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Couples counselling health insurance

A couples counsellor can help from around $75 to $150 per session, which can be covered by private health insurance from around $27 per month.

Who is this cover for?

Key takeaways

  • Medicare does not cover couples counselling, even with a Mental Health Care Plan.
  • Extras cover that includes a benefit for psychology can be used to help with the cost of couples counselling sessions.
  • Only part of the cost will be covered by your health fund, but every dollar helps.

Private health insurance that covers counselling

All the extras policies below have a benefit for psychology, which can be used for couples counselling. The maximum claim limit and waiting period varies from fund to fund. All prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney.

1 - 10 of 52
Name Product AUFHI-NEW Treatments Price Apply
nib Health Funds Ltd. logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
$73.20
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
ahm health insurance logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
Get up to 8 weeks free. For new joins who maintain eligible cover. T&Cs apply. Learn more.
$49.53
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
Frank Health Insurance logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
$65.67
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
GMHBA Limited logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
$76.33
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
ahm health insurance logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
Get up to 8 weeks free. For new joins who maintain eligible cover. T&Cs apply. Learn more.
$48.59
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
ahm health insurance logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
Get up to 8 weeks free. For new joins who maintain eligible cover. T&Cs apply. Learn more.
$59.48
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
GMHBA Limited logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +6 other treatments covered
$76.64
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
Frank More Extras
Extras cover
Frank Health Insurance logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +5 other treatments covered
$59.33
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
GMHBA Limited logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$34.04
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
Frank Health Insurance logo
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
  • +4 other treatments covered
$110.07
per month
Go to Site
All treatments
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Why compare health insurance with Finder?

  • We don't ask for your phone or email to see prices.

  • With 1 click, you can open your results to nearly every fund in Australia.

  • You pay the same price as going direct – we charge no fees.

Finder survey: Do Australians feel like their extras insurance is good value for money?

Response
Somewhat46.14%
Yes34.56%
No19.31%
Source: Finder survey by Pure Profile of 1006 Australians, December 2023

How does private health insurance cover couples counselling?

Mid-range and comprehensive extras policies can pay benefits paid towards consultations with a recognised psychologist or recognised counsellor, plus cover you for others services like dental, physio and optical. This can include:

  • Individual consultations
  • Couples consultations
  • Family consultations
  • Group consultations

Policy prices start from around $27 per month and come with an annual claim limit of around $500 to $750. You will generally have a 0 or 2 month waiting period. Some providers and programs may not be recognised by your health insurer – in which case, it won't not cover you, so make sure you check with them before you receive counselling.

Claiming couple councelling on a couple policy

You've got a few options to claim couples councelling on your extras. I contacted a couple of health funds to get a vibe of the general approach - this is the response I received from ahm that seemed to represent the majority of the fund's policies:

If your policy includes psychology consultations and the provider you see is registered with us, then for couple consultations, claims can be processed to either:

  • The member,
  • Their partner, or
  • Both the member and their partner; split the cost of service in half and pay half the benefit to each person. Separate receipts will need to be submitted for both parties to claim.

How much is couples counselling?

Extras insurance

With extras insurance

Couples counselling costs range from around $120-$200 per session in Australia but you can claim around $500 to $750 back per year with extras cover. If you need several sessions, it's likely that you'll have some out of pocket expenses but there's generally no waiting period so you can start claiming straight away.

No extras cover

Without extras insurance

Couples counselling isn't covered by Medicare so you'll have to pay for it all yourself. Prices can vary depending on where you go. For example, Relationships Australia offers online counselling from $120/hr. However, if you're seeing a qualified psychologist, they could charge anywhere from $100/hr to $250/hr – New Vision Psychology charges $230 and $250 for a registered and clinical psychologist respectively.

Can you get free couples counselling?

Unfortunately, the answer is probably not. While mental health plans do exist under Medicare to assist people with mental health issues in seeking professional assistance, these are restricted to individuals.

Couples counselling, while inarguably a very difficult and mentally taxing process to go through, doesn't fall under this definition and won't be covered by a mental health plan. That said, there are a few limited situations where Medicare may be applicable – such as when one partner suffers from a condition like bipolar or depression and couples counselling may help to address it directly.

What to expect in a couples counselling session

It can be daunting to sign up to a group counselling session like this, but remember the entire point is to provide you with a comfortable and safe environment where you can navigate your relationship. According to Relationships Australia, here's what you might expect from your first session:

  • Establishing a basic working relationship and trust between you and your partner
  • Answering a variety of questions to figure out what's causing you and your partner concern
  • Answering a variety of questions to sort out what some of the underlying issues in your relationship might be
  • Establishing goals for what you hope to get out of counselling and what you hope to achieve in future session

FAQs about couples counselling

Tim Bennett's headshot
To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Tim Bennett as part of our fact-checking process.
Gary Ross Hunter's headshot
Editor, Insurance

Gary Ross Hunter was an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise
Gary Ross has written 682 Finder guides across topics including:
  • Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
  • Managing the cost of living

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