law 2024 / provider consensus

Common mistakes to avoid

Budgeting from a gross salary and forgetting the 8% social insurance deduction.
Assuming BHYT gets you into Vinmec or Family Medical Practice — it does not.
Not checking which hospital your BHYT card registers you to.
Buying private cover with hospitalisation only and no outpatient benefit, which is where the spending actually happens.
Treating Hanoi's winter air as a nuisance rather than budgeting for purifiers and masks.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.