2025 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Medical Expenses

With many banks now excluding rewards for hospital payments, there’s a common misconception that earning miles on medical-related transactions is no longer possible.

Thankfully, that’s simply not the case. Not all medical issues result in a hospital visit—there are plenty of other scenarios, such as health screenings, telemedicine, or in-person consultations with dentists, doctors, physiotherapists, opticians, and podiatrists (no, homeopathy doesn’t count).

In this post, I’ll cover the best cards to use for both hospital and non-hospital medical expenses.

How do medical expenses code?

Medical expenses can code under a wide range of MCCs, depending on the type of practice you’ve visiting.

As you can see, hospitals are just one of many possible medical-related MCCs. That’s a good thing, mind you, because even though many banks have nerfed rewards for hospitals, they continue to offer them for other healthcare expenses.

To pre-empt a commonly-asked question: No, I cannot tell you how clinic X located within hospital Y will code. But you can easily find the MCC for yourself before spending anything with these three methods.

Given the uncertainty involved, and the potential size of some of these transactions, it’s always worth taking a few minutes to check.

Best credit cards for hospitals

Let’s start with hospitals first, because banks see it as a separate category from other medical transactions.

Here’s how the MOH organises hospitals in Singapore: 

All polyclinics and the following specialist centres also code as public hospitals.

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	✕	✕
	✕	✕
	✕	✕
	✓	✓
VOYAGE & Premier Visa Infinite	✕	✓
All other cards	✕	✕
	✕	✕
	✕	✕

You can use the following cards for hospital bills, subject to the exclusions mentioned in the table above.

Card	Earn Rate
Chocolate Visa Card Apply	2 mpd (capped at S$1K per month, 0.4 mpd after)
AMEX HighFlyer Card Apply	1.8 mpd
Citi ULTIMA	1.6 mpd
AMEX Solitaire PPS Credit Card Apply	1.3 mpd
AMEX PPS Credit Card Apply	1.3 mpd
OCBC VOYAGE  Apply	1.3 mpd
OCBC Premier Visa Infinite Apply	1.28 mpd
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Apply	1.2 mpd
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	1.2 mpd
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card Apply	1.1 mpd
AMEX Centurion	0.98 mpd
AMEX Platinum Charge Apply	0.78 mpd
AMEX Platinum Reserve Apply	0.69 mpd
AMEX Platinum Credit Card Apply	0.69 mpd

All this assumes you’re paying at the hospital itself, mind you. If you’re paying the bill via AXS, you won’t earn any miles except with the Chocolate Visa Card. 

By the way, you should not assume that just because a medical practice is physically 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 section on non-hospital medical expenses.

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’s MCC to 8099, which is eligible for rewards. 

I’d recommend using the Citi Rewards Card or DBS Woman’s World Card for 4 mpd, subject to the usual monthly caps.

Best credit cards for non-hospital medical expenses

When it comes to non-hospital medical expenses, we basically have a general spending situation on our hands.

You should use whichever card you’d normally use for general spending, or else a card for which you’re trying to hit the minimum spend for a welcome offer.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Amaze + Citi Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Max $1K per s. month Review
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month. Must be online Review
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	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

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. This means you shouldn’t use it for visits to medical clinics or telemedicine consultations.

Conclusion

While many banks have excluded rewards for hospital transactions, you can still earn up to 2 mpd with the Chocolate Visa Card, or an uncapped 1.8 mpd with the AMEX HighFlyer Card. Alternatively, there are workarounds in the form of HealthHub and Health Buddy, for those using the public health system.

Moreover, outpatient treatment usually qualifies as a rewards-eligible general spending category, allowing you to earn up to 4 mpd on your spending.