Medical Information Bureau
Also called MIB, MIB Group, Medical Information Bureau
An industry-shared database of coded information from prior insurance applications that carriers check during underwriting — which is why lying on an application fails.
The Medical Information Bureau (MIB Group) is a membership organization of US and Canadian life and health insurers that maintains a shared database of coded risk information drawn from prior insurance applications. When you apply for individually underwritten coverage, the carrier both checks your MIB file and, if it finds something notable, contributes a coded flag back to it.
It’s important to be precise about what the MIB is and isn’t. It does not store your medical records, doctor’s notes, or lab results. It stores short, standardized codes — think “flag for elevated blood pressure” or “flag for a particular condition” — that point an underwriter toward areas worth investigating. Records generally cover the prior seven years, and a code is a signal to dig, not a decision by itself.
Why this matters to you comes down to consistency. The MIB is the mechanism that makes underwriting memory work across companies. If you disclosed a condition on one application and then leave it off a later one, the second carrier can see the earlier flag — and the contradiction is what draws scrutiny. Combined with prescription and records checks, it’s why shading the truth reliably backfires, especially if you die within the contestability period, when the insurer can revisit everything.
Two practical steps. First, you’re entitled to one free MIB disclosure per year — pull it before you apply so you know what carriers will see, and dispute any errors (you have that right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act). Second, just answer honestly. The database isn’t there to trap careful applicants; it’s there to catch mismatches. Tell every carrier the same true story and the MIB works quietly in the background instead of against you.
The MIB is the reason a fresh application can't hide what an old one disclosed. If you understated a condition to one carrier and then apply to another, the second insurer can see a coded flag from the first — and that mismatch can cost you the policy or a future claim.
An applicant tells a new carrier he's never been treated for high blood pressure. But a prior application, coded and stored at the MIB, shows a hypertension flag. The new underwriter sees the discrepancy, orders records, and reprices — or declines. The database didn't reveal his diagnosis; it revealed that he'd said something different before.
The temptation to 'start fresh' with a new carrier by omitting history. The MIB shares coded flags across member insurers, so a clean-looking new application that contradicts an old one is a red flag — and grounds to contest a claim during the first two years.