Consumer Protection - MIB Group, Inc.

MIB Group, Inc. ("MIB") is a membership corporation (sometimes described as an "industry trade association") owned by approximately 470 member insurance companies. Once known as the "Medical Information Bureau," Consumer Protection

MIB has been in continuous operation for over 105 years pursuing its primary mission of detecting and deterring fraud that may occur in the course of obtaining life, health, disability income, critical illness, and long-term care insurance. MIB's fraud detection and deterrence saves its member companies, on an annual basis, an estimated $1 billion by allowing them to avoid fraudulent insurance applications and early claims. These savings may be passed on to insurance buying consumers in the form of lower premiums (and higher dividends payable by mutual companies), which may allow them to buy more insurance at affordable premiums.

Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), as recently amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act ("FACTA"), MIB is defined as a "nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency" because it is a "consumer reporting agency" that issues "consumer reports" that are not credit reports. A "consumer reporting agency" is broadly defined under FCRA as anyone who assembles information about consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports. Among other things, a "consumer report" includes any communication of information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's eligibility for insurance, including information on a proposed insured's medical conditions and avocations. Accordingly, MIB operates in conformity with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Consumers have long had a right to obtain information from MIB about the contents of their MIB "consumer file." We call this "Disclosure" and we now provide one free report annually for those consumers using the "streamlined" process that was developed in response to FACTA. (Request Your MIB Consumer File).

In addition to one free copy of their MIB records annually, consumers also have the right to question the accuracy of the information in their MIB files and to seek correction of it in accordance with the procedures set forth in FCRA. When a consumer disputes the accuracy of any item in his or her file, we contact our member company that reported information (a "furnisher") about the consumer and the member company conducts an investigation (sometimes referred to as a "reinvestigation") to determine whether the disputed information was accurate and complete, as required by FCRA. Of course, the goal of the investigation is to help ensure that consumer reports are accurate. Out of all the free Disclosures that we provide, we find that only one percent (1%) of these consumer files are amended as a result of a consumer’s election to dispute its accuracy. We have even fewer cases in which a consumer elects to exercise his or her right to record a "statement of dispute" in his or her consumer file. Once filed, the statement of dispute will be provided to any MIB member that subsequently requests the consumer’s MIB file.

The information contained in the MIB database is highly sensitive because it contains information of underwriting significance (medical and avocation information) about North American consumers who have applied for life and health insurance with MIB member companies. Accordingly, MIB has long been an advocate of protecting the confidentiality of, and safeguarding, the individually identifiable information entrusted to it.

As a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency, MIB protects consumer files as consumer report information containing medical information. Because MIB member companies are governed by Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and numerous state privacy laws, and some members issuing health insurance are regulated under the Privacy Rule promulgated under Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Canadian members are governed by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), MIB conducts its business in a manner that satisfies its commitments to its members on the protection and safeguarding of individually identifiable information and thereby allows them to comply with such laws.