When taking out a health insurance policy in Portugal you should take into account the waiting periods. Waiting periods are periods of time when you cannot use your insurance completely. Specifically, you can only use certain services and covers of your health insurance after a certain number of days or months have passed. Most health insurances operating in Portugal have similar waiting periods. For example, to carry out treatments that require hospitalisation and surgery, the waiting period is one year. To activate the Medicines and Stomatology coverage, on the other hand, it would only be three months. Insurance companies establish these waiting periods to prevent clients from taking out insurance with a view to using an expensive treatment (for example: having surgery) and then cancelling the policy once they have been treated and recovered from the pathology. If you have only recently taken out a health insurance policy, you should check the contract conditions of your insurance policy to confirm the waiting periods and avoid unpleasant surprises. Ask us for a personalised simulation for your health insurance!