The Government will guarantee from June the right to be forgotten oncology

The right to be forgotten in cancer, a historical claim of organizations fighting cancer in the face of the most burdensome conditions usually faced by those who have suffered from this disease when hiring products or services such as credits, insurance or mortgages, will be a reality in summer. Pedro Sánchez, back in Spain after the reception with the US president, Joe Biden, at the White House, has committed to it this morning in a meeting he has held in Seville with associations of patients, before his first rally of the electoral campaign of 28-M. The Government will promote a legislative initiative to speed up its processing in the Courts. The goal is for the right to be forgotten in oncology to be in force in June. This new right will benefit all people who have completed cancer treatment five years before the date of signing the contract, without subsequent relapse.

"We are going to recognize the right to be forgotten in oncology of all those patients who beat cancer. That means that they will no longer suffer discrimination when signing a mortgage or accessing insurance or credit. This is the useful policy, it is what makes a government sensitive to the people and that defends what interests the majority of the people, "said Sánchez before more than 2,500 militants and sympathizers.

The rule now announced by Sánchez is based on the global and coordinated strategy in Europe's fight against cancer, which recommends that Member States put measures in place to prevent discrimination against survivors of this disease before 2025. It is approved in a resolution of the European Parliament of February 2022, and Spain had yet to apply measures.

The proposal of the PSOE will declare null all clauses based on oncological history that exclude or discriminate when contracting products or services. The main party of the Government understands that a regulation that prevents the oncological history of the insured from being taken into account is a priority. The result is often the imposition of more burdensome conditions by insurers.

The rule that the Socialists will take to Congress and the Senate will establish, for the first time, the right not to declare that you have suffered from cancer when you are going to take out insurance linked to a mortgage loan. 83% of leukemia patients or former patients between 18 and 35 years old say they have had difficulties when taking out life insurance. 78% have experienced them with the number of deaths, according to the study Young people and leukemia: Beyond surviving, by the Josep Carreras Foundation, carried out last year among 295 young people who suffered or had passed the disease.

The PSOE will carry out the processing by amending Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007 approving the revised text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, and the Insurance Contract Law.

The move is inspired by advances in countries such as France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, where cancer survivors already enjoy the right to be forgotten. The European Parliament proposed to the member countries that they guarantee it 10 years after the end of treatment, a period that drops to 5 years for patients who have received their diagnosis as minors. Sanchez has embraced the latter for all survivors.

"Insurers and banks should not take into account the medical history of people affected by cancer; calls for national legislation to ensure that cancer survivors are not discriminated against compared to other users; notes the Commission's intention to work with companies to develop a code of conduct to ensure that the evolution of cancer treatments and their increased effectiveness are reflected in the business practices of financial service providers", reads the European Parliament resolution, adopted in February 2022.

Eneko Ariz López de Castro, founder of e]Cancelación, a law firm specializing in the right to be forgotten, welcomes the announcement, but clarifies that we will have to wait to know the regulation to know its true scope: "We will have to see its scope of application, if it annuls future clauses, if it can also be applied to past situations of patients who have already been denied insurance."

The employers of insurers (Unespa), ensures that the sector "is sensitive to the situation of people who have overcome cancer and need insurance to take out a mortgage or other loan." "We have established contact with the Administration and with the organizations of cancer patients to find collaboration frameworks that, following the principles of the insurance technique, benefit people who have overcome cancer," add spokesmen for the employers.

2.2 million affected

Sánchez has advanced the plans of the Executive to representatives of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), the Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer, the Spanish Federation of Breast Cancer (FECMA), the Spanish Group of Cancer Patients (GEPAC), the Marco Luna Association and the Association of Ovarian Cancer Affected. The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Delegation of the Government of Andalusia 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 values positively this announcement, which "represents a great step for the social protection of patients". According to the association, the right to be forgotten is not the only problem they face: "Growing social needs, unwanted loneliness, labor problems and specific health needs make the dimension of the problems of this group greater in a society, such as the Spanish, increasingly aging. "

They give as an example the loss of work and the "increasingly complicated labor reintegration". According to data from the association, 21% have had to stop working due to the disease and 14% have had to change jobs.

Yaiza Cumelles, a cancer survivor, knows what it's like to be denied insurance because she suffered from the disease. "With banks, mortgages, or insurance, I don't even think about it. Because I already know what the answer is," he said in a report published a few weeks ago in EL PAÍS. Today he says he is "very happy for this big and important step."

"Cancer is a very hard disease, not only while you are in treatment, but also afterwards you continue with the label of 'cancer patient' that always accompanies you," he explains. "You live with the physical and mental sequelae and, in addition, the social stigma: closed doors and discrimination. You try to live as normally as possible, but society constantly reminds you that being alive is enough. After the news that the right to be forgotten will be applied, I am very proud, living in a country that is committed to advancing and offering opportunities to those who have suffered this disease, I am very happy".

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