Although many insurance companies require a grace period when contracting health insurance, there are also medical card insurances without grace periods.
Health insurance without gap means that from the first day, you will be able to make use of all the coverage included in your policy without having to wait.
Is the grace period in all insurance?
Typically, health insurance includes a certain grace period. This is due to the fact that insurers seek to protect themselves against those who want to take out a policy exclusively to solve a specific health problem or a specific medical emergency. The grace period would be, therefore, the time that must elapse from when you sign the policy until you can use all the medical services covered by it.
However, the grace period does not apply to all insurances or to all coverages. In fact, it can only be applied if this is expressly stated in the contract you have signed and only for those coverages that are specified in said contract.
What grace periods does health insurance have?
The grace period for your health insurance must be established in the general conditions of the policy you have contracted. The guarantees would come into force after the said period. The waiting periods vary depending on each insurer and the different coverages and medical specialties. However, in an approximate way, we can point out the following grace periods as the most common:
- Surgical intervention without hospitalization: between 3 and 6 months.
- Surgical intervention with hospitalization: 6 months.
- Diagnostics with high technology: from 3 to 4 months.
- Complex clinical analyses: between 3 and 6 months.
- Special treatments (cardiovascular, oncological, dialysis, etc.): from 3 to 10 months, depending on the type of treatment.
- Elimination of kidney stones: between 3 and 12 months.
- Pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum: between 6 and 10 months.
- Vasectomy and tubal ligation: about eight months.
- Transplants: about 12 months.
Does medical insurance without copays and without deficiencies exist?
The existence or not of a co-payment and a grace period in your health insurance will ultimately depend on the company with which you take out the policy and the conditions offered by it. Therefore, it is possible to contract health insurance without copays and without deficiencies.
On the other hand, the growing competition between insurance companies has increased the offer of medical insurance without copays or deficiencies. This type of insurance gives you the peace of mind of being able to use your company’s entire medical and health chart from day one. You can also make use of medical services as many times as you need, without the amount to be paid changing.
When can we start using health insurance?
Once you have contracted your health insurance, the moment in which you can start using the different coverages will depend on whether or not said insurance has a grace period. If there is no grace period, you can use the health insurance from the same day you sign the policy. If your insurance has a grace period, you will not be able to access all its guarantees immediately, but you will have to wait for the grace period of each coverage to elapse in order to start using it.
The normal thing is that for consultations and simple tests (analytics, X-rays, etc.), there is no waiting period. However, for surgeries, hospitalizations, and high-tech tests, insurers usually establish grace periods that usually range between 3 and 12 months.
