Right To Be Forgotten: Protecting Cancer Survivors

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) More people are surviving cancer than ever before. But in Switzerland a historical diagnosis can follow former patients for years, especially when they try to take out income protection insurance. A campaign to allow a limited "Right to Be Forgotten" is trying to provide better financial security for thousands. Select your language

Generated with artificial intelligence. Listening: Cured but uninsurable: the hidden financial burden of surviving cancer in Switzerland This content was published on April 15, 2026 - 09:00 12 minutes

Health and data journalist. I cover a wide range of healthcare topics, from cutting-edge therapies to global health. My stories are often data-driven, and I strive to make complex issues clear and accessible. Before becoming a full-time journalist, I worked in communication, research, and data analysis for the UN and EU. In the private sector, I developed health economics models to inform policy and investment decisions. Originally from Italy, I am now based in Zurich.

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When cancer treatment ends, patients hope to return to a“normal life” – work, perhaps a new job, and making plans for the future. Yet for many, despite their physical recovery, the illness resurfaces in an unexpected place: the health questionnaire of a private insurer. One ticked box can mean a refusal, sweeping exclusions, or premiums that put coverage – and financial security – out of reach.

The“Right to Be Forgotten” (RTBF) is meant to prevent that from happening. At its core is a simple idea: after a defined period without a relapse, a historical cancer diagnosis should no longer be taken into account when assessing applications for insurance and other financial products.

Several European countries have already introduced versions of the“Right to Be Forgotten” for cancer survivors, but in Switzerland's private insurance market, no such protection exists. That could now change if a motionExternal link currently before parliament becomes law.

The motion proposes limiting the disclosure period for past illnesses to five years when people apply for individual sickness daily allowance insurance, a critical form of income protection for the self-employed and those without corporate cover.

A parliamentary motion is an instrument that requires the Swiss Federal Council, or executive body, to draft legislation or take a specific measure. It must be approved by both chambers (House of Representatives and Senate). If parliament later passes the new legislation, it can still be challenged by a national referendum: opponents must collect 50,000 valid signatures within 100 days of the publication of the new law to force a nationwide vote.

“People don't understand how easy it is to drop below the poverty line after a diagnosis, even after treatment ends,” said Aline Descloux, a policy specialist at the Swiss Cancer League, the umbrella organisation for cantonal cancer charities.

“You can be fired while sick. Then, when you're cured and want to work again, you're locked out of coverage,” she said.“That exposes you to huge financial risks if you get sick again – not necessarily with cancer, but with anything.”

Europe's right to be forgotten rules

Several European countries have now adopted some form of the“Right to Be Forgotten”. Waiting periods and scope vary: some frameworks focus mainly on credit-linked insurance, while others extend further.

In BelgiumExternal link, for example, the“Right to Be Forgotten” also applies to guaranteed income insurance, which protects a person's salary during a long-term illness. Once a patient has been in remission for five years, insurers can no longer use their medical past to deny coverage or inflate costs.

At the EU level, new consumer credit rulesExternal link adopted in 2023 include a Right to be forgotten for insurance linked to consumer loans, requiring member states to set a time limit – capped at 15 years from the end of treatment – after which a cancer diagnosis can no longer be used.

External Content Switzerland's problem

“In Switzerland, it's difficult to tackle the whole right to be forgotten question in one big legislative push. The system is too fragmented,” Descloux said.“For now the Swiss Cancer League has decided to focus on one specific part of the problem, the one where we see the greatest need for action: income protection.”

While many working-age people are covered through employer-arranged daily allowance policies, for the self‐employed, freelancers, or those without strong occupational benefits, financial stability often depends on whether they can still buy individual coverage.

“If you're self-employed or work in a small company, it might be almost impossible to get daily allowance insurance after a cancer diagnosis,” Descloux said.

When illness prevents a person from working, income protection usually begins outside the state system. Most employees are covered by an employer-arranged sickness daily allowance (Krankentaggeld / indemnités journalières), which typically replaces 80% of their salary for up to 720 days.

These policies are regulated under two separate legal frameworks:
Private insurance: regulated by the Insurance Contract Act, this is the dominant market standard. It gives insurers broad freedom to ask health questions, refuse applicants, or impose permanent medical exclusions (often called“reservations”) for pre-existing conditions.
Social-style insurance: regulated by the Health Insurance Act, this optional framework provides more standardised rules. Crucially, insurers cannot refuse applicants, and any medical exclusions must expire after five years – a built-in“Right to be Forgotten”.

Despite the protections offered by the social-style insurance it has become a niche product. Because theit does not require insurers to offer benefits that fully cover a high earner's loss of income, most people seeking robust coverage turn to the private market.

Since 1996, the private market has surged from CHF1.16 billion to roughly CHF 5.1 billion in annual premiums. Meanwhile, the social-style insurance market has withered, dropping from CHF834 million to just CHF241 million over the same period.

If a person's incapacity becomes permanent or requires long-term rehabilitation, they must then transition from these short-term allowances to the federal disability insurance system.

A cancer patient now in remission told Swissinfo he was dismissed while on sick leave. Her employer's daily allowance insurance continued to pay 80% of her salary, but when she later changed jobs, two new pension funds imposed partial exclusions based on her answers to their health questionnaires.

Matti Aapro, a medical oncologist at the Swiss Genolier Cancer Center and past president of the European Cancer Organisation, said he sees the same pattern repeatedly: medical progress reduces risk for many patients, but underwriting rules often move more slowly.“In some cases, we know the remission will probably last forever. But insurers only see a ticked box”, said Aapro.

There is no official list of insurance providers, but industry and regulatory listings suggest around three to four dozen companies offer some form of sickness daily allowance cover. Changing providers can sometimes lead to a fairer policy, Aapro said:“But with clearer, time-limited rules on what insurers can ask and use, much of this could be avoided.”

The Swiss government saysExternal link there is no data for self-employed people with daily allowance cover and there are no publicly available statistics for the number of applicants refused coverage. Switzerland has an estimatedExternal link 450,000 cancer survivors.

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