You cancel an AXA Health policy by phoning AXA, and what you get back turns on two things: whether you are inside the 14-day cooling off period, and whether you pay monthly or yearly. AXA's Personal Health handbook lets a member leave in that window at no cost if nobody has claimed; later on, monthly payers stop from their next collection date and yearly payers are refunded for the whole months left, minus a £20 fee and the year's claims. The 14 days restart at every renewal, so if a renewal pack has just landed, that is the moment to see what else is available: before you ring AXA, an FCA-authorised broker can quote other insurers for you: use the form here and they phone you back, free.
How to cancel AXA Health: the number to call and who must call it
The rules on this page are taken from AXA's Personal Health membership handbook, which carries October 2024 on the front (print code PB116343a/10.24 on the back), in the copy hosted by the intermediary more-health.co.uk rather than by AXA, read on 4 September 2026. Page references give the PDF page first and then the page number printed on the sheet. A newer edition may be in your own pack, and that is the one that binds you.
The cancellation section closes with "Please call us on 0800 048 1206 to cancel your plan or discuss other options" (PDF page 35, printed 34). That number is from the 2024 edition, so dial the one on your own paperwork if it differs.
On a plan covering more than one person, the right caller is the lead member. The legal section says "The lead member may cancel the plan during the 14-day cooling off period. If they want to do this, they need to contact us to tell us" (PDF page 37, printed 36). The glossary defines the lead member as "the first person named on your membership certificate", adding that where that person is under 18 a parent or guardian is named as lead member instead, without cover of their own under the plan (PDF page 41, printed 40).
Whoever calls should come away with the end date and, for a yearly payer, the refund in writing. Keep that confirmation with your policy papers.
Cancel an AXA health policy mid-year: monthly payers, yearly payers and the £20
Once the cooling off period has passed, the handbook has one rule per payment method (PDF page 35, printed 34). Monthly payers can bring the plan to an end with effect from their next collection date. Yearly payers get this: "if you pay annually you can cancel your plan and receive a pro-rata refund based on whole months remaining in the year. We will deduct an administration fee of £20 and the costs of any claims for that year."
That second sentence belongs to the yearly-payer bullet, so the £20 and the claims deduction are written as part of the yearly refund. Put together, the refund counts complete months only, then loses £20, then loses whatever AXA paid on claims during that plan year; a year with a large claim can leave little or nothing to return. How a month that is only partly used is handled, and whether anything is charged to a monthly payer who leaves, are points a broker can raise with AXA for you on the free call-back.
Under both bullets sits one more line: "If you cancel during the year we will not pay for any claim for treatment you were given after the date of cancellation." The legal section is firmer still: AXA will not pay for treatment outside your period of cover "even if we had pre-authorised it during your period of cover under the plan" (PDF page 37, printed 36). If a course of treatment is booked, its dates and your end date need to be looked at side by side.
The cooling off period, which reopens at every renewal
The handbook's plain-English version reads "You can cancel up to 14 days from the start date or renewal date of your plan, or the day that you receive the full plan terms and conditions whichever comes later" (PDF page 34, printed 33). If nobody has claimed, "you will not have to pay anything". If AXA has paid for treatment in those days, "we will take payment for the membership services that we have provided. This means we will take some costs off any amount we refund to you."
The legal section says the same in its own terms: a plan cancelled in the window gets back "any subscription paid for the plan", except where claims have been made relating to cover in that window, in which case the lead member may have to pay for services AXA has actually provided, to the extent the law allows, and AXA may take that from the returned subscription (PDF page 37, printed 36). Do nothing in the 14 days and "your membership will continue for a year so long as you continue paying your subscriptions" (PDF page 35, printed 34).
Because the window runs from the renewal date as well as the start date, a member who leaves within 14 days of renewal, with no claim in that time, pays nothing for the new year. AXA writes to the lead member before each plan year ends with the terms on offer "if the plan is still available", and "We will renew the plan on the new terms unless the lead member asks us to make changes or tells us they wish to cancel" (PDF page 37, printed 36). It then collects the new subscription by the method used the year before, so a Direct Debit simply carries on. When the lead member needs to tell AXA, relative to the renewal date, is a question the broker who calls you back can put to AXA without charge.
The renewal terms may not match last year's. AXA reserves the right to change any part of the plan from a renewal date, with reasonable notice (PDF page 38, printed 37), and renewal is one of two points, with the 14 days after you receive your membership documents, when you may be able to change options or your excess instead of leaving (PDF page 32, printed 31). If the price is the reason, why AXA Health premiums rise sets out the drivers, and the renewal period page covers timing across insurers.
Stopping the Direct Debit is not cancelling
Letting a payment bounce does end the plan, but on AXA's terms rather than yours: "If you miss a payment, we will cancel your membership and we will not pay any claim for any treatment that you had after the payment was due" (PDF page 33, printed 32). Cover stops from the missed due date, not from a date you chose, and there is no confirmation of the kind a phone cancellation gives you.
The handbook asks anyone who has stopped paying, or expects to miss a payment, to phone AXA so it can go through payment options or other cover. For someone who has decided to leave, the orderly route is to phone first, agree the end date, and only then cancel the mandate with the bank.
Leaving the UK, or moving to another insurer
A move abroad is not something this plan follows you through: "If you go to live outside of the United Kingdom, you cannot stay on the same healthcare insurance plan" (PDF page 35, printed 34). The handbook adds that AXA Global Healthcare UK Limited may be able to offer an international plan, which is a separate product on its own terms.
Switching to another UK insurer is a different job from cancelling, because the new insurer decides how your medical history is treated, and that decides what you can claim for in the first years. How to change medical insurance covers the switch itself, and can I cancel my health insurance covers ending a policy in general. For the equivalent rules elsewhere, see cancelling Bupa, cancelling Vitality and cancelling Aviva.
Getting the sequence right is worth more than avoiding the £20: settle and confirm the replacement cover first, then fix the AXA end date; when an FCA-authorised broker rings you back, they can explain how other insurers would look at your medical history.
AXA Health cancellation: short answers
My paperwork says AXA PPP healthcare. Do these rules apply to me?
In the October 2024 Personal Health handbook, "we" means "AXA PPP healthcare Limited, who is the insurance company who underwrite this product" (PDF page 3, printed 2), so the rules above are that company's terms for Personal Health. Whether they match your own plan depends on which product and edition you hold; the print code on the back of your handbook tells you.
Can I cancel AXA Health online?
For cancelling, the handbook gives the phone number above. It also describes an online account where members can "view your membership documents, update your details, message us and manage your plan securely" (PDF page 2, printed 1). If you would rather give notice that way, ask a broker, when they ring back, to check with AXA that a message sent from the online account would count as notice.
Will AXA end my plan if my application details were wrong?
It can. If information you gave turns out not to be "sufficiently true, accurate and complete", AXA "can cancel the plan or apply different terms of cover in line with the terms we would have applied if the information had been presented to us fairly" (PDF page 37, printed 36). A missed payment, covered above, is another way a plan ends without you choosing the date.
If you are leaving AXA for another policy, the next step is a call-back through the form, with your renewal or payment date to hand, so the new cover is agreed before the old one stops.