Sanitas Renewal Price Gone Up? Why It Changes, and How to Reduce, Change, Enhance or Cancel Your Cover

Why does a Sanitas renewal price go up, and what can you do about it?

A Sanitas renewal price increase has three causes. Sanitas re-prices you each year at the age you have reached, on the tariff it has in force on your renewal date, and any first-year discount ends or steps down. You have until one month before the renewal date to give notice, so start earlier.

The biggest lever that keeps your cover is the copayment version of the same plan. At 55 a person alone pays €104.65 a month on Mas Salud Optima against €137.16 on Sanitas Mas Salud. The others are annual payment for 4 per cent off, the household on one policy, and dropping add-ons you do not use. You can also enhance the policy with add-ons from €2.00 a person a month, or cancel with one month's written notice. A change of plan has consequences: waiting periods can start again and Sanitas can ask for a new health questionnaire, so the timing matters.

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 explains why the premium changes and how the policy year and notice periods work. It then gives seven ways to pay less, what changing plan does to your cover, the main add-ons with their prices and rules, and how cancellation works. A copayment, where the word appears, is a small fixed sum you pay Sanitas each time you use a service, billed to your account each month and never paid at the clinic. All prices are Sanitas' 2026 standard price list for a new member, one adult in mainland Spain, paid monthly. Our guide to how much health insurance costs in Spain gives every age band.

Why your Sanitas renewal price increases each year

Your premium rises for three reasons: your age band, the tariff Sanitas sets for your renewal date, and the end of any first-year discount. This is written into the general conditions of every Sanitas plan. At each renewal Sanitas may change the annual premium and the copayment amounts on technical and actuarial criteria. Those criteria are the change in the cost of medical services, the type and frequency of use of the cover, and new medical technology. Premiums vary according to the age reached by each insured person, the geographical zone and the tariff Sanitas has set on the renewal date. Sanitas must tell you in writing at least two months before the renewal, and you may accept the new premium or end the policy with at least one month's notice. Your renewal letter gives the new figure.

• Your age band. Sanitas prices the Mas Salud range, Top Quantum and Residents Visa in five-year bands from 20 to 74, with 75 as its own band. The steps are large: a person alone on Mas Salud pays over a quarter more from 60 than at 55 to 59, and about two thirds more at 75. Accede and Avanza have two adult bands, 20 to 39 and 40 to 59. The Professional plans step at 25, 45 and 60. Sanitas Unico has bands at 60 to 64, 65 to 74, 75 to 85 and 86 and over. Mas 90, Mas 90 Plus and Premium 500 have a price for every single year of age, so they move every birthday. Your age for the year is your age on the renewal date.
• The tariff on your renewal date. Sanitas sets its tariffs periodically; the current new-member price list runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Your renewal is priced on the tariff Sanitas has in force on your renewal date, which can differ from the new-member list, so a renewal can rise even if you stayed in the same band.
• Discounts that end. Introductory offers, such as a percentage off the first year, end or step down at renewal (some run for two or three years at a reducing rate), and the standard price shows through. The standing discounts stay: the 4 per cent for annual payment and the household discounts described below.

One small line on the first receipt of each year is not an increase. Health insurance in Spain carries the Consorcio de Compensacion de Seguros levy of 0.15 per cent of the annual net premium, which Sanitas collects on the first receipt of each year. There is no value added tax (VAT) and no insurance premium tax on health cover.

The policy year, the renewal date and the notice periods

• One year, renewed automatically. Every Sanitas policy except the student plan runs for a year from its start date, always the 1st of a month, and renews automatically for a further year unless one side objects. The one-year term and the notice periods are set by Spanish insurance contract law and written into the Sanitas conditions.
• Your notice: one month. To cancel, tell Sanitas in writing at least one month before the renewal date. Sanitas' notice to you, for a price change or for not renewing, is two months. For a change of plan or add-ons, tell us at least six weeks before the date so that we can lodge it in time.
• Where your renewal date is. On the renewal letter, on your particular conditions and in Mi Sanitas, the customer area. If you do nothing, the policy renews at the new price for another year.
• Payments. You can pay annually, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly on most plans; Residents Visa is six-monthly or annual only. If a payment is missed, cover is suspended one month after the due date and comes back 24 hours after the day you pay. Not paying does not cancel the policy: if Sanitas claims the premium, the whole of the remaining year's premium is due in one sum and you lose the right to pay in instalments. Only if Sanitas has not claimed it within six months is the contract treated as ended. To leave, give written notice before renewal.
• Changes to details. Address, bank account and contact details are changed through Mi Sanitas or by phone; changes to the main policy data need the policyholder's signature. See change your policy details. Adding a person to the policy is done through us or by the policyholder in Mi Sanitas; see adding a person to your policy.

Seven ways to reduce your Sanitas health insurance premium

These are the levers that exist inside Sanitas' own price list, in the order we would look at them with a client. The figure for a change of plan on an existing policy comes from Sanitas; we obtain it for you before you decide.

1. Move to the copayment version of the same cover

Sanitas Mas Salud, Mas Salud Optima and Mas Salud Plus are one product with three ways to pay. The medical cover is identical; the difference is whether you pay a small fixed copayment each time you use a service. Optima charges €4 to €15 a consultation, €12 a complex test, €8 an emergency visit and €2 a physiotherapy session, with no annual cap. Plus makes the first six services a year free, then €4 to €10 a consultation and €12 for a high-frequency course, capped at €360 a person a year. Our guide to how copayments work has the full schedules. For someone who sees a doctor a few times a year, the copayments rarely add up to the premium saved:

Optima costs roughly a quarter less than Mas Salud in your forties and fifties and about a sixth less from 65; Plus sits between the two. To see the saving at your age, compare the plans on our calculator.

The same choice exists on the worldwide plans, where Mas 90 costs about 9 per cent more than Mas 90 Plus at 55. For the self-employed, Sanitas Professional costs about three quarters more than Professional Plus at 55. Two caveats. The copayment plans are not accepted for a visa or residency application, so if a residency renewal is coming, stay on the no-copayment version; see residency registration. And before you move to a copayment version, we check with Sanitas whether the change needs a new health questionnaire and confirm the answer in writing.

2. Move to an outpatient-only plan

If you are prepared to use the public system for anything needing a hospital bed, an outpatient plan removes hospital cover and most of the premium. Sanitas Accede is the cheapest Sanitas health plan, and Sanitas Avanza costs about a third more. From 60, Sanitas Unico costs about a quarter of the Mas Salud price. Unico has no health questionnaire, and existing Sanitas customers can move to it without one. Sanitas confirms the premium on a switch and waives Unico's six-month wait for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerised tomography (CT) scans for people who already hold full cover. We confirm both for you before you switch. All three keep general practitioner and specialist consultations, simple tests and emergencies, with copayments; none is accepted for a visa or residency. It is the biggest saving available and the biggest thing to give up, so decide it on how you use hospitals, not on the premium alone.

3. Pay annually

Paying the year in one go takes 4 per cent off Mas Salud, Optima, Plus, Family, Top Quantum, Accede, Avanza, Mas 90, Mas 90 Plus, Premium 500, Professional Plus and the student plan. Sanitas Professional gets just under 4 per cent. Over a year that is roughly half a month's premium saved. Mas 90, Mas 90 Plus and Premium 500 also give 2 per cent for half-yearly payment. Sanitas Unico costs the same whichever way you pay, and Residents Visa is billed six-monthly or annually. You change the payment frequency in Mi Sanitas or through us; ask us when the change takes effect for your policy.

4. Put the household on one policy

On Mas Salud, Optima, Plus, Family and Top Quantum a person insured alone pays 8 per cent more than each person on a couple's policy. This means couples on one policy pay about 7 per cent less each. On a new policy with four or more insured, Mas Salud, Optima, Plus and Top Quantum take 10 per cent off. Mas Salud Family takes 14 per cent off at three and 19 per cent at four or more, and Premium 500 15 per cent at four or more. Mas 90 and Mas 90 Plus take 10 per cent off at three or four and 15 per cent at five or six. When you add people to an existing policy, we obtain the discount Sanitas applies before you decide. These discounts apply to the plan premium and to add-ons that come included with the plan, never to optional add-ons you buy.

5. Drop the add-ons you do not use

Every optional add-on is priced per person per month on top of the plan, and several must be taken by everyone on the policy. Asking us to remove one for the renewal date is a straightforward saving: €5.90 for optical, €4.30 for pharmacy, €2.70 for traffic and work accidents, and from €28.90 for worldwide reimbursement. Two warnings. Repatriation costs €3.20 a person and is a requirement for a visa or residency application. It can only be put back at a renewal, never mid-policy, so keep it if a visa or residency renewal is anywhere ahead. And optional add-ons you buy are never discounted with the plan, so an offer on the premium does not reach them.

6. Check what you are being priced for

Check the renewal notice against your policy: who is insured and which add-ons are listed. Cover for a person ends when they move abroad or spend less than six months a year in Spain, but only once you tell Sanitas and provide proof; the premium runs until you do. Check the address on file too, because premiums vary by zone. Madrid postcodes, for example, are priced differently from the rest of the mainland.

7. Do not cancel and rejoin for the new-customer price

The new-policyholder tariff on the plan pages applies only to people who have had no Sanitas policy in the previous six months. Leaving and coming back means a gap in cover, a fresh health questionnaire in which anything that has developed since you first joined can be excluded, and the waiting periods running again from the start. Changing plan or add-ons at renewal keeps you insured throughout.

What changing plan does to your cover

When you move up from a copayment plan to the no-copayment version of the same cover, Sanitas treats it as a new contract, and two rules follow. Plan for any other change of plan to work the same way; we confirm the position with Sanitas before you commit.

1. The waiting periods start again. On the Mas Salud range that is 3 months for minor operations, 6 months for complex tests, 8 months for childbirth, and 10 months for hospital admissions, major surgery and complex therapeutic methods. Psychology waits 6 months too, except on Mas Salud Family. That means a planned hospital admission or major operation is not covered on the new plan for its first ten months, and a minor operation for its first three. A life-threatening emergency is covered from day one. Everyday consultations, simple tests and emergencies are unaffected, because they carry no waiting period on any plan. Our guide to waiting periods has every plan's list.
2. A new health questionnaire. Sanitas assesses you again for the new plan, so a condition that has developed since you first joined can be excluded, or the application declined. If you have declared conditions, ask us before you change anything, and never give notice on the old plan until Sanitas has accepted the new one. Our guide to pre-existing conditions explains the outcomes. Sanitas Unico is the exception: it has no questionnaire, and existing customers move to it without one.
3. Timing. Plan changes are normally made for the renewal date. Tell us what you want and we confirm the effective date with Sanitas.

Two practical consequences follow. If you know you will need a no-copayment policy later, for example for a residency renewal, start on it rather than upgrading later. The waiting periods are then served once and your health is assessed once. And if you are switching to Sanitas from another Spanish insurer, the rules are kinder. After at least a year of similar cover Sanitas waives the waiting periods except childbirth on its network plans; see switching to Sanitas from another insurer.

How to enhance your cover: the add-ons

Add-ons are optional covers added to the plan, priced per person per month and shown as separate lines on your receipt. Most are chosen at application or renewal; optical, one version of pharmacy, income protection and family assistance can be added during the year, sometimes with a waiting period. Some cover everyone on the policy and others are per person. Our add-ons page has every one in detail; the table gives the main ones with the price and the rule that trips people up, which is when it can be added.

Blua, the digital health service with 24-hour urgent video consultations with a general practitioner or paediatrician, is included with every plan at no cost, and Total Protection comes included on the Professional plans. Holders of a comprehensive plan can also add the Clinica Universidad de Navarra add-on. It costs €38.40 a person a month in most provinces and is priced by age in Madrid, with a €10 copayment for each consultation, test or emergency there. It is not sold to residents of Navarra, Cantabria or La Rioja. Repatriation, worldwide reimbursement and the gynaecology and paediatrics refund can only be added at application or renewal, and the dental tiers and standard pharmacy cover are taken the same way. A missed renewal therefore means a year's wait for those.

Cancelling a Sanitas policy

To cancel, write to Sanitas at least one month before the renewal date. The policy runs to its expiry date, cancellation takes effect on that date, and you are not refunded for the months left. If you cancel, cover ends on the expiry date even if you are in hospital, so time a cancellation around any planned admission. It is only when Sanitas ends the policy that it must keep paying for a hospital stay until discharge. A person's cover ends earlier if they die, move abroad or spend less than six months a year in Spain. A policy bought at a distance can be withdrawn within 14 calendar days, less the cost of any services already used. Our renewal and cancellation FAQ gives the steps, and we draft the notice for you to sign and make sure it reaches Sanitas in time. Before you cancel to save money, read the seven options above: a renewal shock is usually better answered by a change of payment method or plan than by leaving.

Which change fits which situation

• The renewal letter at 60 or 65 is a shock. Move the same cover to Mas Salud Optima or Mas Salud Plus at renewal, or pay annually. We check with Sanitas whether the change needs a new health questionnaire before you commit; the copayments then replace part of the premium.
• Retired, rarely in hospital, happy with the public system for admissions. Sanitas Unico from 60 with no questionnaire, at about a quarter of the Mas Salud price.
• A visa or residency renewal is coming. Stay on a no-copayment plan with repatriation and change nothing that needs a new health questionnaire; see our visa health insurance page.
• You travel or spend time abroad. Add Worldwide reimbursement at renewal, or move to Mas 90 or Premium 500 at 64 or younger, the last age at which they accept new members. Sanitas assesses your health for the new plan, and plan for its waiting periods to run from the start.
• You want glasses, medicines or dental covered. Optical, pharmacy and the dental tiers are the add-ons that pay back for regular users; price them against what you spend.
• You have become self-employed. Sanitas Professional gives full network cover including hospital treatment with no copayments, plus dental, accident and Total Protection covers. Up to €500 a year of the premium per person is deductible under the direct-estimation income-tax regime; ask your gestor.

Whatever the change, the sequence is the same. Tell us what you want at least six weeks before your renewal date; we price it, draft the notice for you to sign and make sure it reaches Sanitas in time. Compare every Sanitas plan with your date of birth to see the figures for you.

Frequently asked questions

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