Slovenia joins fight against medical discrimination in financial services
Slovenia has become only the seventh EU country to put in place right-to-be-forgotten legislation that ends discrimination of cancer survivors and those living with hepatitis C or HIV when they apply for life insurance or a mortgage, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
Such persons have the right not to have their medical history considered by banks and insurance companies, ensuring that they are treated the same as those who are healthy.
The bill determines that a cancer survivor is not obliged to disclose their medical history ten years after beating cancer. For persons diagnosed with cancer before they turned 21, the right to be forgotten kicks in after five years.
For hepatitis C patients, there is a three-month threshold after recuperation, and individuals living with HIV get equal access to financial services one year after they start treatment with antiretroviral drugs.
The legislation will "significantly improve the lives of cancer patients after they have completed treatment," the Oncology Institute, Slovenia's main cancer treatment centre, has said.
Figures from the National Cancer Register show cancer is becoming an increasingly manageable disease, with survival rates steeply increasing.
Similarly, a HIV infection is no longer a death sentence, and new drugs are available for the treatment of hepatitis C, according to the Health Ministry.
Nevertheless, people who have had any of these conditions often still encounter discrimination, especially when it comes to life insurance.
Six EU countries have enacted similar laws so far according to government and Oncology Institute data: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Romania.
The legislation, formally called the Act on Rights of Persons who Survived Cancer and Certain other Conditions to Equal Access to Insurance and Credit Products, passed in a rare cross-partisan vote.
