Switch Health Insurance Before January: Dates and Steps

In this article

The Switching Calendar, Week by Week

Dates for a policy that renews on 1 January, which is the case for most people. If yours renews on another date, the same scheme works counting back from that day: the cancellation has to reach your insurer in writing at least one month before the renewal date, under article 22 of the Spanish Insurance Contract Act. At the Majadahonda office we handle this switch every autumn with dozens of families, and this is the calendar we follow.

September and October: compare calmly

This is the phase where you gain the most and there is the least hurry. You work out the Sanitas price with your age and your postcode in the calculator, and you dig out your current policy: which product you have, what premium you pay and what its effective date is. It is also when insurers announce their premium increases for the following year, so for the first time you have both figures on the table.

At the office we set your policy next to the Sanitas one on the same basis, same age, same postcode, same plan, and we tell you which waiting periods you would have when switching and which can be waived because you come from another insurer. We also look at what you have in progress: an ongoing treatment, a pending test or a pregnancy may argue for not switching this year, or for switching only part of the family. Deciding in October, with everything in front of you, is what makes November a month of paperwork rather than nerves.

What comes in for 2027 and why the effective date matters

If you switch this autumn, you arrive just as Sanitas updates its insurance for 2027. In September 2026 it announced eleven new or extended covers for that year, among them robotic surgery for prostate and kidney tumours, TAVI to replace the aortic valve by catheter in severe aortic stenosis when surgery is contraindicated because of high surgical risk, psychiatric hospitalisation going from 50 to 60 days a year counting day hospital, and AutoCPAP for sleep apnoea. Before counting on them, two caveats: they only apply to you if they appear in the most up-to-date version of your policy’s general conditions (within its limits and exclusions), and some carry a cost for you. With TAVI, the valve prosthesis is paid by the insured person. Robotic surgery is a service subject to a €7,000 PEG: the insured person contributes €7,000 to the cost of the operation. All eleven are explained in our guide to Sanitas’s new cover for 2027 (linked at the end of this article; it is also on our English blog).

The effective date matters too, and not only because of the cover. The prices Sanitas applies today (its April 2026 rate) are valid for the first year for new insured persons with an effective date between 1 April and 31 December 2026. A new insured person is someone who has not been on another Sanitas policy in the previous six months. Those prices (the ones the calculator uses) already include the reduction that the Sanitas Más Salud product sheet gives when four or more new insured persons enroll with an effective date in that period. The reduction is kept as long as the policy stays in force, up to date with payments and with four or more insured persons. Since at Sanitas the effective date is always the 1st of the month, the last effective date in 2026 is 1 December; if you are coming from another company with the whole family, we look with you at which effective date suits you and give you the premium in writing before you sign.

October and the first half of November: the enrollment application

Once you have decided, you send us the details of the people to be insured and the effective date you want, normally 1 January, and you sign the application as a PDF or from the app. We go through the health questionnaire together, by video call or at the office, hiding nothing and declaring nothing more than necessary.

We prepare the application, attach your previous policy to request the waiver of waiting periods based on where you are coming from, and process it with Sanitas. The terms of the year-end promotion, which runs until 1 February 2027 with an effective date of your choice, are settled on this call. With a complete application and no issues in the questionnaire, acceptance usually arrives within a few working days; if a medical review is needed it can take longer, which is why we never leave this step for the last week of November.

Before 30 November: Sanitas’s acceptance

Sanitas confirms that it accepts the policy with the effective date you chose. This is the document that changes everything, because until it is in your hands, the old policy is not touched.

We confirm to you in writing which waiting periods have been waived and which have not, with particular attention to childbirth, which keeps its eight months in every case. If something has not been waived, you know now, before taking the step, and not in March in a consulting room.

Before 30 November: cancelling the old policy

With Sanitas’s acceptance in hand, you send your insurer written notice that you are not renewing: an email to its customer service address with your policy number and a clear sentence, or a burofax (Spain’s certified postal notice) with certified content if your policy has a complicated history. A phone call leaves no trace and is no use if there is a dispute later. Keep the proof of delivery.

We give you the text of the letter and check that it goes out within the deadline. The office rule is simple and has no exceptions: no cancellation is sent without Sanitas’s acceptance. That way you are never without insurance for a single day, which is the only irreparable mistake in the whole process.

1 January: the first day with the new policy

Your Sanitas policy is in force. You download the digital card in the Mi Sanitas app, choose your doctor and, if you wish, activate Mi Farmagen, the pharmacogenetic test the promotion gives free to new enrollments. The old policy has expired without renewing, and there is neither an overlap nor a gap.

And we are still there, with the same person who handled the switch: adding family members, changing plan, coverage questions and claims. Switching insurance does not end on 1 January; it begins.

Notice periods under article 22 of Act 50/1980 on Insurance Contracts: the policyholder may oppose the renewal of the contract with at least one month’s notice before the renewal date, and the insurer with two. Waiving waiting periods for clients coming from another insurer is a Sanitas underwriting policy: it is requested at enrollment and decided by Sanitas when processing the application. Prices: the Sanitas April 2026 rate, valid for the first year for new insured persons enrolled with an effective date between 1 April and 31 December 2026; conditions for four or more new insured persons according to the Sanitas Más Salud product sheet. 2027 cover according to Sanitas information from September 2026: it only applies if it appears in the most up-to-date version of your policy’s general conditions, within its limits and exclusions. Sanitas is a registered trademark of Sanitas, S.A. de Seguros.

Common questions

Direct answers, the same we give at the office.

Until what day can I cancel my health insurance if it renews on 1 January?

Until 30 November, because the law requires you to give notice at least one month before the renewal date. That is article 22 of the Spanish Insurance Contract Act. If the notice arrives on 1 December, the insurer can treat the policy as renewed for another year. That is why at the office we work with 30 November as the real deadline and with the whole of November as the month for paperwork, not for deciding: the comfortable thing is to decide in September or October.

How do I notify the cancellation? Is a phone call enough?

It has to be in writing and you have to be able to prove it arrived. The simplest way is an email to your insurer’s customer service address with your policy number, your name and a clear sentence: that you do not wish to renew the policy at its 1 January renewal. If your company has its own cancellation form, use it and keep the acknowledgement. For policies with a complicated history, a burofax with certified content. A phone call leaves no trace and is no use if there is a dispute later.

If I switch to Sanitas, do I start the waiting periods from scratch?

Normally not, but we will not promise it without seeing your policy. Sanitas provides for waiving the waiting periods for anyone coming from another insurer, in its medical-network plans, for everything except childbirth, which keeps its 8 months. It is an underwriting policy, not a clause in the contract: it is requested at enrollment and Sanitas decides when it processes the application. That is why the order of the calendar matters so much: first we request the enrollment with the waiver, and only when Sanitas accepts it in writing do you send the cancellation to the old company. If something is not waived, you know before taking the step.

What about what I have in progress: a treatment, a pending test, a pregnancy?

It has to be looked at case by case before switching, and it is the part of the advice that is worth the most. An illness already diagnosed is a pre-existing condition and has to be declared in the health questionnaire; a pending test may fall within a waiting period if it is not waived; and an ongoing pregnancy carries the 8-month childbirth waiting period, which is not waived. In those cases the honest answer is sometimes not to switch this year, or to switch only part of the family. We tell you with your policy in front of us, not after you sign.

Why are September and October the best months to switch?

For three reasons that come together. One: most policies renew on 1 January, so the cancellation has to be sent before 30 November, and in October there is still room to process the new enrollment calmly. Two: insurers announce their premium increases for the following year in these weeks, and that is when you have both figures on the table. And three: the Sanitas year-end campaign, with special terms and the Mi Farmagen test free with new enrollments, runs from October to 1 February 2027, with an effective date of your choice between 1 October and 1 February.

What price will I pay if my new insurance starts on 1 January 2027?

The one Sanitas sets for enrollments taking effect in 2027. The current prices (the Sanitas April 2026 rate) are valid for the first year for new insured persons with an effective date up to 31 December 2026, and they are the ones the website calculator uses today. If your new policy starts on 1 January, we confirm the 2027 premium as soon as it is available. If there are four or more of you on Sanitas Más Salud, the price you see in the calculator already includes the reduction the product sheet reserves for four or more new insured persons with an effective date in 2026. We look with you at which effective date suits you.

Can I switch on my own and leave my family with the other company?

Yes. Each insured person can be with a different company, and sometimes that is the sensible thing to do: for instance, if one member of the family has an ongoing treatment with their current doctor and the rest do not. Bear in mind, though, that the discounts for the number of insured people are calculated on the Sanitas policy, so it is worth running the numbers with the whole family and with each combination before deciding. In the calculator you can add up to six people and see the price of each combination in a minute.

How long does Sanitas take to accept the enrollment?

With a complete application and a health questionnaire with no issues, acceptance usually arrives within a few working days. If the questionnaire calls for a medical review, it can take longer, which is why we do not leave the application for the last week of November. The office rule is simple: the enrollment application goes in during October or the first half of November, and the cancellation of the old policy is not sent until we have the acceptance in writing.

Do you charge anything for handling the switch?

No. We are an exclusive Sanitas agency: your price starts from the Sanitas rate and with us you never pay more. There is no surcharge for handling the switch or for the advice. On top of that we always give you the best price, guaranteed. We compare your policy, prepare the application, request the waiver of waiting periods, give you the text of the cancellation letter and stay with you after 1 January. Whether you sign up or not, we do the comparison for you all the same.

Switching Health Insurance Before January: The Calendar Nobody Tells You About