2023-05-13 14:20:09
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that in June the right to forget about cancer will be guaranteed. Associations of patients with cancer have celebrated a measure that they had been demanding
Oncological forgetfulness has been raised by patient associations in recent months to avoid discrimination against people who have suffered from this disease.
Given this matter, the Government is going to promote the modification of a royal decree-law to prevent discrimination against former cancer patients, who now suffer more burdensome conditions in insurance and mortgage contracts, and thus guarantee the “right to be forgotten oncology”. .
Today, in Seville, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has transferred his commitment to “immediately implement this new right” to the representatives of different entities and associations in the fight against cancer with whom he has met in the Government Delegation in Andalusia, Moncloa sources have reported.
Sánchez meeting with patient associations
Sánchez has held this meeting with the Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer (FEPNC), the Spain Association Against Cancer (AECC), the Spanish Federation of Breast Cancer (FECMA), the Spanish Group of Cancer Patients (GEPAC) , the Marco Luna Association and the Association Affected by Ovarian Cancer (ASACO).
The Minister of Health, José Manuel Miñones, also participated in the meeting.
To this end, the Government will promote the modification of Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16, which approves the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, and of the Law of the Insurance Contract.
The intention of the Government is that as of June all clauses based on an oncological history “that exclude or discriminate when contracting products or services” are declared null and prohibit that having suffered from cancer serves to “impose more burdensome conditions on insurance contracts”.
In addition, the Government plans to establish the right not to declare that cancer has been suffered when these former patients go to take out insurance linked to a mortgage loan.
These new rights will benefit all people who have completed cancer treatment five years before the date of signing the contract, without a subsequent relapse, according to Moncloa sources.
Positive evaluation of the AECC of oncological forgetfulness
The Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) values very positively the announcement by the President of the Government to regulate the right to be forgotten for cancer patients.
In a statement, this organization states: “This announcement represents a great step for the social protection of cancer patients, since they will have a regulatory framework that prevents them from feeling obliged to report their cancer history when requesting a insurance to contract financial products or services and that they can access them”.
It is estimated that in Spain there are more than 2.2 million people who have been diagnosed with cancer throughout their lives and the right to be forgotten is not the only problem they face, says the AECC.
Growing social needs, unwanted loneliness, work problems and specific health needs make the dimension of the problems of this group greater in a society, like the Spanish one, which is increasingly aged, the statement added.
For example, the loss of work, and the increasingly complicated job reintegration, are critical aspects for the long survivors. According to data from the Spanish Association Against Cancer21% have had to stop working due to the disease and 14% have had to change jobs as a result of the disease.
In this sense, the AECC highlights that it would be necessary to facilitate:
• The reintegration of cancer patients into the workplace by providing tax incentives to companies that facilitate the return to work, permanence or access to a job for people with cancer.
• Work-life balance and flexibility for caregivers of cancer patients, especially those who are at the end of life.
With this measure, as important as it is necessary, Spain is at the forefront of Europe following in the wake of countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy and Romania, adds the AECC.
The FEPNC recalls that there is discrimination
From the FEPNC they have recalled that, currently, Spain is, together with Malta and Iceland, one of the countries of the continent that has not yet applied the resolution of the European Parliament 2020-2267 (INI), in its search for a global strategy that eliminates all discriminatory clause by banks and insurers to patients who have had cancer.
Currently, cancer survivors face increases in premiums by insurers, denial and rejection of mortgages or personal loans, non-response from entities or discrimination when applying for jobs.
The FEPNC He has been working for months collecting cases of discrimination, through the 23 associations of Parents of Children with Cancer spread throughout Spain, and denouncing this invisible reality.
In fact, some of these countries apply a table that establishes a period of time for each tumor according to their singularities.
For example, breast cancer is limited to one year, thyroid cancer to three, or cervical cancer to one, which further shortens the stipulated deadlines.
“This commitment gives equal opportunities and rights to cancer patients,” says the president of the Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer, Juan Antonio Roca.
Roca recalls that, currently, “there are people with a history of childhood cancer who survived the disease without subsequent recurrences and who, more than 20 years later, continue to be discriminated against when they ask for a mortgage, get their driver’s license or ask for a life insurance”.
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