Waiting Periods and Sin Carencias in Spanish Health Insurance

What a carencia is

A carencia (waiting period) is a set number of months, counted from the date each person joins the policy, before a particular benefit can be used. The policy is live and you are paying premiums, but certain services are locked until the period ends.

The aim is to stop people buying insurance the week before a planned operation or birth. That is why the waits attach to expensive, plannable care (surgery, admissions, childbirth, advanced scans) and not to routine consultations.

What has no wait on the main comprehensive policies:

• GP, paediatric and specialist consultations, in person or by video
• Simple tests such as blood and urine tests, X-rays and ultrasounds
• Emergency care

Sanitas lists exactly these as available from the start date.

Typical waiting periods by insurer

The figures below come from each insurer's own conditions or product pages. Periods are counted from your personal start date.

Sources: Adeslas Plena 2025 conditions, DKV Integral guide, Sanitas Más Salud Familias, Mapfre Reembolso. "Not stated" means the published summary did not give a figure, not that there is no wait.

Surgery "groups" refer to the Spanish medical colleges' scale of surgical complexity, from group 0 (minor procedures) to group VIII (the most complex). Mapfre also applies 6 months to rehabilitation and 48 months to its adoption benefit.

The pattern is clear: if you expect surgery or a birth, the 8 to 10-month window is what matters.

Exceptions: when the wait does not apply

• Life-threatening emergencies. Adeslas Plena exempts surgery and complicated births in a vital emergency; DKV exempts emergency and accident admissions.
• Premature births. Adeslas waives the childbirth wait for births before week 28; Sanitas, for births before week 37.
• Switching from another Spanish insurer. Sanitas removes waiting periods if you have held similar cover with another Spanish insurer for at least a year, with continuous cover between the two. Childbirth and bariatric surgery keep their waits, the waiver does not apply to Sanitas reimbursement products, and time with Muface, Mugeju or ISFAS does not count. You need a copy of your old policy conditions and your last premium receipt.
• Newborns. A baby added to the mother's Adeslas policy within the deadline takes on only whatever waiting period the mother still has left.

Other insurers run similar switching schemes on their own terms; ask for the waiver in writing before you cancel your old policy. Our page on switching insurers covers timing.

Sin carencias and visa applications

For most residence routes, a standard policy with 8-month waits is not enough.

• Digital nomad visa and permit. The Unidad de Grandes Empresas (UGE) states that it does not accept travel insurance, reimbursement-only policies, or policies with co-payments or waiting periods. Its English FAQ repeats this. See digital nomad visa insurance.
• Non-lucrative and other consular visas. Wording varies by consulate. The Spanish consulate in São Paulo, for example, requires "un seguro médico sin carencias, ni copago" with no coverage limit. Check your own consulate's checklist; our non-lucrative visa guide summarises what consulates ask for.

Insurers sell products designed for this. Sanitas, for example, lists "sin carencias" and "sin copagos" among the visa requirements its visa products are built to meet, with prices for Sanitas International Residents from €95.15 a month for start dates from July 2025 to December 2026 (Sanitas).

What sin carencias does not mean

Three common misunderstandings:

1. It does not cover pre-existing conditions. A waiting period delays a covered benefit; an exclusion removes it. Anything excluded after your health questionnaire stays excluded. See what private insurance doesn't cover.
2. It may not include childbirth. Ask whether the visa product covers childbirth at all and, if it does, from when. Comparison site Selectra notes that even when insurers waive waits for switchers, most keep the pregnancy wait of 8 to 10 months (Selectra).
3. The certificate must say it. For a visa, the insurer's certificate should state that there are no waiting periods or co-payments. A sales email is not evidence. See health insurance certificates.

How to check the waiting periods on your policy

1. Find the periodos de carencia clause in the condiciones generales (general conditions).
2. Check your condiciones particulares (personal conditions) for your start date and any waiver agreed when you switched.
3. Calculate the end date for the benefits you expect to need, especially surgery and childbirth.
4. If a waiver was promised, make sure it appears in the contract. Article 3 of the Insurance Contract Act requires clauses limiting your rights to be highlighted and accepted in writing, so restrictions should be visible in what you sign.

When you're ready, here's how to get comparable quotes, direct from insurers or through a registered broker.