MIB is indeed the Big Brother of the insurance industry. What a lot of people don't know, however, is that MIB is strictly regulated by the Federal government, and that consumers should not assume that they have to allow their personal health records to be shared with MIB, which then has the right to share it with pretty much anyone they like, often with no protection of privacy whatsoever.
Under the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) implemented by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), all "individually identifiable health information" held or transmitted by a covered entity or its business associate, in any form or media, whether electronic, paper, or oral, is protected and consumers have a right to demand it remains private.
However, insurance companies routinely request consumers waive their rights to privacy as a condition of providing coverage. If you apply for health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, read your application carefully, you will no doubt find a clause that states the insurance company may share what should be private, confidential medical records with Big Brother, who can then share it with everyone else.
What most consumers don't know is that it is illegal for insurance companies to require you to do this. The privacy rule clearly states that a covered entity (such as an insurance company) may not condition treatment, payment, enrollment, or benefits eligibility on an individual granting an authorization to disclose protected information.
In simple terms, this means an insurance company cannot deny coverage because you refuse to waive your privacy rights and allow the company to share information with Big Brother.
Read the application, find those clauses where they ask you to waive your rights to privacy, cross them out – and if the insurance company insists you give them the right to share your protected information, file a complaint with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or your state attorney general's office.
Congress went to great lengths to draft legislation to protect our privacy, yet the insurance industry routinely asks you to waive those rights. It's time we did something to stop this nonsense.
