Insurers share coded findings from underwritten applications through an industry exchange. You are entitled to see your own file, free, and to correct it.
MIB is an information exchange owned by its member insurance companies. When you apply for individually underwritten coverage, what the underwriting turned up can be reported to it in coded form, and other member companies can see that code on a later application.
The part worth knowing first: ACA marketplace coverage is guaranteed issue. There are no health questions, and an insurer cannot decline you or charge you more because of your medical history. Underwriting applies to other products — so being turned down by one is not the same as being uninsurable.
What It Is, and What It Is Not
It is not your medical record. MIB holds brief codes, not charts, notes or test results. A code signals that a member company previously reported something in a given category — enough to prompt another underwriter to look, not enough to make their decision for them.
It also does not cover everyone. A file exists only for people who have applied for individually underwritten life, health, disability or long-term care insurance within the last seven years. If you have only ever had employer coverage or an ACA marketplace plan, there is very likely nothing there at all.
How to Get Yours
Requesting your own MIB file
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Cost | Free, once every 12 months |
| Phone | 866-692-6901 |
| Online | mib.com |
| Turnaround | 15 days from receipt of your request |
| Records held | 2,555 days — seven years |
| After a declination | A separate free copy, within 60 days of the decision |
Two separate free entitlements are worth keeping straight. One is the annual disclosure, which anyone can request once every 12 months. The other is triggered by an adverse decision: if a report contributed to a declination or a rating, you have 60 days from that decision to obtain a free copy from the agency the letter names.
Reading It
Expect something short and unfamiliar. Work through it in this order:
- Confirm it is you. Name, date of birth, address history. Mixed files are a real category of error, and the most consequential one.
- Check the dates. A code attached to the wrong year can misrepresent how recent or how stable a condition is.
- Match codes to applications you remember making. An entry from an application you never submitted is worth immediate attention.
- Ask what a code actually refers to if it is not clear. You are entitled to know what is in your own file.
Disputing an Entry
MIB is a consumer reporting agency, so the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies. You can dispute anything you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. The agency has to investigate, generally within 30 days, and correct or delete what it cannot verify. If the entry came from a member company, that company is drawn into the check.
Keep the correspondence. If the same code has already affected one application, you may need to show a later underwriter that it was corrected.
When It Is Worth Requesting
- Before applying for anything individually underwritten, if you expect your history to be a factor. Finding an error first is much easier than unwinding a decision after.
- After a declination or a rating you did not expect — use the 60-day free copy.
- If an underwriter mentions a condition you do not recognise. That is a specific signal worth chasing.
Not worth it: if you are only shopping ACA marketplace coverage. Nothing in this file can be used against you there, because there are no health questions to begin with.
If you have pulled your file and cannot tell whether an entry explains a decision you were given, call (713) 575-9904.