Czech health insurers agree to ‘forget’ cancer survivors’ former diagnoses

Czech health insurance providers will not be able to penalise patients based on previous cancer diagnoses if they have successfully completed treatment, following a deal based on the “right to be forgotten” by ministers and insurance companies. 

Following the year-long negotiations, the application of the so-called “right to be forgotten” was agreed upon by the Czech health ministry, representatives of patient organisations and insurance companies.

The right to be forgotten will not be in the form of a law, but a self-regulation standard issued by the Czech Insurance Association (CAP), which represents more than 98% of the Czech insurance sector.

“Our goal is for patients to be treated as if they never had the disease after a certain period of time following the end of treatment and for insurance companies to insure them under standard conditions,” Czech Health Minister Vlastimil Válek (TOP 09, EPP) said.

The driving force behind the change was the Czech patient organisations, which welcomed the insurance companies’ decision.

“This is really a big step forward; there are not many European countries that are trying to deal with this unequal treatment actively and quickly, and it is a huge encouragement for cancer patients,” Petra Adámková, chairwoman of the Voice of Cancer Patients Committee, told Euractiv.

“Modern innovative treatments are pushing the limits of the disease to another level, and we should realise that cancer patients are capable of returning to work and normal everyday life for decades,” she added, pointing out that the establishment of the right to be forgotten can be considered as a “signal for the whole of society”.

Data as a key player

According to CAP, Czech cancer patients face barriers due to the lack of information on insurance eligibility and fear of rejection. Some cancer survivors do not even reach out to insurance companies at all because they believe they will not be approved.

The system change will be based on data. Stakeholders have agreed to create an annually updated national cancer study, with its data available to insurance companies.

By signing up to the standard, insurers will commit to considering the study results. Each insurance company will then decide on the time limit it sets for forgetting each diagnosis.

It is expected that a seven-year time limit for a large proportion of diagnoses will be set. Shorter time limits can be expected for patients under the age of 18, according to CAP.

According to the Czech Insurance Association, self-regulation is applied in Ireland and Luxembourg. Spain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy decided to regulate the issue by law.

“In most countries, this issue is not yet regulated, and they are waiting for a solution at the European level,” CAP spokesperson Tomáš Pavlík explained to Euractiv.

“We are very happy that we are above the framework of other countries, and we are happy that we did not have to go through a legislative process that would have been lengthy,” said Michaela Tůmová from the Voice of Cancer Patients, who worked on the self-regulation intensively.

In line with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the European Commission will “closely examine practices in the area of financial services, including insurance, from the point of view of fairness towards cancer survivors in long-term remission”.

As Euractiv previously reported, the European Commission is expected to present the European code of conduct, which would require financial services providers to use only necessary information while offering applicants their products.

The European Parliament’s Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) asked for a more ambitious approach, stating that “insurers and banks should not take into account the medical history of people who have been affected by cancer”.

“From November onwards, individual member insurers of the CAP can start to join the standard. In each of them, the necessary internal processes must first be carried out, and all follow-up procedures must be set up within the insurance companies so they can join the standard and be fully compliant with it,” explained Pavlík.

Voluntary self-regulation is open not only to members of the association but also to other insurers. However, the system cannot guarantee enforcement; it depends on the will of the insurance companies.

“This is a recommendation from the CAP that cannot be enforced, and it will be up to each insurer to decide how to approach it,” Adámková from the Voice of Cancer Patients confirmed.

“In my opinion, however, the current solution does not completely exclude the possibility of a legislative solution sometime in the future, in case self-regulation does not work,” she concluded.

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