MIB (Medical Information Bureau)

MIB Group, Inc., long known as the Medical Information Bureau, is a membership corporation founded in 1902 and owned by member insurance companies in the U.S. and Canada. When you apply for individually underwritten life, health, disability, critical illness or long-term care insurance from a member company, the insurer can check MIB's database and, with your authorization, report certain findings from underwriting.

MIB files hold coded summaries, not medical records: a code for a significant condition, such as high blood pressure or an abnormal test result, or for something like a hazardous hobby disclosed on an application. Insurers use the check to spot inconsistencies, such as a condition disclosed to one insurer but not another. Under MIB's rules, members can't decline or rate an applicant based on an MIB code alone; they must verify the information through their own underwriting.

Because MIB is a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can request your file free once every 12 months and dispute errors. Many people have no file at all. Say, hypothetically, an insurer offers a worse rate class than you expected: your MIB report shows whether a coded entry played a role. See the MIB report and how life insurance underwriting works.