Bill amending the law of 4 April 2014 on insurance to abolish, under certain conditions, the use of medical questionnaires for home loans (re)introduced in Chamber of Representatives

A new bill amending the law of 4 April 2014 on insurance was (re)introduced in the Chamber of Representatives this week, which basically resumes an identical proposal tabled back in May 2023 that was never passed and lapsed at the end of the previous legislature. The proposed amendment relates to outstanding balance insurance as a necessary condition requested by lenders to cover the repayment of a home loan, and aims to abolish the use of medical questionnaires for home loans of up to EUR 200,000 per insured, provided that the final maturity date for the reimbursement of the credit occurs before the policyholder’s sixtieth birthday. Part of its underlying intention is also to better safeguard the confidentiality of the information provided in this context, both internally within the insurance undertaking and vis-à-vis third parties, by placing the records under the responsibility of a medical doctor whose technical and moral independence must be guaranteed.

The driving idea consists in removing obstacles that prevent people from acquiring their own home as personal property. From this perspective, the legislator has traditionally focused on one particular aspect, i.e. access to outstanding balance insurance – generally a prerequisite for obtaining a home loan. The use of medical questionnaires individualises risks and places the responsibility for someone’s health issues squarely on the individual which, from a solidarity perspective, the authors consider reprehensible. Much progress has been made in recent years to facilitate access to outstanding balance insurance and eliminate all possible forms of discrimination based on the health status of the borrower, notably by introducing (in 2019) and subsequently extending (in 2022) the ‘right to be forgotten’ for cancer and a number of chronic illnesses. This bill follows the example of a French law to the same effect that came into force in 2022 (law no. 2022-270 of 28 February 2022, aka the ‘Loi Lemoine’), introducing identical measures to ensure fairer, easier and more transparent access to the loan insurance market. It also provides that the Insurance Commission will submit a report to the Chamber of Representatives two years after the coming into force of the prospective law, assessing its impact and putting forward potential adjustments.

In order to give the insurance sector sufficient time to adjust their policies and procedures, this law would enter into force on the first day of the sixth month following its publication in the Official Gazette, and apply to any new agreements concluded from that date forward.

The introductory memorandum and the full text are available for consultation at https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/showpage.cfm?section=/none&leftmenu=no&language=nl&cfm=/site/wwwcfm/flwb/flwbn.cfm?lang=N&legislat=56&dossierID=0255.

Questions? Contact our Insurance expert Sandra Lodewijckx.