Cancer Care and Oncology with Sanitas

With most conditions, private cover buys convenience. Here it buys time, and time is the thing that matters.

What this page is, and what it is not

This page is about the specialty: who oncologists are, where they are, and how cover works before you need them.

If you or someone close to you has just had a diagnosis, that is a different conversation and there is a separate guide for it: getting a cancer diagnosis covers coping, mental health support, and how Sanitas helps through treatment.

Pre-existing conditions, said plainly

This is the part people most need to understand and least want to read.

If you already have a cancer diagnosis, a new policy will not cover treatment for it. That is not Sanitas being difficult; no insurer anywhere covers a condition you already have when you apply. Insurance covers risk, and a known diagnosis is not a risk, it is a certainty.

What a policy does cover is anything that arises after it starts. Which is the argument for having cover in place while you are well, rather than looking into it when something has already been found.

Be accurate on the application. A condition not declared is a condition not covered, and that discovery comes at the worst possible time.

What is covered

Consultations, scans, biopsies, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy where these are part of treating a covered condition. Limits vary by plan, particularly around some newer drug treatments, so if a specific treatment is proposed it is worth having your policy checked against it rather than assuming.

Waiting periods, which matter more here than anywhere

Consultations are covered immediately – you can see an oncologist from the day your policy starts. After that the dates matter:

• Scans such as MRI, CT and PET – not covered for the first 6 months.
• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy – not covered for the first 10 months. Sanitas groups these under complex therapeutic methods.
• Surgery needing a hospital bed – not covered for the first 10 months.
• Anything urgent – covered from day one, with no wait at all.

If you have held private cover in Spain with another insurer for at least a year, Sanitas waives all of these. Childbirth is the only one they will not waive.

See every Sanitas waiting period in one place, including how switching from another insurer waives nearly all of them.

Screening

The screening that catches things early is spread across other specialties – mammograms under radiology, mole checks under dermatology, colonoscopy under digestive, PSA testing under urology. All are covered, subject to their own waiting periods, and all are worth using.

Where the oncologists are

101 clinics across 39 provinces, with 314 named specialists between them – and you can book any of them yourself, without a referral.

• Madrid – 12 clinics, 67 oncologists
• Barcelona – 9 clinics, 28 oncologists
• Malaga – 8 clinics, 26 oncologists
• Valencia – 7 clinics, 18 oncologists
• Alicante – 6 clinics, 21 oncologists

Spread across 39 provinces but concentrated in large hospitals, which is appropriate for this kind of treatment.

Language at the appointment

Of every specialty on this site, this is the one where being understood matters most. Ask us and we will check who is near you and what languages they work in.

What you pay

Nothing at the clinic on a no-co-payment plan. A fixed amount per appointment on a co-payment plan; treatment itself is covered in full.

Find an oncologist near you

Browse oncologists in the Sanitas directory – by province, with addresses, phone numbers and a map.