Several weeks ago I went to a talk from the Commission about their Cancer Strategy.
I gave my apologies to the organiser and left early. The Commission’s representative contribution was so lamentable that I considered if this was the best the Commission could do, it would be better if they did nothing at all.
The Commission’s launched its Public Consultation on their ‘Cancer Beating Plan’ (link).
As someone who knows way too much about cancer from personal experience, and likes Better Regulation, I thought it right to share my thoughts. You can find them here and below.
My feedback is given from the patient’s perspective.
Best Practice
I was fortunate to be diagnosed and treated for leukaemia at Saint Luc, Brussels coming up to 5 years ago.
The Belgium system, supported by a robust insurance system from Partenamut and DKV, is a good one.
Treatment started immediately after diagnosis. The GP’s request for a blood test saved my life.
I benefited from existing EU wide co-operation. The medical team reviewing my case were based in Belgium and the Netherlands.
My stem cell donor is an anonymous German man who through existing co-operation schemes visited Belgium to donate his stem cells for my transplant.
The insurance schemes I had in place from work made sure that I was not bankrupted by the treatment or not working for over a year.
Looking at the best practice, like the Belgium system, could help other countries to upgrade their existing system.
Issues for Survivors
You refer to the issue of ‘patients and survivors experiencing stigma and discrimination’. From my experience, a cancer survivor is blacklisted from life insurance. Practically this means you can not get a loan for house improvements or a mortgage.
This has knock-on obvious consequences. Many survivors, like me, go on to be cured and live productive and healthy lives. Our ability to make a full economic contribution is limited by being blocked from accessing loans.
The practise seems to vary between countries. Some countries have legislation in place to address this and others fo not.
If insurance companies practice is to block all survivor cancer patients from life insurance and other insurance provision, a large slice of Europe’s population is going to be blacklisted.
If the Commission could identify best practice, and if necessary, legislate on this, you would do a great service to survivors.