GERMAN politicians who have survived cancer are calling for new national laws to protect patients in cancer remission from discrimination.
The campaigners argue that those in long-term remission from cancer face widespread discrimination in many areas, including when applying for bank loans, insurance, and adopting a child.
Known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ (RTBF), the proposed policy demands that those who have now been given a clean bill of health after a cancer diagnosis should have this wiped from their records.
Put forward by members of the The Social Democratic Party (SDP) of Germany, the bill argues that once medically justified limits have expired, which is generally at around 5 years into remission, people should no longer have to disclose whether they have previously overcome cancer.
They insist this will help to protect the estimated 5.5 million people in Germany who have overcome cancer from facing resistance when applying for financial loans or having to pay more expensive insurance premiums due to their history.
The proposal reads: “Anyone who has medically overcome cancer must not be permanently disadvantaged in any area of life, be it in insurance, credit or employment law.”
It cites data from a survey carried out by a German patients’ rights lobbying group that shows 77% of medically declared survivors of cancer face discrimination when taking our private insurance policies.
Adis Ahmetović is the foreign policy minister for the SDP and one of the proposal’s founders. He announced his own lymphoma diagnosis three years ago and has been in remission since 2024. He will not be considered medically cancer-free until 2029.
He argues that beyond the ethical justifications for allowing cancer survivors to access the same services as their peers, the policy would “not cost that state a cent”.
Several politicians who have survived their own cancer diagnoses have also announced their support for the bill.
Manuela Schwesig, Social Democrat and premier of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the Baltic coast, survived breast cancer and argues companies cannot be relied on to ignore former diagnoses:“You have the right [in other countries] to make plans again as normal: to buy a house, to start a family. Other European countries have long since sorted this out. We need a law for this; voluntary commitments are not enough.”
Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s finance minister and SPD co-leader, overcame tongue cancer after his diagnosis in 2024. He said: “Anyone who has beaten cancer must be able to look ahead freely again, socially and economically.”
However, the German Insurance Association, an industry representation group, warned against setting fixed time limits on the history of people who have cancer in the past.
The body claimed the private insurance companies must be able to properly assess a patient’s risk medically and scientifically when considering life and disability coverage.
Jörg Asmussen, the association’s general manager, said: “Even after successful treatment, relapses, long-term effects of the therapy or lasting health problems may persist.
“There may also be an increased risk of other diseases, particularly other types of cancer.”
Susanne Weg-Remers of the German Cancer Research Centre, countered this argument, stipulating that risk to former cancer patients of developing tumours in other organs is not significantly higher than the rest of the population.
One in two men and one in three women in Germany will develop a malignant tumour at some point in their lives.
Pre-emptive presumptions about future health are particularly unfair children and young adults who have survived cancer, according to patient advocacy groups such as the German Foundation for Young Adults with Cancer and the Survivor Advocacy Organization Survivor Deutschland1.
The European Society for Medical Oncology, which provides cancer information and education, has advocated for a fair common standard for access to financial services for cancer survivors across Europe based on a five-year minimum remission period. The society said the inconsistent laws across EU countries leads to “unjustified discrimination”.
Currently, only 11 EU member states have specific legal regulations protecting survivors of cancer from financial discrimination.
References:
1 Soliman VT, and Bongen R, “Cured of Cancer, Then Discriminated Against“, German Foundation for Young Adults with Cancer and the Survivor Advocacy Organization Survivor Deutschland, 2026, https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/panorama/krebs-heilung-anerkennung-versicherungen-100.html
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