What Is The MIB And How Does It Affect You?

MIB

What Is The MIB And How Does It Affect You?

The medical Information Bureau is a company based in Massachusetts that maintains a database of extensive medical information to help underwriters determine if a client qualifies for life insurance or health insurance. If an applicant applies for life insurance and there are any discrepancies between the answers a client has given on an application, the underwriter may ask for additional information, or may decline the application based on the data received from the MIB.  In addition to a client's medical information, the MIB also keeps record of the number of times a request has been made. Insurance companies want to ensure that when issuing a policy, the client fits the risk class they have applied for. This helps keep premiums in line with the risk taken by the insurer.

Fraud

The MIB is also able to help determine fraud. If there are an abnormal number of requests from the MIB, it could alert the company to a "murder for profit" scheme. If there are many requests coming through on many small applications or a few large applications, it alerts them to a possible scheme. If they feel this is happening, at that point they would contact the authorities. It will also give insurers information as to the risk class an applicant may have been given by another insurer and if a consumer attempts to falsify information on an application, it would immediately be caught on an MIB report. Based off this is false information, the application may be declined or the insured may be offered the same risk class.

Can I view my report?

Yes. It is possible that the information on a report was reported erroneously. An insured has the right to view what is on his/her MIB report. You can submit written notice to the MIB or call them and get a free copy of what has been reported. All declines on a policy will trigger a disclosure to the applicant with the necessary information to obtain a copy.

Ultimately, the MIB is able to ensure that risk-based premiums remain in-line with the risks taken by an insurance company and allows insurers to meet the financial obligations to their policy holders.

Contact our office today, to schedule an appointment to meet with one of our agents to determine what life insurance products you may qualify for.

How Much Extra Are You Paying For You Health Condition?Or The story of Sarah and Sue

........and could you be paying less??

If you have a significant health condition such as diabetes or heart disease and your application for life insurance is accepted, almost always you can expect to pay higher premiums because of your health condition. Insurance companies charge more to cover the higher risk of the policy resulting in a claim.

But have you ever stopped to consider how the extra amount the insurance company wants you to pay compares with the rest of the market? If you did and you looked into this further you might be very surprised at what you might find.

Consider this example - Sarah and Sue are twin sisters aged 40, both non smokers and each requires £180,000 term life insurance over a 25 year term. The only difference between Sarah and Sue if that Sarah has no significant health conditions, whereas Sue has insulin controlled diabetes with average control.

Sarah is able to purchase the required cover from insurance company A at £15.34pm with insurance company B offering her the same cover at £15.73pm - or about 2.5% more than company A.

But for Sue its a different story. Due to her diabetes Company A's premium increases to £28.08pm. But company B now want a whopping £48.81pm!  - which is now over 73% more than company A, or an extra £6,200 over the whole term of the policy.

So why does the differential go from 2.5% to 73%?

The answer lies in the different underwriting decision that that the company A and company B make after looking at the medical information. Not all companies make the same premium pricing decisions. In fact each UK insurance company generally has well over a dozen different premium ratings bands from which to choose when deciding which one to put you into and the key thing is that they dont all choose the same banding!

The moral of the story is that if you have a significant health condition shopping around is even more important than normal and could save you a small fortune. Even if you have alreay purchased cover in recent year after being diagnosed with your condition it is worth doing some research to see if you can save yourself some money.

Finally if you find thought of doing the necessary daunting (which it certainly can be) why not get a specialist broker to have a look for you.

www.moneysworth.co.uk offer a no fee life insurance shopping service for people with health conditions. Its simple to use and Moneysworth do the research for you. You can also call with your enquiry on 0845 430 5200.