5 top credit cards for covering healthcare costs

Despite having good health insurance, medical bills can still be a significant out-of-pocket expense. If you don't have a health savings account to cover these costs, you may be tempted to charge them to a credit card to earn rewards or receive a valuable welcome bonus. However, paying healthcare costs with a credit card can be risky if you can't pay off the balance before you're charged high interest rates.

If paying medical expenses with a credit card is advantageous for you, CNBC Select offers the top credit card options. (For more information on our methodology, please refer to our website.)

Best for 0% APR

The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card is ideal for covering medical costs due to its introductory APR offer.

By opening a new credit card account, you can enjoy a lengthy introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers made within 120 days of account opening, which can help you save money on new and existing medical bills and credit card debt.

Best for drugstores

If you want to be rewarded for your drugstore and dining purchases, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is an excellent no-annual-fee option.

This card provides both lucrative bonus categories and a competitive intro APR period for purchases and balance transfers, allowing you to earn cash back and reduce interest costs.

Pro tip: You can pair this card with a Chase bank account

Earning a $300 bonus and waiving the monthly maintenance fee are benefits when you open a Chase Total Checking® account and make at least $500 in direct deposits within 90 days of opening the account.

Best for Walgreens

If you are looking for flexible travel rewards, the Bilt Mastercard® and Bilt Rewards program is perfect for you.

You can link your FSA or HSA account to your Bilt Rewards account and automatically get reimbursed for eligible Walgreens purchases made with any card added to your Bilt wallet. Additionally, you'll earn 2X Bilt points on Walgreens branded products, 1X Bilt points on other Walgreens purchases, and 100 Bilt points on eligible prescription refills when you pay with a card linked to your Bilt wallet.

Best for cash back

If you're looking for a versatile card, the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card is a great choice because it offers an intro APR and earns 2% in cash rewards on all purchases.

This card offers a year to pay off your balance without interest, as well as cell phone protection.

Best for medical expenses

The AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays is suitable for anyone looking to earn bonus cash-back rewards at drugstores and on medical expenses, including purchases at doctors, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors and more. It's not necessary to be an AARP member to apply.

By using the card's promotional intro APR on balance transfers, you can lower your interest charges.

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More on our top credit cards for medical expenses

Wells Fargo Reflect® Card

Best for 0% APR

Rewards

None

Welcome bonus

None

Annual fee

$0

Notable perks

The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card offers several built-in protections, including roadside dispatch, rental car collision coverage (secondary), and cell phone protection. The cell phone insurance will reimburse you up to $600 against damage or theft per claim with a $25 deductible (up to two claims per 12 months).

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Best for drugstores

Rewards

• 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 5% back on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
• 3% back at drugstores
• Eating out at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) is now 3% cheaper.
• 1.5% on all other purchases.

Welcome bonus

You can earn an extra 1.5% cash back on all your purchases (up to $20,000 in the first year).

Annual fee

$0

Notable perks

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers three free months of DoorDash DashPass, which includes reduced fees and $0 delivery fees, and a $10 discount on a non-restaurant DoorDash order once every quarter.

The Freedom Unlimited cash-back card offers comprehensive insurance benefits, including purchase protection, extended warranty protection, trip cancellation and interruption insurance, car rental coverage, and travel and emergency assistance, all without an annual fee.

Bilt Mastercard®

Best for Walgreens

Rewards

• Up to 100,000 points per calendar year can be earned with no transaction fee on rent payments.
• 3X points on dining
• 2X points on travel
• 1X point on all other purchases

In order to earn points with the Bilt card, you must complete at least five transactions during each billing cycle.

Welcome bonus

None

Annual fee

$0 (see rates and fees)

Notable perks

The Bilt Mastercard offers valuable rewards that can be used for travel or a home down payment. Points can be redeemed for 1.25 cents per point through the Bilt Travel Portal or 1.5 cents per point towards a home down payment. Additionally, the card provides access to a wide range of transfer partners, including World of Hyatt, United MileagePlus, Emirates Skywards, Alaska Airlines and more. The card also offers trip delay reimbursement, trip interruption and cancellation protection, primary car rental collision insurance, cell phone protection, and purchase protection.

Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card

Best for cash back

Rewards

• 2% cash rewards back on purchases

Welcome bonus

After spending $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening, you will receive a $200 cash rewards bonus.

Annual fee

$0

Notable perks

The Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card provides cell phone insurance, travel and emergency assistance, rental car insurance, and roadside dispatch. The cell phone protection covers damage and theft up to $600 per claim with a $25 deductible (up to two claims per 12 months).

AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays

Best for medical expenses

Rewards

• 3% cash back at drugstores (not including Walmart or Target)
• 3% cash back at gas stations
• 2% cash back on medical expenses
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

Welcome bonus

When you open an account and spend $1,000 within the first 90 days, you will receive a cash back of $200.

Annual fee

$0

Notable perks

You can easily redeem the rewards earned with the AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays, which can be used for an AARP membership or as a gift for a loved one. For every new card opened through Mar. 31, 2025, Barclays will donate $10 plus 1% of eligible electronic and telecommunications purchases to the AARP Foundation.

Pros and cons of credit cards for medical expenses

Why trust CNBC Select?

Our mission at CNBC Select is to deliver top-notch service journalism and in-depth consumer advice to our readers, enabling them to make well-informed decisions when it comes to managing their finances. Each credit card article we publish is the result of thorough reporting by our team of expert writers and editors, who possess extensive knowledge of credit card products. At CNBC Select, we maintain the highest journalistic standards and ethics, and we earn a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links. However, our content creation process is entirely independent of our commercial team and any external third parties. To learn more about our methodology for selecting the best credit cards for medical expenses, please refer to our website.

Our methodology

Over 250 major credit cards from FDIC-insured banks and NCUA-insured credit unions were analyzed by CNBC Select to determine which cards offer the best value for medical expenses in the U.S.

We evaluated each card based on various aspects, including rewards, annual fees, welcome bonuses, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fees, and foreign transaction fees. Additionally, we examined any extra benefits (e.g., travel or merchant statement credits), cardholder protections (e.g., purchase protection, $0 liability protection, and travel insurance), the application process (e.g., whether a credit pull or minimum credit score is required), and the ease of redeeming points (e.g., whether rewards are tied to a specific brand or transferable to partners, and how they can be redeemed for cash back). We also took into account CNBC Select audience data, such as demographics and engagement with our content and tools.

We utilized Esri's consumer spending data forecasts to determine where U.S. consumers spend the most money, such as on dining and travel, to help us determine the most valuable bonus categories for our rewards program. Additionally, we considered the transferability and cash-back redemption options when determining the value of points or miles.

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