AXA Health explains a rising price in three places: a one-page renewal infographic, two pages for renewing members on its own website, and its Personal Health membership handbook. Between them they name age, claims, the cost of treatment, new drugs and rising demand, and they give two different accounts of what a claim does to the no claims discount. Read against your notice, they tell you which parts of the rise you can still change before the renewal date. The decision is whether to pay the new figure, alter the plan, or find out what the same cover would cost with another insurer; pricing that last option is work a broker can do for you, and asking through the form here costs nothing.
Why AXA Health says renewal prices go up
The infographic, headed "Why do prices go up?" and coded PB112824/04.25, dates from April 2025 and gives five reasons. On age: "Healthcare costs increase as you get older and need more care – we factor this into your price." On claims: "If you’ve claimed this year, next year’s price may be higher." On cost: "Medical costs continue to rise, with inflation adding to increases. We negotiate with doctors and hospitals to make sure these costs are fair." On treatment advances: "We want you to have access to many of the latest drugs, treatments and technologies, these increase costs." And on volume: "More people than ever are claiming for treatment." (AXA Health, renewal infographic, April 2025, page 1, read 21 October 2026.)
AXA’s renewing-members page "Will there be any change to the cost of my plan?" is undated, so it is cited by the day we read it, 21 October 2026. It joins demand and cost into one item: "Increased demand for private treatment and medical inflation. The use of private medical insurance has risen over the past few years, seeing more people than ever claiming for treatment, as have private hospital treatment costs." It says new treatments "could be reflected in the cost of your plan", and under "Contributing factors" it names "age or medical history".
Most of that list describes costs spread across all of AXA’s members: demand, hospital prices, new drugs. The items that are about you are your age, your claims and, on the website’s list, your medical history, though the page does not explain how medical history feeds into a renewal figure. The handbook puts the general pattern bluntly: "Subscriptions for health insurance tend to increase every year, regardless of which health insurance company you use." (Personal Health membership handbook, October 2024, page 35, read 4 September 2026. The edition quoted here was taken from an intermediary’s document library rather than AXA’s own site, so check anything you act on against the edition in your policy pack.)
None of these documents puts a figure or a percentage on any one reason. The only increase that applies to you is the one printed on your notice. For the same question asked of every insurer, see what to do when your renewal price arrives.
What a claim does at an AXA Health renewal
Both the infographic and the website say a claim can raise the next price. How it does so depends on the no claims discount, and AXA describes that discount in two different ways. Your certificate or renewal notice names your product; ask AXA which of the two rules below applies to it.
The rule in the October 2024 handbook
In the handbook, the discount "builds every year that you don’t claim, up to a maximum of 80%" (page 33). A claim takes it back down, by more than one step:
"If we pay a claim for anyone on your membership, we will reduce the amount of the discount for that person by three levels until the discount reaches zero. We will do this when you renew. So if anyone on your membership claims and they currently have a 50% discount, it will go down to 25%."
— AXA Health, Personal Health membership handbook (October 2024), page 33, read 4 September 2026.
The cut falls on the discount of the person who claimed, and it is made at renewal, which is why a claim from months ago turns up on the notice. Any payment counts: "If we pay any money, no matter how little, we count this as a claim when working out your discount." And the timing has a lag: "We work out your discount up to three months before your renewal date. This means that if you make a claim in the three months before your renewal, this may not affect your discount until the following year’s renewal." (Both page 34.) A claim late in the policy year may therefore show on this notice or the next one.
The rule in AXA’s guide to the AXA Health Plan
AXA’s undated online guide "Can you get a no claims discount on health insurance?" describes the current AXA Health Plan, and sets a threshold: "With an AXA Health Plan, if all claims in the policy year total less than £250, it won’t be affected at all." (AXA Health, read 21 October 2026.) That is a test on a year’s total, where the handbook counts any payment. Before you decide whether a small claim was worth making, ask AXA which of the two describes your plan, and get the answer in writing.
Buying back a claim, or protecting the discount
AXA’s renewing-members page "How to control the cost of my private health insurance plan?" offers two routes, both at renewal: "If you have a no claims discount (NCD) on your plan and you’ve claimed in the last year, you can ‘buy back’ the cost of your claim to keep your no claims discount at a higher level. If you have reached the maximum discount already, you can purchase NCD protection when you renew." (AXA Health, read 21 October 2026.) Ask AXA what each would cost on your plan and whether your plan offers them, since the same page says some of its options apply only "on some plans".
A claim that was worth making is not made worse by any of this; knowing the rule means the next notice does not catch you out. How to make a claim with AXA, and where the claims number is, is on our AXA Health claims page. If you want the notice read against the claim you made and the rule your plan follows, a broker will go through both with you after you use the form here.
Age, Insurance Premium Tax and changes to the plan
Age is the one reason every AXA document gives. The handbook says AXA reviews subscriptions each year, and gives two of the more common reasons they rise: "your subscriptions will tend to rise as you get older. This is because, unfortunately, as we get older we all tend to suffer more health issues", and "the cost of medical treatment tends to rise too as new and better ways of diagnosing and treating diseases are developed" (page 35). Neither the handbook nor the infographic says how age is priced, whether in bands or by a step each year, so ask AXA whether your birthday moved you into a different price and what the figure would have been without it. Other insurers handle this differently. Aviva’s explainer notes that "Every insurer takes age into account in a slightly different way" (Aviva, "Why do my health insurance premiums go up?", updated 5 August 2025, read 21 October 2026), and Freedom, which does not sell a new plan above 70, says that for existing members "we will continue your cover with no further age restrictions" (Freedom Health Insurance, New to Freedom FAQs, read 21 October 2026). Neither says anything about how AXA prices age.
One part of the price is set by government, not by AXA. The handbook says:
"Please note that your subscription also includes Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) and any other taxes relevant to your membership. If the IPT rate changes or any new taxes are introduced, we will change the amount of your subscriptions during the year, to reflect this change."
— AXA Health, Personal Health membership handbook (October 2024), page 35, read 4 September 2026.
Note the timing: a tax change can alter what you pay in the middle of the policy year, not only at renewal. We explain the tax, without rates, on health insurance and tax; that is our understanding of the general position, not tax advice.
The handbook also reserves a right that can change the policy itself: "We can change all or any part of your plan from any renewal date. We will give you reasonable notice of changes to your plan." (Page 38.) So a notice can carry a change to the cover alongside the new price. Read it for both before you compare it with last year’s.
Four ways AXA says you can lower an AXA Health renewal
The same "How to control the cost" page is AXA’s own list of ways to bring a renewal down. It names no plan and says some options apply only "on some plans".
A higher excess. "Choose your excess. A higher excess will reduce your premium." The handbook agrees: "Adding an excess, or increasing the amount of your excess, helps to lower your subscription." (page 33). Neither gives a sum or a percentage, so how much each step saves is a question for a quote. A higher excess also means you pay more yourself when you claim; AXA Health’s excess and what an excess is explain the trade.
Paying yearly. In AXA’s words: "Pay for your plan yearly. We will give you a 5% discount." The cost is to your cash flow, not the cover. The page attaches no conditions to the offer, so ask AXA whether the 5% applies to your plan and what it is taken off.
A narrower choice of specialists or hospitals. "On some plans, you can save money if you’re happy to choose a specialist from a list we provide you or agree to see a specialist we source for you. You may also be able to review the number of hospitals you have access to." Note "some plans" and "may". You give up choice in return for a lower price, which suits you only if the hospitals you would use stay on the list.
The no claims discount. Buying back a claim, or protecting a maximum discount, as set out above.
Each of these changes the policy or the way you pay, so ask for the new figure and the new cover together, one change at a time.
What to get AXA to confirm in writing
- Which product is this, and which no claims rule applies to it: the October 2024 handbook’s, or the guide’s £250 threshold?
- What was my discount last year, what is it now, and which claim moved it?
- Did a claim of mine fall in the three months before renewal, and will it count next year instead?
- Can I buy back a claim, or protect my discount, on this plan, and at what cost?
- How much of the change is my age, and will my next birthday move it again?
- Has any part of the cover changed this year?
- What would the premium be with a higher excess, with yearly payment, and with a shorter hospital list, each on its own?
Those questions are about the policy you have. What the same cover would cost elsewhere is a question AXA cannot answer for you, and the catch is underwriting: another insurer may not carry over the terms you have now, which is the first thing to settle before moving. The general renewal page explains why, and what AXA Health costs covers how an AXA price is put together.
AXA Health renewal: quick answers
Does an AXA Health price rise every year?
The handbook says subscriptions "tend to increase every year, regardless of which health insurance company you use", and that AXA reviews them each year. That describes a tendency, not your next notice.
My year was claim-free, so what pushed the AXA figure up?
Age, medical inflation, new treatments and more members claiming all apply with or without a claim of yours. Under the handbook’s rule a claim-free year builds your discount, so that part should work in your favour. Ask AXA to break down what moved.
Which AXA document describes my plan?
Your certificate names the product. The handbook quoted here is the October 2024 Personal Health edition and the £250 rule comes from AXA’s guide to the AXA Health Plan, so match the name on your certificate to one of them, and treat the handbook in your own policy pack as the one that governs you.
With the notice in front of you, note the product name, your discount level and the answers AXA gives. Should you want AXA's figure compared with other insurers' quotes for matching cover, a broker can run that comparison once you have filled in the short form on this page.