Sanitas Health Insurance: private medicine without the wait

Consultations, emergencies and basic tests have no waiting period: you can use them from day one. High-complexity tests, such as CT scans or MRIs, have an approximate waiting period of 6 months, childbirth 8 months, and hospitalization and major surgery 10 months. In practice, this means you can see your family doctor, pediatrician or any of the more than 30 specialists as soon as your policy is active, while scheduled procedures require waiting out the corresponding period. There's one important exception: in certain campaigns Sanitas waives waiting periods if you're switching from another insurer where you had already completed them. This is the most common case we handle at our office, so tell us about your situation before signing up: our team checks whether your switch qualifies for the campaign and confirms it in writing.

The copay option makes sense if you rarely visit the doctor, because the premium drops by around 22%. In exchange, you pay a small amount for each medical visit: a consultation, a diagnostic test or a session. As a real reference from the official prices, a 35-year-old adult in Madrid pays €116.82 a month with no copay, €86.88 with low copay (Plus) and €74.81 with high copay (Óptima). If you visit the doctor less than 1-2 times a month, the copay option usually pays off. For families with young children, or for anyone who uses the insurance frequently, the no-copay option is more predictable, since the fixed premium already includes everything. At our office, we run the numbers with you based on your actual visits from the past year, so you choose with real data.

It depends on what you declare on the health questionnaire completed when you sign up. Previously declared conditions may be accepted as normal, accepted with a specific exclusion for that condition, or, in the most serious cases, lead to the policy being denied. What really matters is declaring everything: an undeclared pre-existing condition can void coverage right when you need it most, just as purely cosmetic or experimental treatments are excluded. The good news is that most common medical history doesn't prevent you from signing up, and a specific exclusion doesn't affect the rest of your coverage: you would still have your family doctor, specialists, emergency care and hospitalization for everything else. Our office team helps you fill out the questionnaire correctly and, if there are doubts, checks your case with Sanitas before you sign anything.

Sanitas has five own hospitals in operation, and the two closest to our office, 20-30 minutes away, are Sanitas La Zarzuela University Hospital, in Aravaca, which is the closest, and Sanitas La Moraleja University Hospital, in the northern area. Both offer hospitalization with no limit on days, ICU, operating rooms and private rooms with a bed for a companion. Besides the hospitals, you also have the Milenium medical centers and a wide network right in the area, Las Rozas, Pozuelo and Boadilla, so day-to-day consultations and tests don't require you to travel far. In total, the Sanitas network includes more than 59,000 doctors and more than 4,100 own and partner centers across Spain, so you're also covered when you travel. At the office, we help you choose a family doctor and pediatrician close to home.

Yes, insuring your whole family costs less per person. Sanitas's official prices apply a reduced price for policies with 2-3 insured people, and an even lower one from 4 people onward, which in practice means around a 5% discount with two insured people and 8% with three or more. In addition, children have their own lower premium, starting at €32.40 a month under the Óptima plan, and on the dental add-on (from €12.20/month per insured person) children under 6 pay no premium when enrolled with one of their parents. The calculator on this page applies all these discounts automatically based on your postal code and the ages you enter, so you see the real family price in under a minute. If you're unsure about enrolling everyone now or in stages, our office team prepares both simulations so you can compare calmly.

Yes, you can switch to Sanitas from another insurer, and in fact it's the most common case we handle at the office. The main advantage is that Sanitas usually honors waiting periods you already completed with your previous company through waiting-period waiver campaigns, so you don't have to wait through the 10-month hospitalization period or the 8-month childbirth period again. We handle all the paperwork for you: we file the cancellation with your current insurer within the deadline and set up the new policy with the effective date adjusted so there isn't a single day without coverage. Before moving anything, our team compares your current policy with the Sanitas options, no copay, low copay or high copay, using real official prices, to confirm the switch truly pays off for you.