Adeslas vs Sanitas: Spanish Visa Health Insurance 2026

Adeslas vs Sanitas: at a glance

Price: Adeslas is cheaper — but what is the real cost difference?

Adeslas Extranjeros is publicly priced from €620.04/year (€51.67/month) for applicants aged 0–44. Sanitas Residents Visa starts from €67.76/month. At entry level, that is roughly €16/month or around €192/year in favour of Adeslas. On paper, this looks straightforward. In practice, you need to look at what each policy actually provides for that price before drawing conclusions.

Sanitas includes dental cover as standard with no waiting periods — 45+ free dental services and 20%+ discounts on all other treatments from day one, across 216+ owned Sanitas dental clinics. Adeslas Extranjeros does not include dental. If you budget for dental cover separately — which most people will need — the real cost gap narrows substantially. Sanitas also includes BLUA, a 24/7 English-language digital GP platform with video consultations, prescription requests, digital physio, mental health support, and nutrition coaching. There is no Adeslas equivalent to BLUA.

When you factor in the 12-month contract flexibility (versus Adeslas's 36-month tie-in), automatic certificate delivery, 6-month advance contracting, owned hospital infrastructure, and ten optional add-ons, the €16/month difference represents a materially different product — not a minor one.

Adeslas prices from publicly published Extranjeros tariffs. Sanitas prices confirmed at point of quote based on age band and province. All prices subject to underwriting and current insurer tariffs.

The 36-month contract: Adeslas's biggest limitation

If there is one fact every potential Adeslas Extranjeros policyholder must understand before signing, it is this: Adeslas Extranjeros is a 36-month contract. From the day your policy starts, you are committed to Adeslas for three full years. You cannot switch insurer after year one. You cannot exit if your circumstances change, if you find a better product, or if Adeslas's network no longer suits your location. You are tied in.

Sanitas is a 12-month contract, renewable each year. After your first year, you can reassess — upgrade to Platinum Visa, add optional modules, switch to another insurer, or simply renew on the same terms. That annual flexibility is particularly valuable for applicants who are new to Spain and still learning how their private health insurance fits into their day-to-day life.

Dental: Sanitas includes it, Adeslas does not

Sanitas Residents Visa and Platinum Visa both include dental cover as standard — with no waiting periods, from the first day of your policy. The dental benefit covers more than 45 free dental services, including consultations, X-rays, scaling and polishing, fluoride treatments, and extractions. Discounts of over 20% apply to all other dental treatments. Platinum Visa includes an even more comprehensive dental package. Sanitas operates 216+ owned dental clinics across Spain — the same integrated infrastructure as the rest of your policy.

Adeslas Extranjeros does not include dental cover. If dental care is a day-one priority — for routine check-ups, hygiene, or treatment — you would need to arrange this separately through Adeslas's dental network (if available) or independently. When you factor in the cost of separate dental cover, the headline price gap between Adeslas and Sanitas narrows meaningfully.

Network: Sanitas owns its infrastructure, Adeslas does not

Adeslas has one of Spain's broadest cuadros médicos by total volume — its contracted network spans a large number of private GPs, specialists, clinics, and hospital groups including Quirónsalud and HM Hospitales. However, Adeslas owns none of these facilities. Every provider in the Adeslas network is a contracted third party. Standards, service quality, and English-language availability at each centre depend entirely on that individual provider.

Sanitas is different. Its network is built on infrastructure it owns and operates directly: five owned hospitals (including Hospital Universitario Sanitas La Zarzuela in Madrid and Hospital Universitario Sanitas CIMA in Barcelona), a national chain of Sanitas Milenium clinics, and 216+ owned dental centres. This means consistent standards throughout — and for complex care pathways (specialist referral, inpatient admission, aftercare), the integrated management of your care within Sanitas's own facilities is a genuine quality advantage.

For everyday GP and specialist consultations, both networks provide adequate access across major cities and coastal areas. The owned-infrastructure advantage matters most when care becomes complex or when the continuity of your treatment pathway is important.

Certificate & process: automatic vs 48–72 hours

Sanitas sends the visa certificate automatically once the policy is activated and payment has been received. No manual step, no agent chasing, no waiting — the certificate arrives as soon as the transaction completes. For applicants with an imminent consulate appointment, this is the fastest and most reliable process available.

Adeslas issues the certificate within 48–72 hours, sent by your agent after acceptance and payment are confirmed. In the vast majority of cases this process works smoothly. But if your consulate appointment falls within 48 hours of your payment being processed, you need the certainty of Sanitas's automatic delivery — not the assumption that an agent will have processed everything in time.

Advance contracting: Sanitas up to 6 months, Adeslas ~90 days

Sanitas allows you to contract the policy up to 6 months before the required start date. This is particularly valuable for applicants who are planning their move to Spain well in advance — you can secure your health insurance certificate months before you need it, then activate the policy on the date that suits your visa timeline.

Adeslas can normally be contracted a maximum of around 90 days before the required start date. For most applicants applying one to three months before their move, this is perfectly adequate. But for those planning further ahead — especially applicants coordinating a relocation that requires booking flights, property, and documents many months out — Sanitas's 6-month window is a distinct practical advantage.

English support: BLUA vs no equivalent

Sanitas provides English-language support throughout. The BLUA app runs entirely in English — 24/7 GP consultations, prescription requests, appointment booking, video calls with specialists, digital physio, mental health programmes, and nutrition coaching, all in English. Customer service is available in English. The Mi Sanitas patient app includes a doctor-language filter so you can find English-speaking consultants in your area.

Adeslas's corporate customer service, app, and website are primarily Spanish-language. In expat-heavy areas, many Adeslas-affiliated doctors speak English — but this depends on each individual provider. For administrative matters — authorisations, certificate requests, billing queries — you are dealing with a Spanish-language operation. For applicants who are not yet fluent in Spanish, or for anyone managing a medical situation across a language barrier, this is a real practical difference.

Sanitas optional add-ons — not available through Adeslas

One of Sanitas's significant advantages over Adeslas is the add-on ecosystem available to policyholders. None of these optional modules exist on the Adeslas product:

Who should choose Sanitas?

Who should choose Adeslas?

Our verdict

You searched for Adeslas vs Sanitas — so here is the honest answer. Adeslas has the lower from-price (€51.67/month vs €67.76/month for Sanitas at entry level) and that is a real difference for cost-sensitive applicants. If your primary goal is the cheapest DGSFP-authorised visa certificate and you are under 65 in good health, Adeslas can achieve that.

But the trade-offs are significant. Adeslas Extranjeros is a 36-month contract. You are tied in for three full years with no flexibility to switch. There is no dental included. The network is entirely contracted third-party infrastructure — Adeslas owns no hospitals, clinics, or dental centres. The certificate takes 48–72 hours via your agent. The customer service and app are Spanish-language. And the standard joining age cutoff of 65 means a large proportion of visa applicants cannot use it at all.

Sanitas costs more per month, but includes dental from day one, a 12-month contract giving annual flexibility, the BLUA English 24/7 digital health app, automatic certificate delivery, owned hospitals and clinics, up to 6 months' advance contracting, a 50/50 split payment option, and ten optional add-ons. When you add dental separately to Adeslas — which most policyholders will — the real price gap shrinks considerably. For anyone planning to actually live in Spain and use their health insurance as healthcare, Sanitas is the more complete investment.

Frequently asked questions

Pricing shown is sourced from each insurer's own published pages and is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. Premiums are individually underwritten and confirmed at quote stage. Always verify current terms directly with the insurer or your specialist before purchasing.