Medicare Doesn't Cover You in Vietnam, and Someone Else Registers Your Address
Two rules that sit in the background of a Vietnam move. Both are easy to learn late.
Both of these affect what you do in your first week.
Does Medicare cover you in Vietnam?
No. Medicare's own travel page says it usually does not cover health care outside the United States. The exceptions are narrow and mostly concern cases near the U.S. border or a hospital that is closer than any American one. None of them describe a retiree living in Da Nang.
This applies to Original Medicare and to Medicare Advantage plans alike. Vietnam also has no public insurance floor for a foreign retiree on a rotating e-visa, because its public system is built around residents and registered workers. That makes private international coverage your entire arrangement. If you check one thing before you book a flight, check that your policy pays for care in Vietnam and what it does for evacuation.
Two smaller points. Some Medigap plans cover emergency care abroad, so read yours instead of assuming either way. And whether to keep paying Part B while you are away, to avoid a late-enrollment penalty if you return, is a money question to settle with an advisor. It has nothing to do with your coverage in Vietnam.
Who registers your address in Vietnam?
Not you. Vietnam requires foreigners' temporary residence to be declared to the local police, and the law puts that duty on the accommodation provider. A hotel, a host or a landlord sends the declaration within 12 hours of your arrival, or within 24 hours in remote areas. A separate decree sets fines for providers who fail to send it.
Some guides phrase this as a deadline you must hit yourself. As written in the law, it is a deadline for the person who houses you. Your part is to make sure the address you give is real and that someone is actually filing. A hotel does this as routine. A private landlord or a short-term host sometimes does not, so ask in the first day or two whether it has been done.
For the visa side of the same move, see why the 90-day e-visa is Vietnam's honest default and two corrections to common Vietnam guides. City costs, the tax line and a 90-day plan for the move are in Retiring in Vietnam on Kindle.
Retiring in Vietnam covers six cities at three budget tiers, the 90-day e-visa rotation, and a 90-day plan for the move. $11.49, or free with Kindle Unlimited.