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Related guide: Switch health insurance before January
How to answer the Sanitas health questionnaire
At the office almost every enrolment comes down to the same question: “do I have to put this down?”. The answer is in the Sanitas application itself, in its general conditions and in the Spanish Insurance Contract Act. We give it to you with its source.
What the health questionnaire is and who answers it
Think of a family of four switching to Sanitas. On the application each insured person has their own sheet with their details and their health questionnaire. The policyholder answers on their own behalf and on behalf of the other insured persons, and at the foot of each sheet signs a sentence that sums it all up: “I declare that I have truthfully answered everything stated in this application”. It is not a separate formality. Sanitas's general conditions list it among the documents that form part of the policy and define it as the truthful and complete declaration used to assess the risk being insured.
It is required on the Más Salud range with its plans, Más Salud Familias, Top Quantum, Premium 500.000 and Más 90.000. Also on Residents and Residents Platinum, the insurance for foreigners who live in Spain, with their versions for the visa: they all carry the full questionnaire. Sanitas Accede and Sanitas Avanza have a shorter one, with two and four questions. The exceptions are Sanitas Único, which is taken out from age 60, and Sanitas Inclusivo: both are taken out without a health questionnaire and neither includes hospitalisation. If you have something to declare and are torn between products, we explain what each route means before you fill anything in.
The six questions and the period each one covers
On the general application the first question is your weight in kilos and your height in centimetres. The second is the only one that sets a time limit: it asks about illnesses and accidents in the last five years that needed medical treatment. The third asks whether you have been in hospital or had an operation and whether you are expecting to be admitted or operated on. It sets no time limit, so also declare old hospital stays and operations and any you already have scheduled. The fourth asks whether you are currently under medical treatment or follow-up: a medication you take every day or a regular check-up with a specialist belong here.
The fifth asks whether you have recently had any medical test or have one planned. “Recently” has no specific date: any recent or pending test counts, including a routine blood test, and above all if any value came out abnormal. The sixth asks about undiagnosed symptoms or pains that appear continuously or repeatedly, such as back pain that comes back every few weeks. Every Yes carries the same instruction: give the details. At the end there are three voluntary questions for statistical purposes about tobacco, alcohol and sleep quality. The application itself makes clear that leaving them unanswered does not affect its validity.
If you answer yes: the additional questionnaire and the reports
When any answer is Yes, Sanitas's additional health questionnaire is also filled in, one for each person who declares a problem. For each problem it asks whether it is current or past, the start and end dates, the cause and the exact location, with the side if it is a paired organ or limb. It also asks for the treatment given, any prostheses or surgical material implanted, the tests or treatments planned and how you are now, with any after-effects. If you have short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism or another refractive error, it also asks for the dioptres in each eye.
Its instructions are strict and worth following to the letter: every box filled in, none left blank and no dashes as an answer. If you have medical reports for what you declare, attach them. If an organ or tissue has been removed, you also need the pathology report and a report on your current condition. The more complete the questionnaire is when it arrives, the less information Sanitas will need to ask you for afterwards. At the office we go through it with you box by box before sending it.
What Sanitas does with what you declare
Enrolments with a declared illness are reviewed by Sanitas's underwriting department (Riesgos) and stay pending until the assessment is finished. If it needs more information it can ask you for it, often by phone: the application already states that those calls may be recorded. With everything in front of it, the general conditions say that Sanitas can accept the enrolment, reject it or accept it excluding certain covers. The general conditions also provide for an extra premium: an additional premium agreed in your particular conditions to take on a risk that would otherwise be left out. Sanitas applies it only for some conditions.
If you are accepted with an exclusion, that exclusion appears in your particular conditions. You receive them together with the general conditions and accept them with a code on your mobile, so you know what is left out before your policy starts. There is also a list of conditions that Sanitas does not need you to declare: we tell you which they are when we fill in the application. And since the assessment takes time, if you have something to declare it is best to start with some margin, especially if you are going to switch insurers.
What happens if something is left undeclared
Imagine someone who had a knee operation three years ago and does not put it down because it seems minor. If the following year they have problems with that knee again, everything related to it may be left out. The general conditions exclude whatever already existed before enrolment and, in the event of concealment, any cover directly or indirectly related to what was not declared. For Sanitas a pre-existing condition is any state of health prior to signing the questionnaire, even if it is not an illness: an injury or a defect also count.
The Spanish Insurance Contract Act sets out the consequences in its article 10 and Sanitas's conditions reflect them in the same way. If Sanitas learns of an omission or an inaccuracy, it can terminate the policy within the following month. If you need care before then, what it pays is reduced in proportion to the difference between your premium and the one it would have charged had it known. If there was wilful misconduct or gross negligence, it pays nothing. The same law also protects you: you have to declare what you know and what the questionnaire asks, nothing more. When in doubt, declare it and let underwriting assess it.
Whatever appears once you are insured is no longer pre-existing
This is the best argument for taking out insurance while you are well. For Sanitas a pre-existing condition is whatever predates signing the questionnaire, and the policy covers you from the effective date. Whatever appears once you are already enrolled is covered according to your policy, with its waiting periods. If something new happens to you between signing and the effective date, tell us before the policy starts. The pre-contract information on the application also includes a commitment worth knowing about: Sanitas will not oppose renewing the policy of an insured person over 65 with at least 5 years at Sanitas and no unpaid premiums. Nor that of someone being treated for a serious illness first diagnosed while insured. It is a closed list of ten, among them active cancer, a transplant, a heart condition that needs surgery or interventional treatment and a degenerative disease of the nervous system.
If you come from another insurer, switching does not erase pre-existing conditions. If you have been on another private health insurance policy in Spain for at least a year and move across without a break, you can ask for the waiting periods in the medical directory to be waived, except those for childbirth and bariatric surgery. But the questionnaire is filled in just as for a new enrolment. Anyone coming from a Bupa group company, with their certificate and no break between one policy and the other, has an advantage: on the full-cover products Sanitas accepts the conditions that appeared while they were insured there. We look at it with you, certificate in hand.
If you are switching before January, start with the questionnaire
November is the month for switching: most health insurance policies renew on 1 January (check the date in your particular conditions) and your notice that you are not renewing has to reach your insurer at least one month in advance, by 30 November at the latest. If you have something to declare, the order matters even more. First the application with the questionnaire and the reports, then the underwriting assessment, and only when Sanitas accepts, the cancellation letter to your insurer. That way you are not left without insurance if the answer comes with an exclusion you would rather think over calmly. One thing, though: if the answer arrived after 30 November your current policy would renew for another year, so it is best to send the application as soon as possible.
At the office we explain each question, prepare the application with your details, check that the additional questionnaire has no empty boxes and send it to Sanitas with your reports. The answers and the signature are yours: we make sure nothing gets lost along the way. If underwriting calls you or asks for anything else, we follow it up with you until we have the answer. Message us on WhatsApp at +34 655 02 69 85 (every day) or call us on +34 919 93 17 90 during office hours: Monday to Thursday from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 18:00, and Fridays from 9:00 to 15:00. 430 reviews with a 5.0 rating on Google say so.
Questions as set out in the Sanitas, S.A. de Seguros insurance application form and additional health questionnaire (form 3860) used by the office in November 2026. Exclusions and the duty to declare as set out in the general conditions of Sanitas Más Salud (clauses III A and VI) and article 10 of Act 50/1980 on Insurance Contracts. Each application is assessed by Sanitas. Oficina Sanitas Majadahonda is an exclusive agency of Sanitas, S.A. de Seguros: ANYO HEALTH SL, DGSFP code C0320B67816207. Sanitas is a registered trademark of Sanitas, S.A. de Seguros.
Common questions
Direct answers, the same we give at the office.
Can I take out Sanitas if I have an illness?
You can apply by declaring it in the health questionnaire. Sanitas assesses it and can accept the enrolment, accept it excluding the covers related to that illness, apply an extra premium for some conditions or not accept it. Any exclusions agreed appear in your particular conditions.
What period does the Sanitas health questionnaire cover?
On the general application only question 2 sets a time limit: illnesses or accidents in the last five years that needed medical treatment. The others ask about hospital stays and operations with no time limit, about current treatment or follow-up, about recent or planned tests and about undiagnosed symptoms that keep coming back. When in doubt, it is best to declare it.
What happens if I do not declare an illness?
Any cover directly or indirectly related to what you did not declare is excluded. In addition, under article 10 of the Spanish Insurance Contract Act, Sanitas can terminate the policy within a month of finding out, and if there was wilful misconduct or gross negligence it is released from paying the benefit.
If I come from another insurer, are my pre-existing conditions erased?
No. If you have been on another private health insurance policy in Spain for at least a year without a break, you can ask for the waiting periods in the medical directory to be waived, except those for childbirth and bariatric surgery, but previous illnesses are declared all the same. If you come from a Bupa group company, with its certificate and without a break, Sanitas accepts on its full-cover products the conditions that appeared while you were insured there.
Are there Sanitas policies without a health questionnaire?
Yes: Sanitas Único, which is taken out from age 60, and Sanitas Inclusivo. Neither of them includes hospitalisation. Residents and Residents Platinum, with their versions for the visa, ask for the full questionnaire. Accede and Avanza have a shorter one.
Are the questions about tobacco, alcohol and sleep compulsory?
No. They are questions for statistical purposes and the Sanitas application itself makes clear that leaving them unanswered does not affect its validity.
If I fall ill while insured, can Sanitas refuse to renew my policy?
The policy is annual and the law allows both parties not to renew it by giving notice in advance. Even so, according to the pre-contract information on the application, Sanitas will not oppose renewing for someone being treated for a serious illness first diagnosed while insured, such as active cancer or a transplant, nor for people over 65 with at least 5 years at Sanitas and no unpaid premiums. And whatever appears after you enrol is not a pre-existing condition.