What are Sanitas carencias?

Carencias are waiting periods: the time between your policy starting and a particular treatment being covered. In Spanish each one is a periodo de carencia. Anything not subject to a wait is covered from the day your policy starts, including ordinary consultations, blood tests, X-rays and seeing any specialist without a referral. Any life-threatening emergency is covered from day one.

How long is the periodo de carencia on Sanitas?

It depends on the treatment and the plan. On Mas Salud, which is what most people hold, outpatient surgery waits 3 months, complex diagnostic tests and psychology 6 months, childbirth 8 months, and chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hospitalisation 10 months. Top Quantum is shorter on most of the list, with 8 months for hospitalisation rather than 10, but outpatient surgery waits 8 months on Top Quantum, not 3. Accede has no waiting periods, Unico has none apart from complex diagnostic tests, and Sanitas Residents Visa waives all of them. The longest wait in the range is bariatric surgery for morbid obesity on Sanitas Mas 90 and Sanitas Premium 500, at 60 months. Sanitas International Students has no waiting periods, and business plans have none from 51 insured.

What is the Sanitas waiting period for pregnancy?

Childbirth or caesarean waits 8 months on Sanitas Mas Salud, Top Quantum, Mas 90, Premium 500 and the two Professional plans. It is the one waiting period Sanitas does not waive when you switch from another insurer. A premature birth before 37 weeks is treated as an emergency and covered from day one. Sanitas Residents Visa has no waiting periods on any covered treatment.

Is there a waiting period for emergencies with Sanitas?

No. Any life-threatening, unexpected accident or illness diagnosed after the policy starts is covered from day one, including a premature birth before 37 weeks. The waiting periods apply only to planned treatment on the list above, such as non-urgent surgery, complex scans and childbirth.

Does Sanitas Residents Visa have waiting periods?

No. Sanitas Residents Visa has no waiting periods and no co-payments, which is why it meets the consulate rules for a non-lucrative or digital nomad visa. Sanitas Accede and Sanitas International Students also have none, and Sanitas Unico has none apart from complex diagnostic tests.

Does health insurance held abroad count towards the 12 months?

No. Private health insurance held in another country does not count, except a policy with a Bupa company. Sanitas waives its waiting periods, except childbirth, when you have held private health insurance in Spain with another insurer for at least 12 months, and you will need proof of continuous cover.

Health Insurance Explained

Sanitas Waiting Periods: What Is Covered, and When

Written by Sean Guy, authorised Sanitas agent (agent code 22395) and DGSFP-registered insurance mediator (C0320X5769518Z), Marbella · Reviewed 16 September 2026

Buy a policy today and most of it works today. But a handful of treatments are not covered straight away, and if you do not know which, you can find out at the worst possible moment – halfway through arranging an operation.

This is every one of them, in one place. In Spanish, Sanitas calls these waits carencias, and each one is a periodo de carencia.

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.

How long are Sanitas waiting periods?

On Sanitas Mas Salud, consultations, everyday tests and emergencies are covered from day one. Outpatient surgery waits 3 months (8 on Top Quantum), complex scans and psychology 6 months, childbirth 8 months, and hospitalisation, chemotherapy and radiotherapy 10 months. After 12 months with another Spanish insurer, Sanitas waives every waiting period except childbirth.

What a waiting period actually is

It is the gap between your policy starting and a particular treatment being paid for. Sanitas's own paperwork sometimes calls it a qualification period, and in Spanish it is periodo de carencia. Same thing.

It exists to stop people buying insurance the week they find out they need an operation, then cancelling afterwards. Every Spanish insurer does it, and the periods are broadly the same across all of them.

The full list

These are the only things subject to a wait. Anything not on this list is covered from the day your policy starts – ordinary consultations, blood tests, X-rays, seeing any specialist you like without a referral.

These are the Mas Salud figures, which is what most people hold. They are not the same on every plan.

Sanitas Residents Visa waives all of them. Covered from day one, whatever is on the list below.
Accede has no waiting periods at all.
Sanitas International Students has no waiting periods.
Sanitas business plans have no waiting periods from 51 insured, and none except childbirth from 21 to 50 insured; see business health insurance.
Sanitas Unico has none either, apart from complex diagnostic tests.
Top Quantum is shorter on most of the list – three months for psychology, six for chemotherapy and radiotherapy, eight for hospitalisation rather than ten – but longer on one: outpatient surgery waits eight months on Top Quantum, not three.
Mas Salud Family covers psychology from day one where the other Mas Salud plans wait six months.
Sanitas Mas 90 and Sanitas Premium 500 match Mas Salud, and add one of their own: bariatric surgery for morbid obesity waits 60 months – five years, and the longest wait anywhere in the range.

So if a date matters to you, check your own plan rather than this table, or ask us and we will tell you.

What	Wait
Any life-threatening emergency	None – covered from day one
Outpatient surgical procedures, where you go home the same day	3 months (8 months on Top Quantum)
Complex diagnostic tests – MRI, CT and PET scans, and neurophysiology tests such as EEG, EMG and nerve conduction studies	6 months
Psychology	6 months
Speech therapy	6 months
Childbirth or caesarean	8 months
Complex therapeutic methods – chemotherapy, radiotherapy, interventional cardiology, lithotripsy	10 months
Vasectomy and tubal ligation	10 months
Hospitalisation and surgery needing a bed	10 months

The one that catches people out

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy sit in the 10-month group. They are grouped under "complex therapeutic methods", which is not a phrase anyone would think to look up, so people assume cancer treatment is covered from the start because the consultation is.

The consultation genuinely is. You can see an oncologist the week your policy starts. The scan that follows waits six months and the treatment waits ten.

If you are already unwell, or already have a diagnosis, say so before you apply. A condition you already have is declared on the health questionnaire, and Sanitas decides whether it is accepted, excluded, loaded or declined: our guide to pre-existing conditions explains the four outcomes. Being upfront is the difference between a policy that works and one that does not pay when you need it.

Emergencies override all of it

This is the part worth remembering above everything else. In a genuine emergency every waiting period is suspended.

A heart attack, a burst appendix, a serious accident, a premature birth. Covered from day one, whether the policy started ten years ago or last Tuesday. The waits exist to stop people buying cover for something they already know about, not to leave anyone stranded in a crisis.

If you already have insurance elsewhere, this changes everything

The single most useful thing on this page, and almost nobody knows it.

If you have held private health insurance in Spain with another insurer for at least a year, Sanitas waives these waiting periods. The only exception is childbirth.

So if you are unhappy with your current insurer, you are not starting from scratch. Move across and your surgery cover, your scans and your treatment carry over from day one. That is worth checking before you renew with anyone else.

You will need proof of continuous cover for the previous year. We can tell you exactly what your current insurer needs to give you. Private health insurance held in another country does not count, except a policy with a Bupa company.

What this means in practice

Take cover out before you need it. Unglamorous, but it is the whole game. Insurance is priced on the assumption you buy it while you are well.
If a joint already hurts, or a hernia has been grumbling, expect to wait most of a year before an operation is covered.
If you are planning a family, the eight months on childbirth means taking the policy out well before rather than after.
If you are switching insurers, none of the above applies to you except childbirth.

Official sources

The facts on this page can be checked against these documents and official pages.

Frequently asked questions

What are Sanitas carencias?: Carencias are waiting periods: the time between your policy starting and a particular treatment being covered. In Spanish each one is a periodo de carencia. Anything not subject to a wait is covered from the day your policy starts, including ordinary consultations, blood tests, X-rays and seeing any specialist without a referral. Any life-threatening emergency is covered from day one.

How long is the periodo de carencia on Sanitas?: It depends on the treatment and the plan. On Mas Salud, which is what most people hold, outpatient surgery waits 3 months, complex diagnostic tests and psychology 6 months, childbirth 8 months, and chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hospitalisation 10 months. Top Quantum is shorter on most of the list, with 8 months for hospitalisation rather than 10, but outpatient surgery waits 8 months on Top Quantum, not 3. Accede has no waiting periods, Unico has none apart from complex diagnostic tests, and Sanitas Residents Visa waives all of them. The longest wait in the range is bariatric surgery for morbid obesity on Sanitas Mas 90 and Sanitas Premium 500, at 60 months. Sanitas International Students has no waiting periods, and business plans have none from 51 insured.

Are Sanitas carencias waived if I switch from another insurer?: Yes, with one exception. If you have held private health insurance in Spain with another insurer for at least a year, Sanitas waives these waiting periods. The only exception is childbirth. You will need proof of continuous cover for the previous year, and we can tell you exactly what your current insurer needs to give you.

What is the Sanitas waiting period for pregnancy?: Childbirth or caesarean waits 8 months on Sanitas Mas Salud, Top Quantum, Mas 90, Premium 500 and the two Professional plans. It is the one waiting period Sanitas does not waive when you switch from another insurer. A premature birth before 37 weeks is treated as an emergency and covered from day one. Sanitas Residents Visa has no waiting periods on any covered treatment.

Is there a waiting period for emergencies with Sanitas?: No. Any life-threatening, unexpected accident or illness diagnosed after the policy starts is covered from day one, including a premature birth before 37 weeks. The waiting periods apply only to planned treatment on the list above, such as non-urgent surgery, complex scans and childbirth.

Does Sanitas Residents Visa have waiting periods?: No. Sanitas Residents Visa has no waiting periods and no co-payments, which is why it meets the consulate rules for a non-lucrative or digital nomad visa. Sanitas Accede and Sanitas International Students also have none, and Sanitas Unico has none apart from complex diagnostic tests.

Does health insurance held abroad count towards the 12 months?: No. Private health insurance held in another country does not count, except a policy with a Bupa company. Sanitas waives its waiting periods, except childbirth, when you have held private health insurance in Spain with another insurer for at least 12 months, and you will need proof of continuous cover.

Not sure where you stand?

Tell us your policy start date and what you are waiting on, and we will tell you the exact date you are covered from. It takes two minutes and it is better than guessing.

Ask us about your dates

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