Is hypnotherapy covered by Medicare in Australia?
The short answer is no. Hypnotherapy isn’t covered by Medicare in Australia, and that includes Mental Health Care Plans. The longer answer is worth understanding, because it shapes what your options actually are.
A bit of background on why
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy have a complicated public history. Stage hypnosis, the cultural shorthand of “mind control,” decades of misleading film and television portrayals, and the occasional well-publicised controversy have all left their mark. The clinical reality of contemporary hypnotherapy bears little resemblance to any of that, but the perception has lingered, and it has slowed the profession’s recognition as a mainstream clinical modality.
That history is part of why hypnotherapy in Australia is currently self-regulated rather than overseen by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). AHPRA registration is the gateway to Medicare provider numbers. No AHPRA registration means no Medicare rebate. So while psychology, social work, occupational therapy, and other allied health professions can claim Medicare rebates for their work with clients, hypnotherapy can’t.
The professional bodies have lobbied successive governments to change this for years, arguing that the evidence base for clinical hypnotherapy is now strong enough across several applications to warrant Medicare recognition. Whether that changes in the near future remains an open question. For now, the answer to the headline question is unchanged.
What about Mental Health Care Plans?
A Mental Health Care Plan, set up by your GP, entitles you to up to ten Medicare-subsidised sessions per calendar year with an eligible mental health professional. The list of eligible professionals is determined by AHPRA registration, and hypnotherapists aren’t on it.
So no, you can’t claim sessions with a clinical hypnotherapist under a Mental Health Care Plan.
There’s one nuance worth mentioning. Some practitioners hold dual qualifications. A registered psychologist who also trained in hypnotherapy may use hypnosis as part of psychological treatment, and their sessions would be claimable under the psychology Medicare items, because the practitioner is AHPRA-registered as a psychologist. In that situation, what’s being rebated is the psychology session that happens to use hypnosis, not hypnotherapy itself.
If reducing the out-of-pocket cost of your mental health care is a priority and your GP thinks a Mental Health Care Plan is appropriate, ask whether your psychologist uses hypnotic techniques as part of their work. Some do. The framing matters for what you can claim.
Where does that leave you?
For most people considering hypnotherapy, the practical question becomes: can private health insurance help?
The answer is sometimes yes, sometimes no, and the conditions attached matter as much as the headline answer. Three things shape whether you can claim a hypnotherapy rebate:
- Whether your fund recognises hypnotherapy at all. Some do. Many don’t. A few cover it only when delivered by a registered psychologist, which is a different thing.
- Whether your fund recognises the specific association your hypnotherapist belongs to. Private health fund recognition in hypnotherapy is association-mediated. The fund maintains a relationship with one or more professional associations and recognises the practitioners on those association’s member lists.
- Whether your specific policy and level of cover includes hypnotherapy under extras. Even if your fund recognises hypnotherapy, your particular policy may not. Levels of extras cover vary widely.
The combination of these three filters means a confident “yes I’m covered” from your fund’s website isn’t enough. You need to confirm each step.
Funds that currently recognise hypnotherapy
The information below reflects the current state of play as I understand it. Fund arrangements change, and your specific policy is the final authority on what you can claim. Always confirm directly with your fund before booking on the assumption you’ll get a rebate.
Funds that recognise hypnotherapy via professional association membership (typically AHA or ASCH provider arrangements, occasionally others):
- CBHS Health Fund
- Teachers Health
- Health Partners
- Navy Health
- Phoenix Health Fund
- HBF
- Teachers Federation Health
- Grand United Health
- AHM (smoking cessation only)
- CUA Health (stress management, weight loss, or smoking cessation, with a GP referral)
- see-u by HBFA (specific conditions only, with a GP referral)
- Health.com.au (weight management and quit smoking only)
- Australian Unity (legacy policies held before 2018 only; new policies do not include hypnotherapy)
Funds that cover hypnotherapy only when delivered by a registered psychologist:
Bupa, TUH, Peoplecare, Police Health, AIA Health, Mildura District Health Fund.
In these cases the rebate is for the psychology session, not for hypnotherapy as a modality. If you see a hypnotherapist who isn’t also a registered psychologist, you won’t be able to claim.
Funds that don’t currently cover hypnotherapy at all:
GMHBA, HCF, nib, Latrobe, Westfund, CDH, Onemedifund, ACA Health.
A quick word on naming: HCF (Hospitals Contribution Fund) is a private health insurer, not to be confused with HCA (the Hypnotherapy Council of Australia). They’re entirely separate organisations and the similar acronyms catch out plenty of readers.
Why association membership matters here
The list above reflects fund relationships built up by professional associations over many years. The AHA and the ASCH have the most established arrangements historically, having negotiated provider recognition with health funds going back several decades. Other associations, including those affiliated with the Hypnotherapy Council of Australia, also maintain fund relationships, but the network is smaller and continues to develop.
This isn’t a comment on the quality of any association’s training or membership standards. It’s a comment on the administrative reality: each association maintains its own arrangements with health funds, and the depth of those arrangements varies. A hypnotherapist might be excellently qualified and a member of a respected professional body, but if their association doesn’t have a provider arrangement with your fund, you won’t be able to claim.
The practical implication is straightforward. Before you book, ask your hypnotherapist which professional association they belong to, then ask your fund whether they recognise that association for hypnotherapy claims. The combination of those two answers tells you whether a rebate is possible.
Conditions and limits to ask about
Even when a fund recognises your hypnotherapist’s association, conditions usually apply. Worth asking your fund directly:
- Does my extras cover include hypnotherapy? Lower-tier extras policies often exclude natural therapies and complementary services.
- Are there condition restrictions? Some funds only cover hypnotherapy for smoking cessation or weight management, regardless of association membership.
- Do I need a GP referral? Several funds require one before they’ll process a claim.
- What’s the annual limit? Hypnotherapy rebates typically sit within a broader natural therapies or extras cap. The cap may be exhausted quickly.
- What’s the per-session rebate amount? It can range from a small flat amount to a meaningful percentage of the session cost.
- Is there a waiting period? New extras cover often has a waiting period of several months before claims can be made.
The answers to these questions can mean the difference between a rebate that materially reduces the cost of treatment and one that doesn’t make a noticeable difference.
In summary
Medicare doesn’t currently cover hypnotherapy as a standalone service in Australia, including under Mental Health Care Plans. Whether that changes in the future depends on regulatory shifts that have been a long time coming and may take longer still.
Private health insurance can help reduce out-of-pocket costs for some people, but only when three conditions line up: your fund recognises hypnotherapy, your hypnotherapist’s association is one your fund accepts, and your specific level of cover includes it. Confirm each step with your fund before assuming a rebate is available, and ask about condition restrictions and limits at the same time.
If cost is a significant consideration, the most useful conversation you can have is a short one with your fund, with three questions written down before you call. Spending fifteen minutes on this before your first session can save you a great deal more later.
What to do next
If you’re trying to work out the overall cost of hypnotherapy and how it compares to other forms of therapy, see How much does hypnotherapy cost in Australia.
If you’re earlier in the process and still working out who to see, see How to choose a hypnotherapist in Australia.
If you’d like to understand more about what hypnotherapy is and isn’t, see What is hypnotherapy and what it isn’t.