AXA Health covers mental health on its Personal Health plan only when the Mental Health Option has been added to the membership; without it, AXA pays for no psychiatric treatment at all. So the decision is whether to take that option, and an FCA-authorised broker can fetch AXA's prices both with it and without it, for your age and the other choices you make. Put your details in the enquiry form and expect a free call-back from the broker. Below is what the option pays in hospital and as an out-patient, which therapists qualify and on what conditions, how long-term conditions are treated, and what stays excluded even when you hold it.
All the wording quoted here is from AXA's Personal Health membership handbook (AXA PPP healthcare), which has October 2024 on its front cover and the print code PB116343a/10.24 on its back. Our copy came from an intermediary's server, crm.more-health.co.uk, not from AXA's own site, and was captured on 4 September 2026. References below show the PDF page first and the handbook's own printed number second. Where your membership pack is a later version, go by its wording instead.
AXA Health mental health cover is an add-on option
The handbook's mental health section opens with the rule that decides everything else: "Our cover for mental health depends on whether you have the Mental Health Option." The next line spells out the alternative: "If you do not have the Mental Health Option, we do not cover any treatment of psychiatric illness." (PDF page 28, printed 27). The quick-start pages make the same point in a table of what each missing option takes away, where this option's line reads "any psychiatric treatment" (PDF page 8, printed 7).
With the option, "we will cover your treatment for psychiatric illness", both in hospital (as an in-patient or day-patient) and as an out-patient. One short sentence after that is easy to skim past: "All your other membership rules still apply to your cover." That brings in the rest of the policy's rules, including the one on long-term conditions further down this page.
Already an AXA member? Your membership certificate is the document that "shows you which options you have" (PDF page 8, printed 7), so that is where to check for the Mental Health Option.
In-patient and day-patient psychiatric treatment: the Mental Health Option table
The benefits table at the front of the handbook has a section headed "Mental Health Option table", split into in-patient or day-patient care and out-patient care. The in-patient and day-patient rows read as follows (PDF page 6, printed 5):
| Row in the Mental Health Option table | What AXA pays | Condition printed beside it |
|---|---|---|
| Private hospital and day-patient unit fees for psychiatric treatment | "Paid in full" | "So long as you use a hospital or day-patient unit in our Directory of Hospitals." The fees include accommodation, diagnostic tests and drugs. |
| Specialist fees for psychiatric treatment | "No yearly limit" | The table refers you to the handbook's rules on paying specialists. |
| Cash payment at a hospital or day-patient unit not in the Directory of Hospitals | "£50 a night for in-patient treatment"; "£50 a day for day-patient treatment" | The cash payment "does not apply if you have chosen to extend your hospital cover with the Extended Cover Option". |
Note that the "No yearly limit" on specialist fees belongs to the Mental Health Option rows; it is not a statement about the plan's core cover. In practice, the full-payment row depends on the hospital being in AXA's directory. Outside it, the option pays the flat £50 a night or a day, and for members without the Extended Cover Option the general rule on hospitals outside the directory warns, "You will need to pay the majority of the cost yourself." (PDF page 19, printed 18). The directory itself is at axappphealthcare.co.uk/hospitals (PDF page 18, printed 17), and our AXA Health hospital list page explains how the list works. Checking that the unit you would want is listed comes before relying on the "Paid in full" row.
Length of stay is agreed in stages. The hospital contacts AXA to check your cover before you are admitted, and then: "If your treatment is covered, we will agree to pay the hospital for an initial period of time in hospital. The hospital will tell you how long this period is." A longer stay goes back to your specialist: "If you need to stay in hospital for a longer period, we will ask your specialist why you need further treatment, and let you know if we agree to cover the extended stay." (PDF page 28, printed 27)
Therapy as an out-patient: CBT, psychologists and AXA's conditions
For out-patient care the option names three kinds of practitioner. The rules on who gets paid say "We will pay for out-patient treatment by any of the following:" a mental health specialist; a cognitive behavioural therapist, "so long as a specialist in our ‘fee-approved’ category oversees your treatment"; and a psychologist, on that same condition (PDF page 18, printed 17). The glossary adds two more conditions for both therapists: "a specialist refers you to them" and "the treatment is as an out-patient". Both must also be practitioners AXA recognises, and therapy given during an in-patient or day-patient stay is counted in the hospital charges instead (PDF pages 40 and 41, printed 39 and 40).
So a specialist normally comes first, and therapy follows under that specialist's oversight. Specialist consultations for psychiatric treatment are "No yearly limit" in the out-patient half of the Mental Health Option table, and the row "includes remote consultations by telephone or via a video link instead of you going to an out-patient clinic." (PDF page 6, printed 5)
Therapists' fees work differently. AXA says "We will pay cognitive behavioural therapists or psychologists up to the level shown in our schedule of procedures and fees", and offers to help you find one "that we pay in full" (PDF page 18, printed 17). The pound level sits in that schedule, not in the handbook: AXA publishes it at axappphealthcare.co.uk/fees and will post you a copy if you ring 0800 027 1384. Look up what it allows for the kind of therapy you have in mind, or ask the broker to find out when they ring you back; the call costs you nothing.
There is also a caution in the general restrictions: AXA "will not pay if any of the following charge a significant amount more than they usually do, unless we have agreed this beforehand", and cognitive behavioural therapists and psychologists are both on that list (PDF page 19, printed 18). Agreeing a therapist's fees with AXA before the first session is the step that clause asks for.
Self-harm, addiction, ADHD and chronic conditions: where AXA's option stops
Self-harm, suicide attempts, alcohol and drugs
Holding the option does not lift four exclusions in the mental health section: "Even if you have the Mental Health Option, we do not cover any treatment connected in any way to:" "an injury you inflicted on yourself deliberately", "a suicide attempt", "alcohol abuse" or "drug or substance abuse" (PDF page 28, printed 27). The general exclusions say the same about substances separately: "We do not cover treatment you need as a result of, or in any way connected to, alcohol abuse, drug abuse or substance abuse." (PDF page 25, printed 24)
That is how the policy is worded, and a policy is not the only place help comes from. If anything here is close to what you are going through, you can call Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night, whether or not you have any insurance.
ADHD, autism and other developmental conditions
AXA's exclusion for learning and developmental disorders sits apart from the mental health section but matters to anyone hoping to use the policy for an ADHD or autism assessment. AXA does "not cover any treatment, investigations, assessment or grading to do with:" a list that includes "learning disorders", "behavioural problems" and "psychological development". Among the examples it gives are "autistic spectrum disorder" and "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)", and the same passage invites you to "call if you would like to know if a condition is covered" (PDF page 27, printed 26).
When a condition becomes long-term
AXA applies its normal chronic-condition rules to mental health: "So if your condition becomes chronic, unfortunately we may no longer be able to cover your treatment." If that happens, AXA says "we will contact you beforehand so that you can decide whether to start paying for the treatment yourself, or to transfer to the NHS." (PDF page 28, printed 27)
Chronic is defined using the Association of British Insurers' definitions: a condition counts if it has one or more of the listed characteristics, among them "It needs ongoing or long-term control or relief of symptoms" and "It comes back or is likely to come back." (PDF page 15, printed 14). Whether a particular course of treatment reaches that point is AXA's decision on the claim. A broker phoning you back can explain, free, how this rule and any past treatment would be looked at, and AXA's terms for conditions you had before joining are on AXA Health pre-existing conditions.
Counselling and AXA's 24/7 health support line
The practitioners the option names for out-patient care are specialists, cognitive behavioural therapists and psychologists. If it is a counsellor you want to see, put that exact question to AXA before relying on the policy for it.
Apart from claims, members have a 24/7 health support line on 0800 003 004, open around the clock, although midwives and pharmacists are available for fewer hours. Counsellors are listed among its health professionals, alongside nurses, midwives and pharmacists, and AXA describes it like this: "Our medical team is ready to help whether you want to talk about a specific health worry, medication and treatment or simply need a little guidance and reassurance." The same page says these professionals "do not diagnose or prescribe, and are not designed to replace your GP" (PDF page 8, printed 7).
Other insurers set these limits in their own terms. Aviva's are on Aviva health insurance and mental health, Bupa's on therapy through Bupa, and several insurers sit side by side on the best health insurance for mental health. If a past diagnosis is your worry, mental health insurance and pre-existing conditions looks at how insurers treat history.
AXA Health mental health: other questions
Does AXA Health cover therapy?
Yes, with the Mental Health Option: out-patient CBT and psychology are paid up to AXA's fee schedule, after a specialist referral and with a fee-approved specialist overseeing them. Physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic and acupuncture are a different matter and come under AXA's separate Therapies Option.
Can I add the Mental Health Option to an AXA membership I already have?
AXA says options can be added or removed "only at certain times": in the 14 days after your membership documents arrive, or at renewal. Depending on your underwriting and on conditions you had before or since joining, "there may be some restrictions or limitations to the cover you can add" (PDF page 32, printed 31).
Will AXA pay for marriage or couples counselling?
Check before you count on it. Couples counselling is a fair question to raise when the broker rings, and they can take it to AXA together with the kind of counsellor you have in mind, at no charge.
Next step
If AXA's option looks like the right shape for you, say on the enquiry form that you want the Mental Health Option included, along with your age and anything relevant in your history. The broker phones to get it priced and to put whatever is still open to AXA, and none of that costs you anything.