The Right to Forget Oncology, a historic claim by cancer organizations in the face of the most distressing conditions people suffering from the disease typically face when hiring products or services such as credit, insurance or mortgages, will become a reality in the summer. Pedro Sánchez, back in Spain after receiving the White House reception with US President Joe Biden, has promised as much this morning at a meeting with patient associations in Seville ahead of his first election campaign of 28-M. The government will push ahead with a legislative initiative to speed up processing in the Cortes. The aim is for the cancer right to be forgotten to come into force in June. This new right will benefit anyone who completed their cancer treatment five years prior to contracting without a subsequent relapse.
“We will recognize the right to oncological forgetfulness of all those patients who have conquered cancer. This means they will no longer face discrimination when it comes to getting a mortgage or accessing insurance or credit. This is useful politics, this is what a government that is sensitive to the people and that defends what interests the majority of the people does does it,” Sánchez told more than 2,500 activists and supporters.
The standard that Sánchez is now announcing is based on the global and coordinated strategy in the fight against cancer in Europe, which recommends that member states take measures before 2025 to prevent discrimination against survivors of the disease. It will be adopted in a resolution by the European Parliament of February 2022, and Spain has yet to take action.
The PSOE proposal will void any cancer history-based clauses that exclude or discriminate in the award of any product or service. The main governing party is aware that a rule that prevents the insured person’s oncological history from being taken into account is a priority. The result is often stricter conditions on the part of insurers.
The standard that the Socialists will submit to Congress and the Senate will establish, for the first time, the right not to disclose cancer when purchasing insurance associated with a mortgage loan. 83% of leukemia patients or ex-patients between the ages of 18 and 35 say they have had difficulties purchasing life insurance. According to the study Young people and Leukemia: Beyond Survival by the Josep Carreras Foundation, conducted last year among 295 young people who have or have had the disease, 78% have experienced it with the number of deaths.
The PSOE will carry out the processing by amending Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007 approving the consolidated text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, as well as the Insurance Contracts Code.
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The measure builds on advances in countries like France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, where cancer survivors already enjoy the right to be forgotten. The European Parliament has proposed to Member States to guarantee this 10 years after the end of treatment, reducing this period to 5 years for patients who were diagnosed when they were minors. Sánchez accepted the latter for all survivors.
“Insurers and banks should not consider the medical history of cancer patients; Calls for national legislation to ensure that cancer survivors are not discriminated against compared to other consumers; Notes the Commission’s intention to work with industry to develop a code of conduct to ensure that the evolution of cancer treatments and their increasing effectiveness are reflected in the business practices of financial services providers,” reads the resolution adopted in February 2022 European Parliament.
Eneko Ariz López de Castro, founder of e]Cancellation, a law firm specializing in the right to be forgotten, welcomes the announcement but cautions that we will have to wait until the regulation knows its true scope: “We will have to wait and see.” its scope, if it overrides the future clauses, if it can also be applied to previous situations of patients who have already been denied insurance.
The insurers’ employers’ organization (Unespa) assures that the industry is “sensitive to the situation of people who have overcome cancer and need insurance to get a mortgage or other loan”. “We have been in contact with administration and cancer patient organizations to find collaborative frameworks that follow actuarial principles and benefit people who have recovered from cancer,” added spokespersons for the employer.
2.2 million affected
Sánchez presented the plans of the executive representatives of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), the Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer, the Spanish Federation for Breast Cancer (FECMA), the Spanish Group of Cancer Patients (GEPAC). the Marco Luna Association and the Association of Ovarian Cancer Sufferers. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the Andalusian government delegation and was attended by the Minister of Health, José Manuel Miñones.
The AECC estimates that there are 2.2 million people who have overcome cancer and welcomes this announcement, which “represents a major step for patient social protection”. According to the association, the right to be forgotten is not the only problem they face: “Increasing social needs, unwanted loneliness, work problems and specific health needs make the dimension of the problems of this group even larger in a society like the Spanish one” increasing aged”.
As an example, they cite the loss of working hours and the “reintegration, which is becoming ever more complicated”. According to the association, 21% had to stop working due to the illness and 14% had to change jobs.
Yaiza Cumelles, a cancer survivor, knows what it’s like to be denied insurance because she had the disease. “I don’t even think about it with banks, mortgages or insurance. Because I already know the answer,” he assured in a report published in EL PAÍS a few weeks ago. Today he says he is “very happy about this big and important step”.
“Cancer is a very serious disease, not only during treatment but also afterwards you always carry the label ‘cancer patient’,” he explains. “You live with the physical and psychological consequences, and on top of that, the societal stigma: closed doors and discrimination.” You try to live as normally as possible, but society constantly reminds you that just being alive is enough . After the news that the right to be forgotten comes into force in cancer, I am very proud. It makes me very happy to live in a country that is committed to moving forward and offering opportunities to those of us who have suffered from this disease.”
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