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Employees & autónomosPublic + private togetherEnglish-speaking support

Private Health Insurance Alongside Social Security

If your Spanish public-healthcare entitlement is active through your work or self-employment, you can add private Sanitas cover alongside it — for private appointments, your choice of doctor and hospital, and support in English.

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What private addsPrivate
You havePublic healthcare via Social Security
You addPrivate Sanitas cover alongside
You getAccess, choice, English support
ForEmployees & autónomos
Family cover✓ Partner & children
Get a Personalised Quote →
✓ Exclusive Sanitas Agent
✓ Sanitas International Experts
✓ English-speaking support
✓ Private cover alongside public
✓ Help choosing the right plan

The short answer

You Can Have Both — Public and Private Together

If you are registered with Spanish Social Security and your public-healthcare entitlement is active, you can also hold private Sanitas cover alongside it. Private health insurance does not replace public healthcare — it runs alongside it. Public healthcare covers your core needs; a private Sanitas plan adds private appointments, wider choice and English-speaking support. You choose which to use for what.

How they fit together

What Public Healthcare Gives You — and What Private Adds

Spanish public healthcare

How you get it
Through Spanish Social Security, once your public-healthcare entitlement is active.
What it covers
Comprehensive core healthcare — GPs, hospitals, emergencies and treatment — funded by the system you pay into.

Private Sanitas cover alongside

How you get it
A private policy you hold in addition to public healthcare.
What it adds
Access to private appointments with specialists and for tests, your choice of doctor and hospital, and English-speaking support — used alongside public healthcare, not instead of it.

Day to day

How People Use Both Systems in Everyday Life

In practice, people who hold both move between the two without much thought. You might keep your GP and repeat prescriptions with the public system, and turn to your private Sanitas cover for private specialist appointments, privately arranged diagnostics, or a particular hospital. Neither replaces the other — you simply use whichever suits the moment.

Private services

The Private Care You Can Use with Sanitas

  • Private GP and primary care across the Sanitas network.
  • Specialist consultations, booked directly without a public referral.
  • Diagnostics and imaging — tests and scans as part of your care.
  • Private hospital treatment and surgery on a comprehensive plan.
  • Digital care through the Mi Sanitas app — video consultations and quick advice.
  • English-speaking support from our team, from booking to claims.

Who it suits

Who Chooses Private Cover Alongside Public Healthcare?

Employees

Working for a Spanish company, once your public-healthcare entitlement is active, gives you public cover. Adding private cover means private specialist appointments and the choice to see your own doctor when it suits you.

Autónomos

Registering as an autónomo and contributing to RETA leads to public healthcare once your entitlement is active. Many self-employed people add private cover for private appointments and choice, with a plan designed for autónomos.

Families

Parents often want the option of private appointments and continuity for children. Private cover can also be arranged for your partner and children, alongside public healthcare.

Choosing between them

When People Reach for Public or Private

Which one you use comes down to the situation. People often lean on public healthcare for emergencies, routine prescriptions and ongoing conditions already managed there, and choose private cover for private specialist appointments, a second opinion, or keeping the same doctor. Over time you find the mix that works for you, and you are never locked into one for everything.

Your private options

Private Sanitas Cover You Can Add Alongside Public Healthcare

Your plan route follows how you work and how you prefer to pay. Employees, and their partners and children, can be added to comprehensive Sanitas Más Salud cover — with a copayment for a lower premium, or no copayment for predictable costs. Autónomos can look at the Sanitas Profesionales range designed for the self-employed. For qualifying autónomos in estimación directa, eligible health-insurance premiums may be treated as a deductible business expense within the applicable limits — your gestor or tax adviser can confirm your position.

Comprehensive cover

Sanitas Más Salud

Full private healthcare across the Sanitas network — specialists, diagnostics, surgery and hospitalisation — available with a copayment or as a no-copayment plan, so you can match the monthly cost to how often you expect to use it.

Sanitas Más Salud →
For self-employed

Sanitas Profesionales

A private range designed for autónomos, with options from no-copayment to lower-premium plans, plus an autónomo protection benefit for when you cannot work. We will help you pick the version that suits your budget and your work.

Compare Profesionales plans →
Get a Personalised Quote →Copay vs no-copay for autónomos

Get Your Personalised Sanitas Quote

Tell us your situation and we will help you add the right private Sanitas cover alongside your public healthcare. Share your nationality, whether you are employed or self-employed, date of birth and number of applicants.

  • Private cover alongside public healthcare
  • Comprehensive Más Salud or Profesionales options
  • For employees and autónomos
  • Cover for your partner or children
  • Everything arranged in English
  • English-speaking help from start to finish

Request a Personalised Quote

Applicant 1 (You)

Prefer to Talk It Through First?

Tell us your situation and our English-speaking advisers will help you find the right private Sanitas cover.

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FAQs

Private + Public Healthcare FAQs

Common questions for employees and autónomos who already have Spanish public healthcare.

Yes. If you are registered with Spanish Social Security and your public-healthcare entitlement is active, you can hold a private Sanitas policy alongside it. Many people use both: public healthcare for some things and private cover for private appointments and choice.
People choose private cover alongside public healthcare for access to private appointments, the ability to choose their own doctor and hospital, direct access to specialists, cover for the family and English-speaking support. You keep your public healthcare and add private cover on top of it.
Yes. Whether you are employed by a Spanish company or self-employed and paying into RETA, if you already have public healthcare you can add private Sanitas cover alongside it. The right plan can differ, and we help you choose.
No. This is about adding private cover once you already have Spanish public healthcare through your contributions, so it applies whatever your nationality or route to living in Spain.
Comprehensive Sanitas Más Salud plans, available with or without copayments, and the Sanitas Profesionales range designed for autónomos. We help you match the plan and the monthly cost to how you expect to use it.
Yes. We arrange cover for your partner or children on the same enquiry and help you choose what suits them.

Related Guides & Next Steps

Health insurance in Spain

Comprehensive health insuranceCopay vs no-copayPublic vs private healthcare

Self-employed & autónomos

Autónomo health insuranceBest Sanitas plan for autónomosPublic vs private for autónomos

Get started

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