With AXA Health the excess is taken off your claim, once for each person on the membership in each membership year, and it only comes into play when somebody claims. If you are deciding whether to add an excess to an AXA Health quote, or how high to set it, an FCA-authorised broker can have AXA price several levels side by side for your own ages and choices: send your details through the enquiry box here and the broker rings you at no charge. Below is AXA's own wording on how its excess works, taken from its handbook, so you know what each level means before you ask for a price.

Every quotation here comes from the Personal Health membership handbook issued by AXA PPP healthcare, the company behind AXA Health. Its cover is dated October 2024, and its back page carries the print code PB116343a/10.24. The copy behind this page sits on an intermediary's server, crm.more-health.co.uk, rather than an AXA address, and was read on 4 September 2026; if your own membership pack holds a different version, go by that one. References give the PDF page first and then the printed page number, which runs one behind.

How the AXA excess comes off a claim

The mechanics sit in the handbook's section headed "Paying your excess" (PDF page 33, printed page 32). Its first rule answers most searches: "We will take your excess off the amount covered by your plan for the first claim for each person in each membership year. For example, if the claim was covered for £800, and the excess was £100, we would pay £700."

The same section adds three details worth holding on to:

  • The limit comes first. "If your claim is for a treatment that has a limit we will apply the limit before we take the excess off."
  • Small bills still count. "Even if treatment costs less than your excess, please tell us about it so we can make sure we take this into account if you claim again that year."
  • Timing follows the treatment date. "We count the treatment costs for each year according to the date the treatment took place."

The £100 and £800 are the handbook's illustration, nothing more. Your own excess, if you have one, is printed on your membership certificate, which is where AXA says to look for it.

Once per person, once per membership year

This is where the usual "does it apply every time I claim?" worry is settled. In AXA's words, "We only take off the excess once per person per membership year. So even if you claim several times, we will only take the excess off once. It does not matter whether you claim several times for the same medical condition, or for several medical conditions."

It is a yearly reset, not a lifetime one: "if you incur costs during this membership year, we will take the excess off what we pay for your claim. If you then incur more costs in the next membership year, even if it’s for the same condition, we will take the excess off that claim." A claim that runs across a renewal is split: "If your claim goes over your renewal, we will take the excess off the amount we pay for your claim before renewal, then we will take the excess off the amount we pay for your claim after renewal." So a long course of treatment that straddles the renewal date can meet the excess twice.

When more than one person is covered, the rule is per person: "Your excess applies per person. So if two people covered by your membership claim, we will take the excess off both their claims." The wider family picture is on AXA Health family cover; the excess side of it follows below.

Paying the excess, and who is liable on a family membership

For a family on one membership, the handbook's legal section says: "Consequently, the lead member remains liable for excesses and shortfalls incurred by a family member under the plan" (PDF page 38, printed page 37). How that would play out for your own household is worth raising with the broker as soon as they call, and they can work it through with you without charge.

On the paying itself, AXA says it will "normally settle any bills directly with the specialist or the hospital", adding "If you need to pay an excess, we will let you know how to pay it" (PDF page 10, printed page 9). If you paid the bill yourself and the treatment is covered, the handbook says "we will refund you the rates we have agreed with the hospital or centre, minus any excess" (PDF page 11, printed page 10). Either way the excess is subtracted from what AXA pays rather than billed alongside the subscription.

Claims where AXA says no excess is taken

The handbook lists claims that carry no excess: "If you claim for any of the following, you will not need to pay an excess" (PDF page 33, printed page 32).

  • NHS radiotherapy and chemotherapy cash benefit
  • NHS cash benefit
  • Hotel and parent accommodation benefit
  • External prosthesis
  • Consultations with the AXA Doctor at Hand service
  • "If you have the Dentist and Optician Cashback Option: any claim for dentist’s fees, optician’s fees or eye tests"
  • "If you have Comprehensive Cancer Cover: any claim for wigs, head coverings or hospice donations"

The last two apply only when you have that option or cover, so they depend on the membership you are quoted for. A related rule sits in the no-claims discount section (PDF page 34, printed page 33): AXA does not count as a claim "any claim that is lower than your excess amount, and you pay the full amount". So a small bill you settle entirely yourself leaves the discount alone; how the discount moves is on AXA Health: making a claim.

AXA Health excess options: amounts, and when you can change them

The handbook's section on reducing a subscription (PDF page 35, printed page 34) says "There are a few things that you may be able to do to reduce your subscription", and the first suggestion is to "add an excess, or set a higher excess – we offer excesses up to at least £500". Elsewhere it says "Adding an excess, or increasing the amount of your excess, helps to lower your subscription" (PDF page 33, printed page 32), which fits the general rule that a higher excess usually brings the premium down. If you want to know which steps sit between nil and £500, and what each would do to your own price, list that in your enquiry and the broker will go through the levels with you, free.

On timing, the handbook says that to add or change an excess "you can normally do this": "within 14 days from when you receive your membership documents" or "when you renew" (PDF page 33, printed page 32). Its section on changing cover puts it the same way, saying changes such as "changing your excess" are possible "but only at certain times during your membership" (PDF page 32, printed page 31). Mind the word "normally": it describes the usual windows rather than guaranteeing them.

Before you settle on a level, these are the points worth having answered:

  • Which excess amounts are on the quote, and what does each change in the price?
  • Does the quote include the Dentist and Optician Cashback Option or Comprehensive Cancer Cover, since those claims carry no excess?
  • If treatment is likely to straddle a renewal date, how would the excess apply on each side of it?
  • For a household, how many people does the quote cover, given the excess is taken per person?

A broker can put those to AXA alongside other insurers in a single conversation. Ask for the excess levels to be priced next to each other when you request your call; it is quick and costs nothing. Four other insurers' excess wording is set side by side on how much excess to choose, and the idea itself is explained from scratch on what a private health insurance excess is; for the other choices that shape an AXA price, see AXA Health types of policy.

AXA Health excess: short answers

How does the AXA Health excess work, in short?

You choose whether to have one when you buy. If you do, AXA deducts it from the first covered claim each person makes in a membership year, after any benefit limit is applied, and the count starts again at renewal.

Is there an AXA Health £100 excess?

The handbook uses £100 only as the example sum in its worked claim; it does not set out the levels you can pick. Which amounts are open to you shows on the quote, or the broker can tell you when ringing back, with no fee.

Does a dental or optician cashback claim affect my no claims discount?

Not on the handbook's wording for the Dentist and Optician Cashback Option: beside dentist fees it says "Claiming for dental fees will not affect your no claims discount", with matching lines for optician fees and eye tests (PDF page 7, printed page 6). The same table repeats that no excess is taken on those claims.