The ‘right to be forgotten’: improving access to loans and insurance for cancer survivors

Challenge

When applying for insurance, cancer survivors are often asked to disclose their full medical history, including their cancer diagnosis. Based on this information, insurers may exclude certain risks, including cancer, from their policy, increase insurance premiums by up to 300% or reject applications altogether.^{3 4} This significantly affects people’s ability to obtain travel, health and life insurance. It also affects their access to loan-related insurance, which covers outstanding payments on a loan in the case of death, sickness or unemployment.⁴ In countries like France, where mortgages are rare, loan-related insurance is often mandatory when applying for loans, for example to buy property.

These issues significantly increased the socioeconomic burden on cancer survivors in France, acting as financial obstacles even years after the successful completion of cancer treatment.^{2 3} This was particularly true for childhood cancer survivors, with 10% experiencing difficulties obtaining a small loan and 30% struggling to obtain a home loan.

Solution

Recognising the scale of this problem, France introduced the ‘right to be forgotten’ as part of its national cancer plan in 2014.⁵ Formally adopted into law in 2016, the ‘right to be forgotten’ allows certain cancer survivors to apply for insurance without having to disclose their history of cancer.² People diagnosed with cancer before the age of 18 are exempt from disclosure to insurers five years after the end of treatment. For people diagnosed after the age of 18, the exemption period begins 10 years after the completion of treatment. Even when insurers know about a person’s cancer diagnosis – for example, based on a person’s previous insurance claims – they are not allowed to incorporate this information into new insurance policies drawn up during the exemption period.²

Next steps

Following the introduction of the law and its implementation decrees, future efforts in France will focus on evaluating the effectiveness and benefit of the ‘right to be forgotten’ for people with a history of serious illness.² Knowledge of the ‘right to be forgotten’ is low among younger people in France – 62% of people between the ages of 18 and 25 have little to no knowledge of the law⁶ – and future efforts may focus on increasing awareness in this age group.