PSA: HealthHub and Health Buddy now coding as MCC 9399 on some cards

While most banks have excluded hospitals from earning rewards, it’s still possible to earn miles on bills within the public healthcare system thanks to HealthHub.

That’s because HealthHub transactions code under MCC 8099 (Medical Services and Health Practitioners Not Elsewhere Classified). This is a rewards-eligible MCC, and even though it’s not on the whitelist of any specialised spending card, you can earn up to 4 mpd by virtue of the fact that it’s processed online. 

However, that may now be coming to an end— at least for some cardholders.

HealthHub now coding as MCC 9399 for Citi cards

Up until now, there have been three credit cards which allow cardholders to earn 4 mpd on HealthHub transactions: Citi Rewards Mastercard, Citi Rewards Visa (no longer available for application), and DBS Woman’s World Card.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Mastercard Apply	4 mpd	Capped at S$1K per s. month
Citi Rewards Visa	4 mpd	Capped at S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Capped at S$1K per c. month
c. month= calendar month | s. month= statement month

However, at the start of August, members of the MileLion Community started reporting (#1, #2, #3, #4) that Citi cards were now coding HealthHub as MCC 9399 instead of MCC 8099. For the uninitiated, MCC 9399 is used for Government Services, and is practically the death knell for rewards. 

But here’s where the plot thickens: DBS Woman’s World Cardholders report (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5) that HealthHub transactions still code as MCC 8099, with base points awarded (presumably, the bonus points will follow next month).

Now, I cannot explain why this is happening. I know it’s possible for Visa and Mastercard to use different MCCs for the same merchant (which is why the Citi Rewards Visa continued to earn 4 mpd on GrabPay top-ups even after its Mastercard counterpart had excluded them).  But this is the first I’ve ever heard of a merchant coding differently on the same network, with a different issuer. If anyone has an inkling as to what’s going on, I’m all ears. 

There are fewer data points for Health Buddy, but the ones we have (#1, #2) suggest a similar situation: OK for DBS Woman’s World Card, not OK for Citi Rewards Mastercard or Visa.

For what it’s worth, this isn’t the end of the world. Assuming the MCC has only changed for Citi cards (and that’s a big assumption), then you can still use other general spending cards and earn a very healthy 1.2 to 2 mpd on HealthHub and Health Buddy transactions.

However, I’d make the extra effort to check the MCC before making an actual transaction, using one of the methods below.

NUHS app unaffected (for now)

If there’s one silver lining, it’s that the NUHS app is unaffected for now. Whether you’re using the Citi Rewards Mastercard/Visa or DBS Woman’s World Card, transactions are still coding as MCC 8099 (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5).

Conclusion

Mark this as developing, but it seems that HealthHub and Health Buddy transactions made with Citi cards, including the Citi Rewards Visa and Citi Rewards Mastercard, are now coding as the rewards-ineligible MCC 9399.

However, HealthHub transactions made with the DBS Woman’s World Card still code as MCC 8099, so nothing has changed there yet. Likewise, the NUHS app continues to code as 8099 across both Citi and DBS, which is good news.

Please share any additional data points you might have!