How to request your own MIB and prescription reports step by step

Before you apply for fully underwritten life insurance, you can look at two of the reports the insurer is likely to pull on you: your file at the MIB and your prescription history. Both are consumer reports under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), so you are entitled to ask for your own copy. Reading them takes an evening. Not reading them means the first person to notice an error may be an underwriter, and the first sign of it may be a higher price.

This walkthrough follows the process from start to finish: deciding whether you need to bother, making the requests, reading what comes back, and acting on what you find. The background on each report is in the guides on the The MIB report: what insurers know about your history and on how insurers check your prescription history; here the focus is on the doing.

Step 1: Decide which reports are worth requesting

Not everyone has something to see.

• The MIB file. According to MIB's consumer page, a file exists only if you applied for individually underwritten life, health or similar coverage with a member company in the past seven years and something of underwriting significance was reported. If you have never applied, or only ever had group coverage through an employer, there is probably nothing there. You can still ask. A "no record" answer is useful to know.
• The prescription history. This one is more likely to have content, because it is built from pharmacy and benefit-manager data about drugs dispensed to you, not from past applications. If you have filled prescriptions in the last several years, it will probably show them.

If you are about to apply for a large policy, have a health condition, take regular medications, or have applied for coverage before and been rated, declined or postponed, both reports are worth the effort. If you are a healthy person in your late twenties applying for a small policy that uses no exam, they matter less, though the prescription report in particular can still decide whether you qualify for a no-exam path (see accelerated underwriting: approval without an exam).

Step 2: Start early

Allow several weeks before you plan to apply. The reason is not that the requests are difficult. It is that if you find an error, correcting it can take longer than getting the report, and you do not want to be waiting on a correction with an application already open. Every application also leaves a trace, and applying with a known problem unresolved is the situation you are trying to avoid.

Do not postpone coverage you need while you tidy up reports. If you have a dependent family and no coverage, the practical order is to request the reports now and carry on with the application process in parallel, telling your agent what you are checking.

Step 3: Gather what you need to identify yourself

Both services need to be sure you are you before they release sensitive information. Expect to provide some combination of:

• Your full legal name, and any other names you have used (maiden or former names, suffixes).
• Your date of birth.
• Your current address and previous addresses, usually for the last few years.
• Your Social Security number, or part of it, depending on the service.
• A phone number or email address for contact.
• Sometimes a copy of an identity document, if you request by mail.

Use only the official website or phone number of the reporting company. Search results sometimes show look-alike sites, and some third-party sites charge a fee for forwarding a request that is free if made directly. Go to mib.com for the MIB, and check the current contact details there instead of relying on a number you found elsewhere. Never email your identity details.

Step 4: Request your MIB file

The process on MIB's site is described there and can change, so read the current instructions. In general:

1. Go to the consumer section of the official MIB website, which explains how to request your file and offers an online form. There are also phone and mail options listed there.
2. Complete the request with the identifying information above. Be careful with spelling; a mismatch is a common reason for a "no file found" result for someone who actually has one.
3. Ask for the free annual disclosure. Under the FCRA you are entitled to one free copy every 12 months from a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency, and MIB is one. A second free copy is available if an insurer takes an adverse action and an MIB record influenced it.
4. Keep a record of the date you made the request and the confirmation, in case you need to follow up.
5. Wait for the file. It may arrive by mail or be available to download, depending on how you asked. If nothing arrives within a reasonable time, contact MIB using the details on its official site.

Step 5: Request your prescription history

There are several companies that provide prescription histories to insurers, and the one used on your application depends on the insurer. The CFPB publishes a list of consumer reporting companies that includes prescription history services. According to that list, one of them, Milliman IntelliScript, provides a free copy on request at rxhistories.com. Check the CFPB list for the current set of services and how to contact each.

To find out which service a particular insurer used:

• If you received an adverse action notice, it must name the agency whose report was used. Use that name.
• If you have not applied yet, you can request from the main services without knowing which your future insurer will choose.
• If you have applied, ask the agent or the insurer which vendor it used for the prescription check.

The steps are similar to the MIB's: identify yourself, ask for your disclosure, and keep a record of the request. Prescription services may ask for more than one identifier because the data is matched on name, birth date and address. If you have moved or changed your name, include those details.

Step 6: Read the MIB file

When the MIB file arrives, take a quiet half hour. Expect these parts, which may be laid out differently from one disclosure to the next:

Medical and personal information. This is stored as codes that MIB translates for you. A code might represent an elevated blood pressure reading, an abnormal test result, or a condition that an insurer noted. It generally records that something was reported, not your full medical details. For each entry, look for:

• What the entry says in plain words.
• The approximate date.
• Whether it matches something you know about.

Companies that received the information. The file lists member companies that received a copy of your record, which tells you which insurers have seen it.

Inquiry records. These show other insurers that checked your file. If you have applied with two or three companies, you would expect to see them. An inquiry from an insurer you never applied to is worth following up.

Disability insurance information. Included where it applies.

The file does not include how any insurer rated you or whether you were accepted or declined. According to MIB, it holds information for seven years from the application date, and members cannot make an adverse decision based only on MIB data without further investigation.

Mark every entry as one of three things:

1. Correct and I disclosed it before. Nothing to do, except to disclose it again on your next application.
2. Correct but I had forgotten it. This is useful. Add it to your health worksheet and disclose it on the new application.
3. Wrong or unfamiliar. This needs a dispute, covered in Step 8.

Step 7: Read the prescription report

The layout differs by vendor, but a typical report lists each fill with:

• The drug name and strength.
• The fill date and the quantity or days' supply.
• The prescribing doctor.
• The pharmacy.

Some add a clinical flag or a risk score derived from the drugs. The report generally does not state a diagnosis. The insurer infers one from the drug, which is where misunderstandings begin. The guide on how insurers check your prescription history gives an example of a beta-blocker prescribed for migraine prevention being read as a blood pressure medication.

Go through the report with your pharmacy app or a recent medication list beside you and check four things:

1. Is every drug yours? Another person with a similar name and birth date can be mixed in. Look for drugs you do not recognize.
2. Are the dates right? A drug you took for ten days three years ago should not look like ongoing therapy.
3. Do the amounts make sense? A single fill can be a sample-size trial of a drug you stopped.
4. What would an underwriter infer? Look at each drug and ask what condition it could suggest. If the answer is a condition you do not have, or have only mildly, plan to explain it on the application and perhaps with a note from your doctor.

Remember that the report may be incomplete. Drugs paid for in cash outside the data network, samples and many over-the-counter purchases may not appear. That is not a reason to leave things off your application, because the application and interview ask about your health directly.

Step 8: Dispute what is wrong

If you find an error, use the process of the reporting company that holds it.

1. Write down what is wrong and why. For example: "Entry dated 2022 reports an abnormal liver test. I have never had an abnormal liver test, and my doctor's records show normal results."
2. Gather support. A letter or records from your doctor, pharmacy printouts, or a statement that the entry belongs to another person all help.
3. Submit the dispute in the way the company describes, online or in writing. Keep copies and the date.
4. Expect an investigation. Under the FCRA the company must investigate and correct or delete information it cannot verify. This can involve contacting the insurer or pharmacy that supplied the data. A separate Q&A covers the process in more depth: questions about disputing a wrong entry in your underwriting file.
5. Check the result. Request a fresh copy after the dispute is resolved, to confirm the correction took effect.
6. If you still disagree, the FCRA allows you to add a short statement of dispute to your file, which goes out with future reports.

If the error started in a doctor's record, the report will keep showing it until the source is corrected, so ask the practice to review the chart as well.

Step 9: Decide what to do before you apply

What you do next depends on what you found. Here is how it tends to play out.

Scenario A: Nothing there. No MIB file and a short, accurate prescription history. You can apply as planned. The results tell you that the insurer will rely mainly on your application and exam.

Scenario B: Accurate entries. The reports show a past reading or a medication you take for a treated condition. Write these into your health worksheet and be ready to give dates and details on the application and in any interview (preparing for the life insurance underwriting phone interview). Because the insurer will see the same information, a complete application matches it and avoids follow-up questions.

Scenario C: An error. Start the dispute and, if you can, wait for the correction before applying. If you have a pressing need for coverage, tell your agent about the error and ask whether the insurer can consider your doctor's explanation. The agent may be able to advise on timing and on which insurers handle similar situations differently.

Scenario D: A surprising but accurate entry. Something appears that you did not know was recorded, such as a past abnormal result. It is worth a conversation with your own doctor about what it means. This is a health question first and an insurance question second.

Scenario E: Evidence of identity mix-up. If the report contains many entries that are clearly not yours, take it seriously. Contact the reporting company, and consider whether other records in your name have been confused.

Step 10: Keep a file

Create a folder, paper or digital, with the dates of your requests, copies of the reports, your dispute letters and the responses. You may need them later if you apply to more than one insurer, if an insurer takes an adverse action and you want to show what you checked, or if an error resurfaces in a future report. Do not keep these documents in an unsecured place, since they contain sensitive health information.

What the reports do not tell you

Reading these reports gives a partial picture. They do not show:

• How a particular insurer will rate you. Guidelines differ between companies.
• Your doctors' full records, which the insurer can request separately with your authorization (attending physician statements and why they slow an application).
• Other data an insurer may use, such as a driving record, or in some cases credit-based information. The guide on do life insurers check your credit? explains when that comes up.

They are a useful check, not a prediction. Used well, they let you walk into the application with your facts in order and with any errors already on their way to being fixed.

Key takeaways

• The MIB file and the prescription history are consumer reports under the FCRA, so you can request your own copy; the MIB file exists only if you applied for underwritten coverage in the past seven years.
• Use the official websites, keep a dated record of every request, and start several weeks before you plan to apply.
• Read each entry and sort it into correct and known, correct but forgotten, or wrong; check prescription entries for drugs that are not yours, wrong dates and drugs that suggest a condition you do not have.
• Dispute errors with the reporting company and support the dispute with doctor or pharmacy records; request a new copy to confirm the fix.
• Accurate entries are not a problem, but they should appear in your application answers so the file matches.