Bad Info: MIB

A loyal reader forwarded this article to me; in it, the author badly misrepresents both the Medical Information Bureau and the individual medical insurance market:

"An organization called the Medical Information Bureau would take a quick look at their histories and tell 470 companies they are hopelessly bad risks. Their work helps health insurers cherry-pick prospects to cover only those who are unlikely to get sick."

Um, no:

The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) is a clearinghouse that a lot of carriers use to trade information about certain (and explicit) types of risk. Most people who apply for insurance aren't even listed in the MIB's files. And underwriters, while they do refer to MIB records for certain types of cases, use a variety of tools in assessing whether or not to issue coverage (and under what conditions).

We've debunked this sort of thing before (here and here); seems a shame to have to do so again.

But there ya go.