Claiming psychologist sessions on health insurance in NZ

The short version

If your policy has a mental health consultations, psychologist or psychiatrist consultations benefit, it usually works like this: you pay the psychologist, send the receipt to your insurer, and they reimburse you up to an annual cap. Caps in current plan documents range from a few hundred dollars to $2,500 a year. Several insurers require a GP referral first, and most require the psychologist to be registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Board.

Three things to check before your first session: whether your plan has the benefit at all, whether a GP referral is required, and what the annual limit and excess are. Your membership certificate or policy document has the answers, and the insurer's helpline can confirm them in a few minutes. Everything below is a guide to what to look for, not a substitute for your own policy wording.

Insurer by insurer: what current documents say

These summaries come from insurer policy documents, insurer announcements and the September 2025 LifeDirect benefit comparison. Plans change, and older policies may differ, so treat each line as a prompt to check your own plan.

• Southern Cross: Wellbeing One and Wellbeing Two list psychiatrist and psychologist consultations at $750 a year. UltraCare has a combined mental health consultations benefit of $1,500 a year, which from October 2024 no longer requires the psychologist to be a clinical psychologist; the same update removed the Affiliated Provider requirement for psychiatrist consultations. Check your certificate for referral conditions.
• nib: Ultimate Health Max covers registered psychologist and psychiatrist consultations up to $2,500 per member per policy year, reimbursed at 100%, with a written GP referral less than three months old. The standard Ultimate Health plan's $800 benefit applies only where consultations are cancer or cardiac related.
• AIA: Private Health plans include allowances for mental health consultations; the amount depends on the plan, so read your policy schedule.
• Partners Life: Private Medical Cover (October 2025 wording) pays up to $2,500 per policy year for psychiatrist or psychologist consultations or counselling, but only within 12 months of a surgery, serious illness or non-surgical private hospital admission. Mental health conditions in general are otherwise excluded.
• Accuro: SmartCare's Specialist Plan includes mental health consultations with a psychiatrist, psychologist or NZAC counsellor up to $1,000 per person per policy year, with referral from a registered medical practitioner, an excess, and a 90-day stand-down for new plans.
• UniMed: its 2025 mental health benefit terms cover 100% of costs up to $240 per consultation with a psychologist, psychiatrist or psychotherapist, for a total of three consultations per member (counsellor consultations up to $120 each).

The conditions that trip people up

GP referral. Where a referral is required, it usually has to pre-date the first session and sometimes has to be recent. Getting it afterwards may not fix a declined claim.

Registration of the provider. Policies typically specify a psychologist registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Board, a psychiatrist registered with the Medical Council, or a counsellor belonging to a named body. A life coach or unregistered therapist will not qualify, and older policies sometimes specified a clinical psychologist specifically.

Pre-existing conditions. Many plans exclude conditions you had symptoms of, or treatment for, before joining. Mental health is commonly caught by this. Some benefits, such as nib's Ultimate Health Max mental health cover, are advertised as having no pre-existing condition exclusion; others are not.

Excess, stand-downs and plan year. An excess may be deducted from each claim, new plans often have a waiting period before benefits start, and the annual limit resets on your policy anniversary, not on 1 January. Also check whether the limit is per person or per policy, and whether psychiatrist and psychologist share one pool.

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How to claim, step by step

1. Find the benefit. Open your policy document or app and search for "mental health", "psychologist" or "psychiatric". Note the limit, the excess and any referral wording.
2. Phone if unsure. Ask: Does my plan cover consultations with a registered psychologist? Do I need a GP referral, and how recent? Is there a pre-existing condition exclusion that applies to me? Some insurers can pre-approve.
3. Get the referral if needed. A standard GP appointment is enough. Ask your GP to address the letter to "registered psychologist" rather than a named person if you have not chosen one yet.
4. Attend and pay. Keep the receipt or invoice for every session.
5. Submit. Most insurers accept claims through an app or online portal with a photo of the receipt and, where required, the referral. Reimbursement goes to your bank account.
6. Track your limit. Note how much of the annual cap you have used so the last sessions of the year do not come as a surprise.

What your receipt needs to show

Insurers reject claims over missing details more often than over the service itself. A psychologist's receipt should include the practice name and contact details, the psychologist's full name and professional title, their registration (Psychologists Board registration number or scope), your name, the date of the session, a description of the service (for example "psychological consultation, 50 minutes"), the amount paid including GST, and the GST number.

Receipts do not normally include your diagnosis or session notes, and an insurer does not need them to process a consultation claim. If an insurer asks for clinical information, you can ask what they need it for and decide whether to consent; your psychologist should not release notes without your permission except where the law requires or allows it. Our guide to privacy and confidentiality explains your rights.

If your insurance does not cover it

Plenty of New Zealanders have hospital-only cover with no mental health benefit, or a plan whose limit runs out after three or four sessions. Other free or funded options may still apply: an EAP through your employer, ACC for sensitive claims, or free brief help from a Health Improvement Practitioner at your GP practice. Our guide to getting help in NZ sets these out.

It is also worth asking your insurer, at renewal, whether an upgraded plan or add-on module includes mental health consultations and what the premium difference is. For someone who expects to see a psychologist regularly, the arithmetic is sometimes in favour of the upgrade.

Claiming for Mindwell sessions

Mindwell sessions are $199 + GST ($228.85 including GST) for 50 minutes, paid at the time of booking. You receive a receipt for each session that you can submit to your insurer for reimbursement; you pay at booking and claim back under your plan's rules. If your insurer needs a particular detail shown, such as your psychologist's registration, let us know and we will check whether it can be added.

Each of our psychologists is registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Board; the team includes clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists and registered psychologists. If your policy specifies a clinical psychologist, choose one of our clinical psychologists when you book. If it requires a GP referral, arrange that before your first appointment. For questions about a specific receipt, email team@mindwell.co.nz and we will usually reply within one business day.

Related support: Do you need a referral? · Fees · Getting mental health help in NZ