Bill aims to reduce credit barriers for former patients

The right to be forgotten is supposed to be a reality in Luxembourg since the entry into force of the agreement signed by the government and the Association of Insurance Companies (ACA). This means that if you have had cancer for more than ten years since the end of the treatment protocol – a period reduced to five years for cancer that occurred during childhood or adolescence – you do not have to mention it when you take out a mortgage. For other diseases, such as certain cancers and hepatitis C, the former patient must report it, but the insurer will not take this into account when calculating the insurance premium. Finally, for people with HIV, reporting remains compulsory, but the additional premium is capped.

This was a major step forward for patients, but associations were becoming impatient with the slow pace at which the criteria were being updated. With medical advances, the right to be forgotten could come into play much earlier and be extended to other diseases, as Journal pointed out in a previous article. And the waiting period has already been reduced to five years in France from 2022 and in Belgium from early 2025. For their part, insurance companies remain cautious as they await the review of the reference grid of pathologies entrusted to the National Cancer Institute.