For the past few years, I’ve been publishing a “best credit cards for hospitals” article, but this year I’m going to expand it further because not every medical situation ends up in a hospital bill (thankfully!).
In this post, I’ll run through the best cards to use for medical expenses in general, whether dentists, doctors, physiotherapists, opticians or podiatrists (no, homeopathy doesn’t count).
| 💳 What’s the Best Card for… | ||
| ❓ Overall Guide |
||
| ✈️ Air Tickets |
🌎 Amaze | 💗 Charity |
| 🍽️ Dining |
🏫 Education | 🥡 Food Delivery |
| 🏨 Hotels | ☂️ Insurance |
📱 Kris+ |
| ⚕️ Medical | ⛽ Petrol | 🚍 Public Transport |
| 🛒 Supermarkets | 🚰 Utilities | |
How do medical expenses code?
Medical transactions can code under a wide range of MCCs, depending on the malady in question.
| 👨⚕️ Healthcare-related MCCs | ||
| MCC | Description | Examples |
| 8011 | Doctors- Not Elsewhere Classified | Healthway Medical, Q&M Medical, Raffles Medical |
| 8021 | Dentists and Orthodontists | Elements Dental, Parkway Dental, Unity Denticare |
| 8031 | Osteopathic Physicians | City Osteopathy Physiotherapy, The Osteopathic Centre |
| 8041 | Chiropractors | Chiropractic First, Spinal Rehab Centre |
| 8042 | Optometrists and Ophthalmologists | Asia Retina, Tsecc |
| 8043 | Opticians, Optical Goods and Eyeglasses | KJ Optometrists, Northern Optician, New China Opticians |
| 8044 | Optical Goods and Eyeglasses | Nanyang Optical, Paris Miki, W Optics |
| 8049 | Chiropodists, Podiatrists | Footworks Podiatry Clinic, East Coast Podiatry |
| 8050 | Nursing and Personal Care Facilities | Charis Manor Nursing Home, LC Nursing Home, Orange Valley |
| 8062 | Hospitals | Raffles Hospital, SGH, all Polyclinics |
| 8071 | Dental and Medical Labs | NewPath Diagnostics Lab |
| 8099 | Health Practitioners, Medical Services Not Elsewhere Classified | Doctor Anywhere, Eu Yan Sang TCM Clinic, HealthHub |
As you can see, hospitals are just one of many possible healthcare-related MCCs. And that’s a good thing, because even though many banks have nerfed rewards for hospitals, they haven’t done so for the rest.
In case you’re uncertain about the MCC, there’s three ways of looking it up before making a purchase:
| Method | Ease of Use | Reliability |
| ❓HeyMax | ●●● | ● |
| 📱 Instarem app | ●● | ●● |
| 🤖 DBS digibot | ● |
●●● |
Best Cards for Hospitals
Let’s start with hospitals first, because banks tend to see it as a separate category from other healthcare transactions.
Here’s how the MOH organises hospitals in Singapore:
| 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 |
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| ❓ What’s a restructured hospital? | ||
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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.” |
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All polyclinics and the following specialist centres also code as public hospitals.
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Why does the classification matter? Because it affects the hospital’s MDR, or Merchant Discount Rate- the fee paid to accept credit card payments. In general, public hospitals pay lower MDRs, while private hospitals pay higher. Therefore, while some banks have excluded hospitals altogether, others have taken the less drastic step of only excluding public ones.
Here’s the list of banks which still award points for hospital transactions:
| Public | Private & Non-Profit | |
 |
✕ | ✓ |
 |
✕ | ✕ |
 ULTIMA |
✓ | ✓ |
| All other cards |
✕ | ✕ |
 |
✕ | ✕ |
 TravelOne |
✕ | ✕ |
| Visa Infinite |
✓ | ✓ |
 |
✓ | ✓ |
 VOYAGE & Premier Visa Infinite |
✕ | ✓ |
| All other cards |
✕ | ✕ |
 |
✓ | ✓ |
 Reserve & Visa Infinite Metal Card |
✓ | ✓ |
| All other cards |
✕ | ✕ |
Therefore, you can use the following cards, subject to the exclusions mentioned in the table above.
| Card | Earn Rate |
 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* |
 AMEX Solitaire PPS Credit Card |
1.3 mpd |
 AMEX PPS Credit Card |
1.3 mpd |
 OCBC VOYAGE |
1.3 mpd |
 OCBC Premier Visa Infinite |
1.28 mpd |
 HSBC Visa Infinite |
1.25 mpd^ |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend |
1.2 mpd |
 Maybank Visa Infinite |
1.2 mpd |
 SCB X Card |
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 |
| *Min S$2K spend per statement month ^1 mpd if first year or if previous year spending <$50K |
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By the way, don’t assume that just because a medical practice is located on the grounds of a hospital, it will code as a hospital. In fact, most clinics within hospitals have their own MCCs, in which case you should refer to the next section.
Workarounds
If you’re visiting a public hospital or polyclinic, not all is lost. You can pay your bills via the HealthHub/Health Buddy/OneNUHS app and still earn miles, since this changes the transaction to MCC 8099!
I’d recommend using the Citi Rewards Card or DBS Woman’s World Card for 4 mpd, subject to the usual monthly caps.
Best Cards for Other Medical Expenses
When it comes to non-hospital medical expenses, we basically have a general spending situation on our hands.
| Card | Earn Rate | Remarks |
 Amaze + Citi RewardsApply |
4 mpd | Max $1K per s. month Review |
 DBS WWMCApply |
4 mpd | Max S$2K per c. month. Must be online Review |
 UOB Pref. Plat. VisaApply |
4 mpd | Max S$1.1K per c. month, must use mobile payments Review |
 UOB Visa Signature Apply |
4 mpd | Min S$1K, max S$2K per s. month on contactless & petrol Review |
| ⚠️ Amaze charges a fee! |
| If you’re using the Amaze + Citi Rewards combination to turn offline transactions into online ones, do note that a 1% transaction fee (with a min. fee of S$0.50) will be charged for SGD transactions made to MCCs 8011, 8021, 8041, 8062 and 8099 |
The only card with an exclusion for non-hospital healthcare transactions is the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, which excludes MCCs 8011 and 8099 effective August 2022.
Conclusion
While more and more banks are excluding rewards for hospital transactions, there’s thankfully still workarounds in the form of HealthHub and Health Buddy.
Moreover, if you’re just looking at outpatient treatment, most credit cards will let you earn the usual rewards of up to 4 mpd on your spending.
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.
Don’t understand why people read your website AND still use GrabPay.
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?
8099 is not excluded in TnCs
Just tried paying through HealthHub, MCC 8099 for KKH SingHealth bill
seems like Citibank has now excluded MCC 8062 from their rewards list
https://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/pdf/Revised_Rewards_Exclusion_List.pdf
Jan 2024 : Maybank Horizon Visa ?
For HSBC T1 card, i clarified with bank just 1-2 months back since i did not get my miles:
8062 Excluded (Pay @ Counter)
8099 Eligible (Healthhub, NUHS)
thanks i have updated the table. hsbc VI allows hospital spend but didn’t realise t1 excludes it.
If I have a large bill (in the many thousands) for a private hospital, what cards should I use purely for sign-up bonus purposes? Assuming the bill can be split among a few cards. I already have DBS, Citi and UOB cards, and am open to both miles and cash/gift bonuses. Understand that certain cards such as OCBC would not even count hospital payments as part of eligible spend.
Any data point on HSBC Evol card welcome gift? Does 8062 or 8099 counted as part of the qualifying spend?
Thanks Aaron for the article. By the way does anyone know which card could still earn points (or even bonus points) for executive health screening at Parkway? Thanks so much!
Just tried to use the dbs digibot method to check mcc code for onenuhs app payment. It was reflected as “hospitals”, which I presume is mcc 8062?