Health Insurance for Children in Spain: What a Child Gets on a Sanitas Policy

What does health insurance for children in Spain cover with Sanitas?

A child on a Sanitas policy sees a paediatrician of their choice until they turn 15, with no referral and no waiting period. Emergencies are covered from day one at any hour. In hospital, a child has a single room with a bed for a parent.

Health insurance for children in Spain with Sanitas means a paediatrician of your choice until your child turns 15, with no referral and no waiting period, at the surgery or at home. In 2026 a child aged 3 to 15 adds €61.40 a month to a parent's Sanitas Mas Salud policy in most of mainland Spain, or €36.00 on Mas Salud Optima with small copayments. Emergencies are covered from day one, in person or by video at any hour. A child in hospital has a single room with a bed for a parent. Dental 21 gives children free check-ups, cleaning and milk-tooth extractions. A child can be on a parent's policy at any age, or have a policy of their own from 4 with a parent as policyholder. Vaccines, glasses and medicines taken at home are excluded on every plan.

Who arranges it: HealthPlan Spain is an authorised Sanitas agent (agent code 22395) in Marbella that arranges Sanitas policies in English, at the same price as buying direct from Sanitas.

This guide is about what a child gets on a Sanitas policy: everyday illness and injury, emergencies, tests, operations and hospital stays, teeth and eyes. It also covers speech and mental health, long-term conditions, sport, vaccines and school paperwork. Then what the public system gives a child in Spain, and how families use both. Household prices, discounts, adding a newborn, pregnancy and visas are in our family health insurance guide. How to book and what a paediatrician deals with is in our guide to seeing a paediatrician. Sanitas sells the family plan in Spanish as Sanitas Mas Salud Familias. Prices are Sanitas' price list for new members from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, paid monthly.

Who can be on the policy, and at what age

• On a parent's policy at any age. A child joins the policy at birth or later, with their own card and their own health questionnaire. Each child is priced on their own age band: 0 to 2, 3 to 15, 16 to 19, then 20 to 24. Babies are the dearest children on every plan. The price falls at the renewal after the third birthday. There is no age at which a child has to leave.
• A policy of their own from 4. A child aged 4 or over can be the only insured person, with a parent or guardian of 18 or over as policyholder. The policyholder signs and pays and does not have to live in Spain. A grandparent, aunt or uncle can be policyholder for a grandchild, niece or nephew. A child aged 3 or under must share the policy with an insured adult.
• Separated parents. The policyholder is the adult who signs and pays; the child is insured whichever home they live in. Both parents can manage the child's appointments and reports from their own account in the app, each linking the child with their identity number and the child's Sanitas card.
• Plans without paediatrics. The International Students plan starts at 14 and Sanitas Unico at 60; neither includes paediatrics, so a child needs one of the other plans. Sanitas Accede and Sanitas Avanza take children from birth and include a paediatrician, but not a hospital stay.

Each child answers the health questionnaire, through you, and is accepted, accepted with a condition excluded, or declined on their own answers. A condition present at birth counts as pre-existing if it is known when the child joins. Our pre-existing conditions guide explains the outcomes. Adding a newborn has its own conditions and a 30-day deadline; they are in the family guide.

The paediatrician: everyday illness and check-ups

Your child sees a paediatrician from the Sanitas network until the day they turn 15, in the consulting room and at home. Home visits are for a child too ill to travel, in the towns where Sanitas runs them. You book directly, with no family doctor in between and no prescription for the visit. From 15 they see the general practitioner (GP) and the specialists like an adult. The paediatrician orders blood tests and X-rays on the spot and refers to any paediatric speciality: allergy, cardiology, digestive, kidney, endocrine, skin, neurology, oncology and psychiatry are all in the network. Our paediatrician directory lists the paediatricians by province.

Check-ups to monitor growth and development run from birth to age 11 on Mas Salud, Family, Optima, Plus and Residents Visa, including the newborn metabolic and hearing screening. Top Quantum runs its checks over the first four years and adds an annual eye check. A paediatric nurse follows your child's development by video and chat through the app's Healthy Child programme, Monday to Friday from 8am to 10pm. On the copayment plans a paediatric visit counts as one service, the same as a GP visit. Our copayments guide has each plan's scale; each child has their own count, and on Plus their own yearly cap.

If you already have a paediatrician outside the network, the paediatrics reimbursement add-on refunds 60 per cent of each consultation up to €100, up to €10,000 a year. The child must be on the add-on. For a boy it is sold until 14.

Emergencies, day and night

A sick child at 2am is what the policy is for. Every plan covers emergencies from the first day, and no waiting period applies to an accident or a sudden illness that threatens life. You have three routes:

• Emergency video, any hour. Open the app and you are put through to the emergency doctor within minutes. A paediatrician staffs the service Monday to Friday from 8am to 10pm; outside those hours the Sanitas 24 Hours doctors take a child's call. The doctor can prescribe and order tests. It carries no copayment on any plan. A child under 18 speaks to the doctor with a parent present. Our video consultation guide explains it.
• A Sanitas emergency centre. Walk in to a network hospital's emergency department or one of Sanitas' own emergency centres. On Sanitas Mas Salud Optima the visit carries the plan's emergency copayment, on Sanitas Mas Salud Plus it counts as one service on the scale, and on the no-copayment plans nothing.
• 112. For a child who cannot breathe, is unconscious or badly hurt, call 112 and go where the ambulance takes you, which may be a public hospital. In a life-threatening emergency the child can go to any hospital; tell Sanitas as soon as you can and it moves the child to a network hospital when it is safe.

The Sanitas 24 Hours line, on every plan except Accede and Unico, puts a doctor on the phone for advice on a fever, a dose or a rash at any time. A Sanitas ambulance, booked through the 24-hour line, is covered when the child cannot safely travel any other way.

Tests, operations and hospital stays

Blood tests, urine tests and X-rays are ordered by the paediatrician and covered from day one. Scans such as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scan need a Sanitas doctor's prescription. They carry a six-month waiting period on a new policy, waived for an accident or a sudden life-threatening illness. Sanitas pays for the contrast used in a child's CT, MRI or kidney ultrasound. The blood tests for allergies are covered; the newer molecular allergy panels are not. The genetic test for coeliac disease is covered for a child under 18 when both coeliac antibody tests are strongly positive.

A child admitted to hospital has a single room with a bed for a parent on Mas Salud, Family, Optima, Plus, Top Quantum and Residents Visa. In intensive care or an incubator the child's care is covered but there is no companion bed, as in any hospital. Paediatric surgery is covered on the same terms as adult surgery: grommets, tonsils, hernias, an undescended testicle or an appendix. A minor operation waits three months on a new policy and an operation needing a hospital bed ten months; an emergency such as appendicitis is covered at once. Our paediatric surgery guide lists the common operations. Accede and Avanza do not cover a hospital stay, so a child on those plans pays for an admission, or uses the public system when the family has a right to it.

When a parent is the one in hospital for more than 48 hours, Mas Salud Family looks after the children. It arranges a carer at home for under-16s for up to 30 hours, school runs for five days, or a relative's fare to come and help. The same service is the Family Assistance add-on on the other plans.

Teeth: Dental 21 and the public programme

Every Mas Salud plan, Residents Visa and Sanitas International Students include Dental 21 at no extra cost: more than 40 services free at Sanitas dental clinics and the rest at fixed discounted prices. For a child under 15 the free services are the check-up, the cleaning, oral health education, the caries-risk and plaque checks, intra-oral X-rays, milk-tooth extractions, the emergency appointment and the X-ray study for braces. Fluoride, sealants, fillings in milk teeth, pulp treatments and space maintainers are charged at Dental 21's fixed prices. On the 2026 tariff fluoride costs under €10 and a filling in a milk tooth under €70; pulp treatments and space maintainers cost more. Braces are discounted, not included. On Optima and Plus each dental visit day carries a €3 copayment; on the no-copayment plans there is none. Sanitas recommends a check-up every six months for a child, and a mouth guard for contact sport, made at a Dental 21 price. A tooth broken on a swing or the football pitch is a common dental emergency in children.

The public system gives every entitled child a dental programme. Across Spain it runs until the child turns 15 and covers check-ups, sealants, fillings in permanent teeth and treatment of a knocked front tooth; it never pays for braces or for fillings in milk teeth. In Andalusia a child under 6 uses the health centre's dental unit. From the January of the year they turn 6 to the December of the year they turn 15, they choose a contracted dentist. A family that wants fillings included and braces at a bigger discount can add one of the Sanitas dental plans; children under 6 pay no premium on a parent's dental plan. Our dental insurance guide weighs it up.

Eyes and glasses

The eye specialist, the ophthalmologist, is covered on every plan with no referral, for a squint, a lazy eye, an infection or a child who sits too close to the screen. Squint surgery is covered as paediatric surgery. The eye-exercise therapy sometimes used for a lazy eye is excluded, and so is laser surgery for short sight. Glasses and contact lenses are excluded on every plan, as are hearing aids. The optical add-on refunds half the cost of prescription lenses and contact lenses, up to €600 a person a year. It pays on one invoice a year, after a three-month wait, when a Sanitas ophthalmologist has prescribed them. Frames are not refunded. Children under 6 pay no premium for the add-on when it is taken for everyone on the policy. Our eye care guide covers children's eyesight in more detail.

Speech, behaviour and mental health

This is where the plans differ most for a child. Three rules matter.

• Speech therapy. Sanitas Mas Salud Family covers 20 sessions a year for a lisp, trouble producing sounds and voice problems, at any age, after a six-month wait, with no ear, nose and throat referral. Mas Salud, Optima and Plus cover language therapy for a child under 14, up to 20 sessions, on a specialist's prescription with Sanitas' authorisation, after the waiting period for complex therapies. A lisp on its own is not covered on those three. Dyslexia and feeding difficulties are not covered on any plan; a language delay or a stammer is covered only within those 20 sessions, when Sanitas authorises it. A lisp the child already has when you apply must be declared, and Sanitas can exclude it, on Family too. Our speech therapy guide has the detail and the public alternatives: free assessment by the regional early-intervention service under 6 for a child with public entitlement, and the speech and language teacher in state schools.
• Psychology. Mas Salud Family gives each child 20 sessions a year with no prescription, no authorisation and no waiting period, and 40 sessions for an eating disorder on a psychiatrist's prescription. Mas Salud, Optima and Plus give 15 sessions a year on a prescription from the paediatrician, a GP or a psychiatrist, after a six-month wait. Top Quantum gives 20. The psychometric tests used to assess a child are paid by the family on every plan. Psychiatric admission covers acute episodes only, up to 50 days a year on the Mas Salud plans. Our mental health cover guide explains the routes.
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and learning difficulties. The paediatrician, the neurologist and the psychiatrist are covered, with the tests they order, and psychology within the limits above. The psychometric tests used for the assessment, the medication, educational therapy, language education where there is no physical cause, early-intervention programmes and cognitive stimulation are excluded on every plan. A diagnosis, or symptoms and tests already under way before the child joins, must be declared and can be excluded as pre-existing. Sanitas also offers follow-up consultations for school difficulties, overweight and premature babies.

Asthma, allergies and long-term conditions

A child with asthma sees the paediatrician, the lung specialist and the allergist as often as needed, with the blood tests and breathing tests they order. The equipment for home nebuliser or oxygen therapy is covered on a prescription. What no plan pays for is medicine taken at home: inhalers, antihistamines, adrenaline pens, insulin, epilepsy or ADHD medication and the allergy vaccines used for desensitisation. The paediatrician issues an electronic prescription in the app, and you show the code at the pharmacy with your identity document or the child's Sanitas card. A child whose family has a right to the public system gets those medicines on a public prescription at the parent's copayment rate instead. Nutrition consultations are covered on the paediatrician's prescription for obesity, diabetes and eating disorders. Osteopathy for babies, homeopathy and other alternative therapies are excluded.

A condition already diagnosed when your child joins is declared on the health questionnaire. Sanitas usually accepts the child and excludes that one condition rather than charging more; occasionally it declines. Everything else stays covered. If you are moving from another Spanish insurer after a year or more, Sanitas waives the waiting periods, and the child's history is assessed again from scratch.

Sport, injuries and physiotherapy

A fall in the playground, a twisted ankle in school sport or a broken wrist in a kickabout is covered like any other accident. That means the emergency visit, the X-ray, the plaster, the surgery if needed and the follow-up. Physiotherapy afterwards is covered for as long as the child is still recovering, on a prescription from the trauma specialist and with Sanitas' authorisation, at a clinic rather than at home. Our physiotherapy guide explains the steps. Two exclusions apply to every plan. Injuries in organised competitions, and in training for them, are not covered, so a child in a federated club is covered at school and in the park but not in the league. And the risk sports the conditions list, among them horse riding, martial arts, rugby, boxing, rock climbing, quad biking and scuba diving, are excluded. Injuries in a road accident come under the traffic and work accidents add-on, which is free for children under 18 on any policy.

Vaccines, school and nursery paperwork

No Sanitas plan pays for a vaccine; vaccines are medicines, and medicines taken outside hospital are excluded. The consultation and the act of vaccinating are covered, and the newborn checks in the first 48 hours include the birth vaccines. Children whose family has a right to the public system get Spain's national calendar free at the health centre. It is one of the fullest in the world, with jabs at 2, 4, 11, 12 and 15 months, at 3 to 4 years, and at 6, 12 and 14. If your residence permit requires private insurance, your family has no public entitlement. Ask your health centre whether it will still vaccinate your child. If not, buy the vaccine at the pharmacy on the paediatrician's prescription and the Sanitas paediatrician or nurse gives it. Bring the child's record from home to the first appointment; the Spanish schedule differs from the British, Irish and American ones.

Vaccination is not compulsory in Spain, and a state school cannot refuse a child of compulsory school age for missing jabs. A nursery, public or private, can ask for an up-to-date record, and in Galicia and Extremadura state nurseries require one. Schools, camps and sports federations sometimes ask for a medical certificate or a health form. A stand-alone certificate is not a listed benefit on any plan. The paediatrician writes a report of the consultation, and the health form for a camp is filled in by the parents. A medical for a federated licence, where the federation requires one, is paid for separately.

What the public system gives a child, and keeping both

A child has a right to the public system when a parent pays Spanish social security as an employee or autonomo, or when the family is Spanish. A family holding an S1 form from the UK or another EU country has it too. So does a legally resident family whose permit does not require private insurance. That child gets a public paediatrician until 7, a paediatrician or family doctor from 7 to 14, and the family doctor from 14; in Andalusia the health-centre paediatrician sees children until they turn 15. Calendar vaccines are free, the dental programme covers the basics, and prescriptions carry the parent's copayment rate. Public paediatric emergency departments are open around the clock and treat any child; a family without public entitlement pays for the visit. A family whose residence permit requires private insurance, such as the non-lucrative visa, has no public entitlement and uses Sanitas for everything except a life-threatening emergency, which the public system treats first and bills afterwards.

Families with both use each for what it does best. Calendar vaccines and repeat prescriptions come from the health centre. The paediatrician of their choice on a day of their choosing, the specialist without a referral, the scan without the wait and the private room come from Sanitas. Our public versus private healthcare guide compares the two systems.

Which plan for a child

• A family of three or more: Sanitas Mas Salud Family. Paediatric cover as on Mas Salud, with 20 psychology sessions without a prescription, speech therapy for a lisp and childcare help if a parent is in hospital. Cheaper than Mas Salud from the third person. Language therapy for a child under 14 is not on Family; Mas Salud, Optima, Plus, Top Quantum and Residents Visa carry it.
• One parent and one child: Sanitas Mas Salud with no copayments, or Mas Salud Optima and Mas Salud Plus for less with copayments. A child's many small visits add up on the copayment plans; Plus caps what each person pays in a year and Optima has no cap.
• Applying for a visa from abroad: Sanitas Residents Visa, with paediatrics to 15, Dental 21 and no waiting periods.
• A tight budget: Sanitas Accede or Sanitas Avanza give a paediatrician, emergencies and tests with copayments, but no hospital stay, no speech therapy and only basic dental rather than Dental 21.
• Top Quantum: Mas Salud's cover with 20 psychology sessions, an annual eye check and the childhood vaccination visits included, though not the vaccines themselves; physiotherapy is capped at 30 sessions a year.

Ask us which plan fits your child, or compare the plans on our calculator with each child's date of birth. Prices for a whole household, and the household discounts, are in our family health insurance guide.

Frequently asked questions

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