Changes to "The right to be forgotten" for former cancer patients from 27 November 2022

In this article from February 2021, we discussed the right to be forgotten for former cancer patients. Since 2020, people who have had cancer, or even have it behind them, can take out credit balance insurance without having to pay a higher premium, provided they wait until ten years after treatment of the disease. Previously, these people could not take out credit balance insurance, or paid a considerably higher premium. Also at the start of 2022, we reported on the fact that the right to be forgotten was now also valid for guaranteed income insurance. This was based on a code of conduct within the insurance federation Assuralia. This effectively extended the situation for credit balance insurance to guaranteed income insurance. According to medical statistics, the ten year period is too long, because people who have already been cancer free for five years hardly run any risk of relapse anymore. That is why the federal parliament approved, in October 2022, the legislative proposals that shorten the period after which the right to be forgotten takes effect, and simultaneously legally extend it to guaranteed income insurance.

10 years becomes 8 years or 5 years

The law comes into effect on 27 November 2022. The general waiting period will then become eight years. But a shortened period of five years will also come into effect for people who developed cancer when they were younger than 21 years old. This is because statistics show that the risk of relapse in people who got cancer at such a young age is very limited. For people who developed cancer after the age of 21, the period will first be shortened to eight years. But from 2025, the period of five years will also apply to them. In addition to this general period, there is also a reference schedule that contains shorter periods for specifically defined cancer conditions.

From 27 November 2022, you can make use of the right to be forgotten if you have been cured of cancer for eight years. But what exactly falls under "cured"? The law refers to "the date on which the active treatment of the cancer condition was ended, in the absence of a new recurrence of cancer". This can mean, among other things, that radiotherapy or chemotherapy has stopped, or that surgical procedures have been completed. In addition, you must also not relapse within the eight years after the end of treatment. Do you, as a policyholder, have a complaint about how this new rule is applied? Then you can always turn to the Ombudsman for Insurance.

What about guaranteed income insurance?

Since 1 February 2022, a code of conduct from Assuralia has already been in effect that extends this right to income insurance. This code introduced a general period of ten years after the end of successful treatment. With the law, the right to be forgotten will now also apply to applications for guaranteed income insurance. Here too: the period is reduced to eight years and then, in 2025, to five years. For people who were diagnosed with cancer before the age of 21, a general period of five years after the end of successful treatment applies immediately. Note that an insurer may still exclude from coverage any permanent incapacity for work that exists at the moment the insurance is taken out. The positive point is that the insurer cannot refuse the insurance and cannot charge a high medical surcharge because of the cancer.

What about the chronically ill?

The situation regarding insurance is also improving for people with other chronic illnesses. Separate periods will be established for these illnesses, both in the reference schedule for credit balance insurance and in the schedule for guaranteed income insurance. We repeat that rules already exist for chronically ill people who wish to apply for credit balance insurance. People who are chronically ill continue to pay extra for credit balance insurance. However, the additional costs (the cost on top of the normal premium) are limited to a maximum of 1,25 times the normal rate. If an insurer wants to charge a higher premium, that will no longer be at the expense of the sick person. In the event that the insurer and the doctor disagree about the nature of the illness, the follow-up office (specifically for credit balance insurance) will intervene.

All of the above does not mean that a candidate policyholder does not need to report their condition to the insurer. They still always have to disclose their medical history to the insurer, either voluntarily or when new medical formalities arise.

https://www.komoptegenkanker.be/blog/de-uitbreiding-van-het-recht-om-vergeten-te-worden-in-5-vragen

https://www.assuralia.be/nl/1008%20verzekeringssector-kent-recht-om-vergeten-te-worden-toe-voor-ex-kankerpatienten

https://www.assuralia.be/nl/recht-om-vergeten-te-worden/verzekering-gewaarborgd-inkomen