Spain to guarantee insurance rights for cancer survivors
The Spanish government is to amend the law so that cancer survivors can avoid any discrimination they may suffer when contracting products such as insurance or mortgages.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that Spain will guarantee insurance rights for people who have survived cancer.
The move was declared on Saturday, May 13th in Seville during a meeting with several cancer associations, and will come into force in June.
This will mean that those who have suffered from cancer at one point or another throughout their lives will not have to justify their health history in order to be able to take out life insurance, request a loan or even to secure a mortgage to buy a home.
What will change?
The Spanish government will reform the law to "declare null and void all the clauses based on oncological history that exclude or discriminate when contracting products or services".
READ ALSO: The best private healthcare for foreigners in Spain
Insurance companies will be prohibited from taking into account the insured's cancer history to impose more onerous conditions in insurance contracts.
And, for the first time, people will have the right not to declare that they’ve had cancer when they go to take out insurance linked to a mortgage loan.
Specifically, it will modify the Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16th, which approves the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and of the Contract Law Insurance.
Who will it benefit?
This new right will benefit all people who have completed cancer treatment five years before the date of signing the contract, without a subsequent relapse.
Sánchez said "It does not make sense that, after having suffered a serious illness", patients are "penalised with more serious conditions".
READ ALSO: How does Spain's healthcare system compare with the US?
Spain, Iceland and Malta are the only countries in the European Union that do not guarantee cancer rights, but the deadline given by the EU to its member countries will be in 2025, as established in a February 2022 resolution of the European Parliament.
In this resolution, the EU promised to help fight against cancer and included a proposal that insurers and banks should not take into account the medical history of those affected by cancer ten years after the end of their treatment and five after if the diagnosis was made before the age of 18.
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that Spain will guarantee insurance rights for people who have survived cancer.
The move was declared on Saturday, May 13th in Seville during a meeting with several cancer associations, and will come into force in June.
This will mean that those who have suffered from cancer at one point or another throughout their lives will not have to justify their health history in order to be able to take out life insurance, request a loan or even to secure a mortgage to buy a home.
What will change?
The Spanish government will reform the law to "declare null and void all the clauses based on oncological history that exclude or discriminate when contracting products or services".
READ ALSO: The best private healthcare for foreigners in Spain
Insurance companies will be prohibited from taking into account the insured's cancer history to impose more onerous conditions in insurance contracts.
And, for the first time, people will have the right not to declare that they’ve had cancer when they go to take out insurance linked to a mortgage loan.
Specifically, it will modify the Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16th, which approves the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and of the Contract Law Insurance.
Who will it benefit?
This new right will benefit all people who have completed cancer treatment five years before the date of signing the contract, without a subsequent relapse.
Sánchez said "It does not make sense that, after having suffered a serious illness", patients are "penalised with more serious conditions".
READ ALSO: How does Spain's healthcare system compare with the US?
Spain, Iceland and Malta are the only countries in the European Union that do not guarantee cancer rights, but the deadline given by the EU to its member countries will be in 2025, as established in a February 2022 resolution of the European Parliament.
In this resolution, the EU promised to help fight against cancer and included a proposal that insurers and banks should not take into account the medical history of those affected by cancer ten years after the end of their treatment and five after if the diagnosis was made before the age of 18.
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