Orthopaedics and Trauma Care with Sanitas
If a knee or a hip has been hurting for a year, the question is rarely whether to see someone. It is whether you can wait ten months for the operation, because that is how long a new policy takes before it pays for one.
What orthopaedics covers
Bones, joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons. In Spain you will often see it written as traumatologia, and the same department handles both the accident side and the wear-and-tear side.
The common reasons to go: a knee or hip that has worn out and hurts when you walk; a shoulder that will not lift; a back problem that has not responded to physiotherapy; a fracture that needs following up; carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, a torn meniscus. Most people arrive after months of putting up with something.
The 10-month wait on surgery, and what it does not apply to
This is the single most important thing to understand about orthopaedics and insurance.
Seeing the specialist has no waiting period at all. You can book a consultation the week your policy starts. Scans and tests follow the normal rules.
But an operation that needs a hospital bed is not covered for the first 10 months. A hip replacement, a knee replacement, spinal surgery, a shoulder reconstruction. Smaller procedures done as an outpatient are covered after 3 months.
The exception is an emergency. If you break your hip falling down the stairs, that is covered from day one, waiting period or not.
What this means in practice: if you already know a joint needs replacing, taking out a policy now will not get it done next month. Insurance in Spain is priced on the assumption you take it out before you need it, not after.
Where the orthopaedic specialists are
1,120 clinics across 50 provinces, with 2,654 named specialists between them – and you can book any of them yourself, without a referral.
- Barcelona – 154 clinics, 406 specialists
- Madrid – 138 clinics, 441 specialists
- Valencia – 71 clinics, 145 specialists
- Malaga – 64 clinics, 90 specialists
- Seville – 52 clinics, 127 specialists
- Alicante – 45 clinics, 118 specialists
- Girona – 34 clinics, 49 specialists
Coverage is good almost everywhere, because orthopaedics is one of the specialties every private hospital runs.
Language at the appointment
If you are facing an operation rather than a consultation, being understood properly is worth travelling for. Ask us and we will check who is near you and what languages they work in.
What you pay
On a no-co-payment plan you pay nothing for the consultation, the scans or the surgery once the waiting period has passed. On a co-payment plan you pay a small fixed amount for each visit, and the surgery itself is still covered in full.
See every Sanitas waiting period in one place, including how switching from another insurer waives nearly all of them.
Find an orthopaedic specialist near you
Browse orthopaedics in the Sanitas directory – by province, with addresses, phone numbers and a map.
