Ecuador prohibits insurance companies and banks from using oncological history

Insurance companies, companies that finance comprehensive prepaid health care services, and entities of the national financial system may not use the oncological history of persons recovered from cancer to deny coverage, apply surcharges, or reject mortgage loans. This is established by Resolution No. JPRFM-2026-042-T of the Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation Board, published in Official Registry No. 390 on Thursday, October 15, 2026, which incorporates the regulation into the Codification of Monetary, Financial, Securities, and Insurance Resolutions.

The resolution develops the mandate of the Organic Law for Comprehensive Cancer Care, published on March 4, 2026, in the Seventh Supplement of Official Registry No. 236, whose Fourth Transitory Provision set a period of 180 days for regulators to issue the regulations guaranteeing the right to oncological oblivion. Article 6 of that law recognizes these rights for persons fully recovered and without evidence of relapse for five years since the conclusion of treatment, or three years when the diagnosis occurred before 18 years of age.

The project reached the Board through Official Letter No. SCVS-INS-2026-00082636-O, dated May 19, 2026, sent by the Superintendency of Companies, Securities, and Insurance (SCVS). The plenary body reviewed the proposal in its ordinary session No. 020-2026, on October 2, 2026, based on Memorandum No. BCE-BCE-2026-0429-M and the technical and legal reports of the Central Bank of Ecuador; the resolution was signed that same day by the president of the Board, Gustavo Estuardo Camacho Dávila, and certified by the Technical Secretariat, Ninoska Geovanna Ceballos Pin.

What Articles 5 and 6 Prohibit

Regarding recovered persons, insurance companies and prepaid health companies may not:

• Apply surcharges or tariff increases based on oncological history.
• Establish exclusions or coverage limitations due to the overcome oncological pathology.
• Impose differentiated contractual conditions based on oncological history.
• Deny access to products and services, or their renewal, for reasons directly or indirectly related to those backgrounds.

In the national financial system, entities may not use oncological medical history to deny, restrict, condition, or exclude access to mortgage loans or other financial services. The regulation clarifies that the faculty to evaluate applications with objective criteria such as payment capacity, indebtedness, or credit behavior is maintained, provided they do not involve the use of oncological history.

Enforceable Obligations and Rights

Article 3 details the rights enforceable before insurers, prepaid health companies, and financial entities:

• Oncological oblivion: the medical history of the overcome pathology may not be required, inquired about, or used.
• Coverage under conditions of benefit equity compared to other insured parties in the same plan.
• Equality and non-discrimination in life insurance, mortgage loans, and other financial services, without the obligation to declare that history.

Companies must eliminate discriminatory clauses and adapt contracts, general conditions, rates, documents, and underwriting processes. Additionally, they must inform insured parties and affiliates in writing or through verifiable electronic means about the existence of these rights in the first renewal communication following the law’s entry into force, and observe the Organic Law on the Protection of Personal Data in the processing of that information.

Deadlines, validity, and control

The Second Transitory Provision grants companies a period of six months, counted from the time the SCVS issues its control regulations, to adapt and submit for approval and registration the corresponding contracts and documents. During that period, current contracts and those undergoing renewal shall be understood to comply with the provisions of the law, and any contrary stipulation shall be void and considered as not written.

The SCVS will control insurance and prepaid health services, while the Superintendency of Banks and the Superintendency of Popular and Solidarity Economy will oversee financial entities. Non-compliance will be sanctioned in accordance with the Organic Law for the Comprehensive Care of Cancer. The resolution is effective from its issuance, without prejudice to its publication in the Official Registry.

The regulation closes a gap that until now depended on an isolated contractual clause: the SCVS had already ordered in September 2026, through Resolution No. SCVS-INS-2026-00018787, to incorporate an oncological oblivion clause in policies and plans. With this resolution, oncological oblivion becomes a regulatory obligation enforceable against insurers, prepaid health companies, and banks, with defined deadlines and state supervision.

Source: Official Registry No. 390, Thursday, October 15, 2026, Section I, pp. 1-9 (official reference: Resolution No. JPRFM-2026-042-T).