AXA Health Plan, our expert review

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Our AXA health insurance review is created by a team of writers and editors with over a decade of experience researching and explaining private health insurance. Every article is written and reviewed by qualified insurance experts, ensuring accuracy and clarity.

• Over 160 pages of AXA Health Plan policy documentation, product guides and terms and conditions analysed by our experts
• All 4 AXA Health Plan building blocks and additional cover options assessed and compared
• We use real AXA Health customer service reviews to inform our analysis
• Independent and impartial – we have no commercial relationships with insurers
• Strict editorial guidelines to ensure accurate, fair and balanced content
• Regularly quoted by the national press, including The Times, The Guardian and the Financial Times

Read our private health insurance rating methodology

About AXA Health

Originally founded in 1940 by a group of hospitals and doctors, AXA Health is one of the largest private healthcare companies in the UK. It is part of the AXA Group, one of the world’s largest insurers.

What health insurance plans does AXA Health offer?

AXA Health offers a range of private health insurance products as well as small business health insurance and corporate health insurance. Its most recent product – and the focus of this review – is the AXA Health Plan, which is currently only available to buy directly from AXA Health. It’s also the only plan you can buy via the AXA Health website.

The comprehensive Personal Health product, and more budget-friendly Health For You plan, are available to buy directly by calling AXA Health or through insurance brokers.

Build your policy from a blank canvas

The AXA Health Plan works differently to most other private health insurance policies, in that it doesn’t have any “core” cover. Instead, you can choose which elements you want and create a policy tailored to you.

This is different to most other providers, who usually include some cover – often inpatient and daypatient care and some outpatient cover – as standard.

The AXA Health Plan offers even more flexibility by allowing you to choose different cover for each member named on the plan. This means you can “mix and match” cover for your family depending on individual needs.

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AXA gives you four different cover options to create your own individual policy:

1. Outpatient diagnosis and care

This option covers outpatient consultations with a specialist, unlimited diagnostic tests and scans including CT, MRI and PET scans and outpatient surgery. It also includes up to 10 sessions of outpatient treatment each year by physiotherapists, osteopaths or chiropractors if you’re referred by a GP or go direct through AXA’s muscles, bones and joints service. There is no limit if a specialist refers you.

The outpatient diagnosis and care option also covers fees for the following when referred by a specialist:

• dieticians
• speech therapists
• nurses
• audiologists
• orthoptists

2. Inpatient and day patient care

If you want cover for treatment or tests that involve staying in hospital for the day or overnight you will need to select the inpatient and day patient option. Additional benefits include:

• Up to £120 a night for hotel accommodation for a close friend or relative – up to an annual limit of £600.
• Hospital accommodation for one parent if a child is receiving treatment.
• Ambulance costs if you need to move to another hospital or medical facility.
• NHS cash benefit of £50 a day – up to a yearly limit of £2,000 – if you have treatment through the NHS.

3. Cancer care

The cancer care option covers cancer treatment as an inpatient, day patient or outpatient, as well as unlimited consultations with a specialist. It includes the same extra benefits as the first two options, as well as a few more:

• The cost of a nurse to give you treatment at home.
• Up to £1,000 a year for wigs, head coverings or microblading.
• Up to £2,000 a year for specialist clothing.
• Up to £5,000 in total for any external prostheses needed after surgery.

4. Mental health care

This covers treatment for mental health conditions as an inpatient, day patient or outpatient. If you’re treated as an inpatient or day patient, you’ll have the same extra benefits included in that option. If you’re treated as an outpatient, you’ll be covered for diagnostic tests and scans, as well as the following:

• Outpatient consultations with psychiatrists.
• Fees charged by cognitive behavioural therapists and psychologists.

It’s worth noting that mental health care isn’t available as standalone cover. If you want this option, you need to choose one of the others as well.

What benefits come as standard with every AXA Health policy?

There are some benefits you will get as standard with every AXA Health policy which can provide some extra value. These include:

• Online GP appointments
• 24/7 health support line
• Mental health support app
• Special member offers – e.g. gym discounts and a fitness app
• Annual home test kit to check cholesterol and blood sugar levels
• Discounted health assessments

As well as giving you the freedom to build a policy that suits you, the AXA Health Plan also gives you several other choices. Each decision you make will affect the cost of the policy to varying degrees.

1. Choose how many specialist consultations are included

The AXA Health Plan gives you the option of choosing a maximum of three specialist consultations per policy year or unlimited.

If you opt for three, it will bring down the cost of the policy significantly – by as much as a third. But if you need more than this, you’ll have to pay for them yourself.

It’s also worth noting that the three specialist consultations are shared across inpatient, day patient and outpatient care - but not the cancer care or mental health options.

Sharing consultations across inpatient, day patient and outpatient care is unusual, and could see your allowance of three being exhausted quite quickly. Considering you’ll have to pay for any more consultations out of your own pocket, you’ll need to decide if the money you save upfront is worth the risk.

2. Decide who sources your specialist

The AXA Health Plan also offers you the option of choosing your own specialist or allowing AXA to do it for you.

This will again affect the cost of the policy – if you want to choose your own specialist you can expect to pay around a third more. Although this option does give you more flexibility, any specialist you choose will still need to be approved by AXA.

3. Select guided options or a hospital list

Your options here will be determined by the previous choice you made regarding who chooses your specialist.

If you’re happy for AXA Health to choose your specialist, you’ll get a choice between the guided option and the foundation option. The foundation option is cheaper, but the list of hospitals is smaller (approx. 150 hospitals compared with 250+). This may mean you have to travel further for treatment.

If you decide to choose your own specialist, your options will be the flexible option and the open option. The flexible option allows you to select a hospital from the full AXA Health list of 250+.

The open option is more expensive but means you can pick any private hospital in the UK. Any specialist you choose will still need to be on the AXA Health approved list.

4. Pick your excess

Your excess is the amount you need to pay towards any claim. The AXA Health Plan allows you to choose an excess of £0, £100, £250, £500, £1,000 or £2,500.

The higher you set your excess, the lower your premium will usually be. For most people, this means getting the right balance between affordable premiums and what you’re prepared to pay if you need to claim.

5. Choose if you want to protect your no claims discount

AXA offers you the option of paying more to protect your no claims discount (NCD). Making a sizeable claim on your health insurance often means moving down the NCD scale and paying more at renewal than you otherwise would have. Protecting your NCD prevents this from happening.

If you do make a claim with a protected NCD, you won’t have the option of protecting it again when you renew the policy. But if you make less than £250 worth of claims in the next policy year, you will have the option to protect it once again.

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The AXA Health Plan scored 77.4% in our 2026 review of health insurance providers, earning a 4.5-star rating. Its novel building blocks approach, which aims to make the product simpler, without sacrificing too much flexibility, helped it place sixth overall.

The table provides an overview of how our experts rated the AXA Health Plan across the six private health insurance categories that we assessed:

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AXA Health achieved a mixed set of scores in our assessment of the areas that matter most to health insurance customers. It fared well for Customer Reviews & Clarity and Treatment Pathways, the latter due to its direct access bone, muscle and joint service, alongside its multiple digital healthlines.

AXA Health ranked lower for Short/Long-Term Affordability, because of uncertainty around how claims activity affects renewal premiums. Although the AXA Health Plan has an NCD it hasn't published what the percentage discounts are across its levels. It also says that your NCD may or may not be shared across all policy members, suggesting children's claims could impact that of adults.

Where it fared less well in our review was Eligibility & Underwriting, due to its upper age limit, lack of family discounts, and its exclusions affecting cancer and mental health survivors. Its score was also impacted by the fact that The AXA Health Plan is one of only two products we reviewed that are difficult or impossible to purchase via a broker, the other being Saga. While some people will be content with going direct, the benefit of speaking with a broker is that you get a broad market comparison, and advice, which insurers themselves cannot provide.

What’s changed about AXA health insurance for 2026?

The most significant change to mention is the introduction of the plan itself. The previous policy, Personal Health, is an established and well-known product, and the AXA Health Plan, somewhat starts from scratch. It scraps core cover and uses building blocks instead, changes the rules around underwriting, and tries to give people flexibility and simplicity at the same time.

Choosing health cover that’s right for you means comparing how different health insurance providers measure up to each other. To help you compare the AXA Health plan, our experts have picked out six important differences:

1. You can build a healthcare plan that suits you

The AXA Health Plan doesn’t make any assumptions about the cover you need. There’s no compulsory core cover so you’ll have the freedom to shape your policy the way you want it.

There’s also no requirement for every member to select the same options, so each person named on the plan can choose cover that suits them.

Although on the face of it this allows for greater flexibility, it’s worth noting there are only four building blocks (inpatient and daypatient, outpatient, cancer care and mental health care). And once you select one of these, the flexibility ends.

For example, outpatient cover includes complementary therapies, and there is no option to remove it. This may be an issue for people looking to bring down the cost of their policy without removing one of the building blocks entirely.

2. Having a choice between three specialist consultations per year or unlimited

The AXA Health Plan gives you the option of up to three specialist consultations per policy year or unlimited. This choice is for consultations only - it doesn’t include outpatient tests and scans, which are always unlimited.

This is different to most other insurers, who often set limits for all aspects of cover. For example, you might get a choice between £500, £1000 or unlimited cover for outpatient consultations and treatment, and the same choice for inpatient consultations and treatment.

While it’s undoubtedly a positive that the AXA policy separates consultations in this way, there are some downsides. If you opt for three specialist consultations, these will be shared across inpatient, day patient and outpatient care. Once you reach this limit, you’ll have to pay for any more out of your own pocket.

If you opt for the cancer cover or mental health building blocks, these specialist consultations won’t count towards the limit. Even so, three specialist consultations for inpatient, day patient and outpatient cover is not very generous, and a limit that could be reached quickly.

3. It has a three-year moratorium period but no option for full medical underwriting

An attractive feature of the AXA Health Plan is its three-year moratorium period, which could mean fewer exclusions at the start. Most other health insurance excludes pre-existing medical conditions from the past five years, so this is a positive.

However, AXA’s three-year moratorium isn't as simple as it seems and there are some notable exceptions to what may be covered. For instance, outside of the three-year moratorium, if you have had diabetes, tests or investigations relating to it in the past five years, a number of related conditions will be excluded. There are similar restrictions if you've had a raised PSA result.

The AXA Health Plan also differs from the rest of the market by not offering an option for full medical underwriting. This simplifies the quote process, but may not appeal to everyone.

4. You have the ability to add four generations of your family to your plan

The AXA Health Plan gives you the option of adding up to eight family members, including your grandparents, as named members. This is unlike most health insurance policies where you can add your children and sometimes your parents. There’s no requirement for all members to live at the same address. Just keep in mind that there is a maximum joining age of 74, which may limit how multi-generational your cover can be in practice.

This is a nice feature, but the benefits are questionable. People tend to need and want different things from their health insurance as they get older. It’s unlikely a single policy is going to be the best option for everyone in the family.

5. All previous cancers are excluded

The AXA Health Plan excludes all previous cancers, no matter when they occurred. This is different to most other health insurers, who usually treat cancer the same as any other pre-existing condition.

This means they will be covered if you haven’t needed treatment or advice during the moratorium period, or if the cancer goes into full remission for a period of two continuous years.

The AXA Health Plan has a blanket exclusion for any cancer you may have suffered at any point in your life, which is a significant drawback. For instance, you might have had cancer as a child, and it has been resolved for 20 years, but it will still be excluded. It is out of step with the rest of the industry and may make the AXA Health Plan less suitable for cancer survivors.

6. Mental health cover is unavailable to those with a history of mental illness

The AXA Health Plan doesn’t offer mental health cover at all to anyone that has been referred to a psychiatrist in the past five years. This differs from most other private health insurance policies, which usually treat pre-existing mental health conditions the same as any other.

It makes a distinction between psychiatrists and other mental health professionals such as psychologists and counsellors, which does suggest the exclusion is intended for more serious mental health conditions. But it is still limited by denying cover altogether rather than just excluding the condition itself.

Does the AXA Health Plan cover pre-existing conditions?

As is standard for private health insurance, the AXA Health Plan won’t cover pre-existing conditions. AXA Health defines this as anything you’ve had symptoms of in the past three years – whether it’s been diagnosed or not.

This three year look-back period is more generous than many other health insurance policies, with the standard period being five years.

If you remain trouble-free from that condition for a continuous two-year period, it will be covered. This means you can’t have had any symptoms, treatment or advice for the condition, or taken any medication for it.

It’s also worth noting that the AXA Health Plan won’t cover you for any cancer you’ve had in the past – no matter how long ago it was.

The AXA Health Plan also won’t cover you for any mental health condition if you’ve been referred to a psychiatrist in the last five years.

As with all private health insurance policies, the AXA Health Plan has some exclusions that will apply to every policyholder. These include:

The full list of exclusions can be found in the AXA Health Plan handbook.

The cost of an AXA Health Plan will vary depending on your age, where you live and which options you select during the quote process.

Adding extra options, giving yourself a greater choice of more hospitals or saying you want to choose your own specialist will all increase the cost of your plan.

For this review, we asked for quotes based on the following options:

• Inpatient and day patient, outpatient, and cancer cover.
• Unlimited specialist consultations.
• Guided option - with AXA Health choosing a specialist for you.
• £250 excess.
• Unprotected no claims discount.

We obtained a range of quotes for individuals of different ages, all living on the South Coast of England.

The AXA Health Plan’s medical underwriting options

The AXA Health Plan offers all its policies with moratorium underwriting. Unlike most private health insurance, there is no option for full medical underwriting, which AXA Health told us they are still developing. It makes choosing cover more straightforward, but may not be appealing for people who want the option of sharing their full medical history.

This is a unique feature of the AXA Health Plan that sets it apart from the rest of the market. Its moratorium period is also three years, which is shorter than the standard five-year period most other health insurance offers.

A three-year moratorium period means that any condition for which you’ve had symptoms in the three years before you take out the plan won’t be covered. This is regardless of whether or not it has been diagnosed.

If you remain trouble-free from that condition for a continuous two-year period, it will be covered. It means you can’t have had any symptoms, treatment or advice for the condition, or taken any medication for it.

What discounts are there for the AXA Health plan?

If you take out an AXA Health plan, you may be eligible for certain discounts and benefits. These include:

Rewards for referring a friend

If you refer a friend to AXA Health, and they take out a private healthcare plan, you’ll both get a reward. You’ll have the choice of a £100 Amazon or M&S gift card, or a National Trust Joint membership worth £139.

Discounted gym membership

If you take out health insurance with AXA, you could save money with up to 40% off gym memberships at Nuffield Health.

Discounted health assessments

AXA Health offers its members a 25% discount on health assessments from either Nuffield Health or Circle Health Group.

AXA Health has a Trustpilot customer score of 4.1 out of 5 from 19,489 reviews (15th April 2026), suggesting most of its customers are satisfied with the service provided. Reassuringly, all of the reviews relate to the service customers have received on its private health insurance products, of which almost 5,000 have been left over the last 12 months.

As always, it’s difficult to draw definitive conclusions from customer reviews in this way, as they can never give a full and complete picture.

Example AXA health insurance reviews from its customers 

“AXA Health provided efficient service which helped diagnosis to be done quickly. The staff on the phone call were nice and friendly. The doctor/consultant specialists provided through AXA are brilliant, professional with expert knowledge.”

“AXA are always easy to deal with, their agents are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. Getting consultations, tests etc. approved is never a drama with them.”

“I have had multiple issues during both mine and my son’s claims. The wait time for a call is unacceptable and the online system often does not address the query raised meaning a call is necessary.”

Is it worth having AXA health insurance?

Private health insurance is worth considering if you’re concerned about NHS waiting times, or if you just want more freedom to choose where you receive treatment.

Whether AXA health insurance is right for you will depend on your medical history and what type of cover you want.

The AXA Health plan is flexible, allowing you to choose cover to suit the needs of each member of your family individually. The shorter three-year moratorium may also appeal to you.

It does, however, exclude any previous cancers, regardless of when they were resolved, which is uncommon. Mental health cover also isn’t available to anyone who has been referred to a psychiatrist in the past five years.

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How to get more information about AXA health insurance

The AXA Health website is a good place to start if you want more information about the AXA Health Plan. You can also view a generic version of the handbook once you go through the quote journey.

To see how AXA health insurance compares with other health insurers, you can read our review of the Best private health insurance in 2026.

We would always recommend speaking to an insurance broker about your options before buying a private health insurance policy. Although as things stand the AXA Health Plan is only available to buy direct.

If you want personalised guidance and a free comparison quote from one of our expert health insurance brokers, please complete our form.