Can an insurer demand my medical file?

Health data is Art. 9 material: insurers process it through explicit consent and insurance-specific legal gates — but consent must be specific, and that is where your leverage sits. Lawful and normal: health questionnaires for life or income-protection policies (answer truthfully — misrepresentation voids cover), and claim-related verification of the condition claimed. The overreach pattern: a signature authorising release of your entire medical history, from any provider, indefinitely. Data minimisation applies to insurers like everyone else — the proportionate version is: specified records, specified period, related to the specified condition. You may cross out and narrow an authorisation before signing; national insurance and medical-professional rules widely support routing medical detail to the insurer’s medical adviser (bound by secrecy) rather than claim handlers — ask for exactly that. Your rights against the insurer: access to your underwriting and claims file including medical assessments; rectification of wrong health codings that follow you between policies. Genetic data enjoys extra protection: several countries prohibit insurers from requesting predictive genetic-test results outright. Feeling squeezed — “sign the blanket form or no payout”? Put the narrowing in writing; refusal to accept a proportionate authorisation is complaint material for both the DPA and your national insurance ombudsman.