Life Insurance and The Medical Information Bureau MIB
The insurance industry’s equivalent
to the credit bureau!
What
is the Medical Information Bureau (MIB)?
 The medical
information bureau (MIB) is
an insurance industry database which holds important medical
and other significant non-medical information (driving information
and hazardous sports or hobbies) on individuals that have
applied for insurance in the past. It is a consumer reporting
agency with the sole purpose of preventing future fraud,
misrepresentation and omissions during the
process of underwriting someone for insurance. Collecting,
organizing and sharing this crucial information among member
insurance companies significantly reduces a major insurance
risk called anti-selection. Anti-selection occurs when an
insurer evaluates and approves an individual for insurance
at lower risk level when in reality there is a higher risk
of loss due to omission of critical information or fraudulent
activity.
How
Does the Medical Information Bureau Work?
When you make an application for life
insurance, disability income, long term care or health
insurance, you must answer a series of questions about
your past health history, lifestyle and avocations. Your
answers to these questions, along with the results of your
insurance exam and information in your physician’s
reports will be evaluated by the insurance company to determine
your underwriting health class which
determines the rate you pay for life insurance.
On occasion, and individual applying for life insurance
may forget to disclose or not be able to recollect past medical
information. In other cases, crucial health information is
intentionally withheld. The MIB is designed to collect and
provide an exchange of this critical and confidential underwriting
information to member insurance companies to protect them
from individuals who unintentionally omit facts or purposely
misrepresent their health and avocations in an effort to
get a lower rate for life insurance.
The MIB works on a coded system and
is not designed to be the sole basis of underwriting evaluation.
When an insurance company uncovers medical or other information
that may impact rates and this information is either new
or was not previously disclosed, they are required to provide
details to the MIB database in the form of code. These “code details” become
a permanent part of the individual’s MIB file and will
be accessed in the future by MIB member companies. Some examples
of MIB reportable information include significantly elevated
lab results (cholesterol, liver enzymes or kidney functions)
uncovered on the insurance exam, adverse diagnostic test
results such as stress tests or EKG’s or the use of
cigarettes or other tobacco products (presence of nicotine)
if found and not previously admitted to on the life insurance
application.
When you apply for life insurance,
a signed HIPPA
Compliant Authorization is required
which gives the member insurance company permission to access
your MIB information. Every member company goes to the MIB
on every life insurance application it processes. For the
majority of individuals, the MIB has no file record as there
has either been no application activity or there is no information
that needs to be reported to the MIB. In the event you do
have an MIB record, the code details are evaluated in conjunction
with all of the other information gathered as part of the
underwriting process. The MIB information will not be used
as the sole basis for declining, rating or postponing
your application for life insurance.
In most case, if there is conflicting information, the insurance
company will re-question you in an effort to clarify the
information contained in your MIB record. The intent is to
evaluate your insurance risk level based on the facts and
to approve your life insurance application at the correct
rate class.
Do
I Have a Record at the MIB?
Most people don’t have a file record
at the Medical Information Bureau. Unless you have applied
for life, disability, long term care, health or critical
illness insurance in the recent past and have a medical condition,
hobby (piloting or
scuba diving) or driving
record that
would be considered a threat to your long term health or
longevity, you likely do not have a record at the MIB. Additionally,
the MIB, much like the Credit Bureau, automatically purges
your record every seven years.
Request
Your Medical Information Bureau Record
It is a great idea to contact the MIB periodically to see
if you have a record. While MIB code details can’t
be solely used against you as a basis for denying life insurance,
it can contribute to significant problems if errors are present.
Just like your credit report impacts your ability to get
favorable loans, your MIB record influences the underwriting
of your life insurance policy.
By law, you can request
a free copy of your MIB consumer report one time every year. To begin
the process of requesting your MIB file, you can call the
MIB toll free at (866) 692-6901. You will be asked to provide
personal identification so that it can be determined if
you have an MIB File. If you do have a file and once proper
identification is satisfied, it takes about 2 weeks to
process your request.
Can
an Error in My MIB Report Be Corrected?
If there are errors in your MIB report, you can ask the
Medical Information Bureau to reconsider the information
contained in your record. You can contact the MIB at (866)
692-6901 and ask for a Request for Reinvestigation Form.
They will send you the form to complete and return. Once
received, the MIB will reinvestigate the disputed details
with the reporting member life insurance company. If justified,
they will amend your file to reflect the results of their
investigation.
If the reinvestigation doesn’t
resolve your concern, you can submit a statement to the
MIB disputing the accuracy of the file details. Your statement
of dispute will be made a permanent part of your MIB file
and will be available each time your record is requested
by a member company.
You can also contact the MIB in writing at:
Medical Information Bureau (MIB)
PO Box 105, Essex Station
Boston, MA 02112
 Related
Links for Medical Information Bureau
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