If you’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with a hefty hospital bill, you don’t want to compound the pain by paying with the wrong card.
Sadly, banks are starting to turn the screw on this category- some exclude it altogether, others allow it on certain cards only, still others only award points for private hospital bills. Long story short, it’s much harder to earn rewards for this category than it was five years ago.
Nonetheless, you’re not completely out of options…
| 💳 What’s the Best Card for… |
| This guide forms part of the “best card” series. Check out other category specific guides below, or the overall guide here. |
| 💗 Donations | 🏫 Education | 🥡 Food Delivery | 🏥 Hospital Bills | ☂️ Insurance | ⛽ Petrol | 🚍 Public Transport| 🚰 Utilities Bills |
How are hospitals classified?
Before we talk about MCCs, it’s important to understand how hospitals are classified in Singapore. Here’s how the MOH organises things:
| Acute | Community | |
| Public | 1. Alexandra | 1. Bright Vision 2. Jurong Community 3. Outram Community 4. Sengkang Community 5. Yishun Community |
| Not-for-Profit | 1. Mount Alvernia | 1. AMK- Thye Hua Kwan Hospital 2. Ren Ci Community 3. St Andrew’s Community 4. St Luke’s |
| Private | 1. Crawfurd 2. Farrer Park 3. Gleneagles 4. Mount Elizabeth 5. Mount Elizabeth Novena 6. Parkway East 7. Raffles Hospital 8. Thomson Medical Centre |
| ❓ What’s a restructured hospital? |
You may also come across the term “restructured hospital”. This is basically a public hospital. Per the MOH: “The Government has restructured all its acute hospitals and specialty centres to be run as private companies wholly owned by the government. This is to enable the public hospitals to have the management autonomy and flexibility to respond more promptly to the needs of the patients.” |
The following specialist centres are also classified as public institutions:
|
|
Why does the classification matter? Because it affects the hospital’s MDR (Merchant Discount Rate- the fee paid to accept credit card payments).
In general, public and non-profit hospitals pay lower MDRs, while private facilities pay higher. The lower the MDR, the less profit the banks make on a transaction, and the less likely they are to offer credit card rewards.
What MCC do hospitals code as?
Hospitals (and Polyclinics) generally code as MCC 8062 (Hospitals), regardless of whether they’re public or private.
There is no comprehensive list of which hospitals code as what. However, there’s a quick and easy way of checking the MCC before spending, as I’ve highlighted in this post.
What credit cards earn rewards for hospital bills?
Here’s the list of banks which still award points for hospital transactions.
| Bank | Awards Points? |
 HighFlyer Card | ✓ Private & Non-profit only |
| All other cards | ✓ Private & Non-profit only |
 | ✕ |
 | ✓ |
 | ✕ |
 | ✓ |
 | ✕ |
 VOYAGE & Premier Visa Infinite | ✓ Private only |
| All other cards | ✕ |
 | ✓ |
 Reserve & Visa Infinite Metal Card | ✓ |
| All other cards | ✕ |
With that in mind, here’s the cards you should be using.
| Card | Earn Rate for Hospitals |
 Citi Rewards+ Amaze | 4 mpd |
 AMEX HighFlyer Card | 1.8 mpd |
 UOB Reserve Card | 1.6 mpd |
 Citi ULTIMA | 1.6 mpd |
 UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card | 1.4 mpd |
 SCB Visa Infinite | 1.4 mpd* |
 OCBC VOYAGE | 1.3 mpd@ |
 AMEX Solitaire PPS Credit Card | 1.3 mpd^ |
 AMEX PPS Credit Card | 1.3 mpd^ |
 Citi Prestige | 1.3 mpd |
 OCBC Premier Visa Infinite | 1.28 mpd@ |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | 1.2 mpd^ |
 HSBC Visa Infinite | 1.25 mpd# |
 SCB X Card | 1.2 mpd |
 Citi PremierMiles | 1.2 mpd |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card | 1.1 mpd^ |
 AMEX Centurion | 0.98 mpd^ |
 AMEX Platinum Charge | 0.78 mpd^ |
 AMEX Platinum Reserve | 0.69 mpd^ |
 AMEX Platinum Credit Card | 0.69 mpd^ |
| ^Private and non-profit hospitals only @Private hospitals only *Min S$2K spend per statement month #1 mpd if first year or if previous year spending <$50K | |
Do note that if you’re paying your hospital bills via HealthHub, the DBS Woman’s World Card still awards 4 mpd for such transactions (since HealthHub does not code as a hospital).
The GrabPay workaround
The GrabPay Mastercard can be a roundabout way of earning rewards on hospital bills, provided you have a card that still earns rewards for GrabPay top-ups.
| 💳 Cards for GrabPay Top-Ups | ||
| Card | Earn Rate | Remarks |
| AMEX SIA Business Card Apply | 1.8 mpd | Only for owners of SMEs |
 AMEX True Cashback CardApply | 1.5% cashback | No cap |
 UOB Absolute Cashback CardApply | 0.3% cashback | No cap |
Simply top-up your GrabPay balance with one of the cards above, then use the GrabPay Mastercard to pay the bill. Keep in mind this will not work if you’re paying via AXS, since AXS transactions were blocked on 16 January 2023.
Conclusion
While it’s increasingly tricky to earn rewards for transactions at hospitals, the good news is that it’s not impossible. So long as you’re visiting a private facility, there’s still numerous cards out there which will treat it as regular retail spending.
It gets a bit messier once we look at public hospitals though, with banks increasingly carving out exclusions for this group. In that case, the GrabPay Mastercard workaround will at least let you earn some miles or cashback in the process.
Thanks for the helpful article. Got bills to pay at SGH.
Very timely article. Have a 15-25k bill coming up for my 1st child’s birth!
Lol wish i seen this on Tuesday
Dear Aaron, Last month I tried, citirewards visa no longer provide 4mpd for grab top up. You like to double check ?
Did you happen to have exceeded your monthly cap? I just topped up grab on 16th June and was credited the points.
Wonder if anyone knows what is the MCC code used for National Skin Center?
Used DBS Altitude for Q&M dental this week. Confirmed points awarded.
Hi, I think DBS Altitude does not award pointz for grab topups. Its stated in thd T&C
Maybe you should try it yourself…
For sharing:
I think Aaron’s article is referring to payment over counter. Nowadays you don’t really need to pay govt hospital bills over the counter and can opt to pay online instead. I just paid my mum’s SGH bills via http://epay.singhealth.com.sg/sgh. I tested the smaller bills on both my UOB Prvi and Citi Rewards (both Mastercard) and I got 1.4 miles and 4 miles respectively. Do note only VISA and Masters are accepted on this payment gateway.
Hope it helps.
Yes that’s right! Good to have your data point too
Hello Aaron and thanks for this article! To ride on this comment, does that mean that all other apps e.g. Using DBS Woman’s World for KKH bills via Health Buddy, can be approached as such too?
Update that this still works: I just found that an online payment done last month (March 2023) to Singhealth for SGH bill got 1.4 mpd on UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard.
The post metion UOB PRIVI miles card does it applies to all Visa,Master,AMEX?
Hi Aaron, great article!
Am wondering, with the upgrade in HSBC Revolution, does it give 4mpd if using contactless as MCC 8062? If so, you can update it on your article!
Any idea on private clinic? What Mcc are usually used by gp or specialist clinic?
Anyone knows?
So with my limited card, my best bet would be either 90N or premier if Amex cant be use….
citi premiermile i mean
Pls double-check Bank of China’s Family card. I called up and they said hospitals are eligible for cashback but cap at $25.
this guide is only for *miles* cards. if you’re looking for cashback, this is the wrong site for you
Aaron, can you consider adding this category to the “what card do I use for” section?
I missed this article, got greedy and used my citi rewards visa at national skin centre’s pharmacy. Ended up with only the base points.
eh? thought it was there already. i will check and add
Still don’t have leh, just fyi
done! you can refer to it now.
Hihi, do you mean entire cgh uses the code mcc 8062? Any grabpoints awarded to any of the mcc 9399 or mcc 8062? Any difference using the physical card or the e card?
UOB PPV has excluded 8062 wef 2021. need to update this article
actually this article already reflects that development. only the UOB Reserve and UOB VI Metal Card still earn.
I think this sentence needs to be removed “ Based on past data points, polyclinics code as 8062 and not 9399, and hence earn regular credit card rewards (most also accept Paywave, so 4 mpd with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa is possible). ” as it causes confusion about Paywave possibly overriding the MCC exclusion.
Amaze + CRMC for 4 mpd?
Have the following info to share
Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital 8062
Mount Alvernia Hospital 8062
The Skin Specialist Clinic 8099
The Eyeclinic by Dr Cheryl Lee Clinic 8011
Barrie Tan ENT Head & Neck Surgery 8011
Hi AARON WONG, it’s time to update this list , most of the CC exclude hospital in earning list
citi miles card didnt indicate 8062 in their list though
StarMed Specialist Centre 8011
Farrer Park Hospital 8062
Bank of China Family VISA – 3% Cashback (Cap $25), min $800 Spend
”Hospital” bills means on-site transactions made at hospitals in Singapore with the assigned MCC 8062 – Hospitals. For the avoidance of doubt, all transactions made at hospitals in Singapore that do not fall within the assigned MCC 8062 will be eligible for 0.3% cash rebate.
https://pic.bankofchina.com/bocappd/singapore/201908/P020190802365794711754.pdf
Do you know if hospital bills paid via app such as OneNUHSApp fall under MCC 8062? I was told it uses a separate MCC.
Hi Aaron, is there a cap if we use Citi rewards + Amaze?
The cap is of course your Citi Rewards’ cap?
Hi Aaron, I thought Highflyer only excludes public hospitals? Can i still earn 1.8mpd if I’m going to spend at Mt. Elizabeth Novena?
correct. have made it more clear
Hey will the grab pay work around not work anymore for highflyer card since topups are nerfed?
Hi , I was informed by Citi bank that mc8099 do not earn bonus miles. Btw, I am paying using Instarem. Do I still get the bonus miles?