Where Does the MIB Information Come From?

[AfroPope]

What is the medical condition? Maybe you can use a carrier that doesn't mess with MIB?

MS. I'm assuming it was the MIB report, I'm just going on what Apptical said needed "further review." I can still write her with some other companies and get her approved but Foresters had by far the best price for what she wanted and she could still get preferred level with them minus this fluke.

First of all, MIB has no way of knowing if a client took a medication. All MIB has are reports from particpating insurance companies. Participating companies send brief reports about an applicant when they apply for insurance with them. These reports contain basic data like:

• height and weight (not always reported)
• the name of the insurer that made the report
• a description of the health conditions that may pertain to the applicant
• the date the report was submitted

These codes themselves are invisible on an actual MIB report if a person were to order a copy of it. The codes are merely tools used by MIB and participating insurers to quickly analyze an applicants MIB file for any potentially relevant information.

These codes very often refer to a set of health ailments. Each code is usually broad in nature, and each individual code could refer to a variety of health conditions.

In the case of your client, some MIB participating insurer submitted a report about her within the last 2 years that indicated she disclosed she had or may have had a condition related the conditions that foresters flagged. For her, some carrier sent a report about her indicating she has had or has been treated for alcohol or drug abuse or used illegal drugs within the last two years (because that is the look back period with Foresters for these conditions).


Here is the part most people don't get about MIB. Insurance companies can only report what applicants voluntarily disclose (unless there is a mistake or fraud by an agent or something). Insurance companies cannot report information that is gathered from other resources like a milliman script check for example. In essence an MIB report is just a coded transcript of what applicants reveal about themselves. In the event a client had no health related data to reveal (like when a person says no to all health questions), the report itself is rather barren. In that circumstance, the report would merely have data indicating who the the reporting insurer was and the date it was submitted and potentially height and weight.

In the case of Foresters, you could explore getting a doctor letter to override this decision. I have done this successfully many times. However, this does not always work. Although I have no way of knowing this, I strongly believe that a doctors note will not refute an MIB report when the clients script history suggests the report is true.

In either event, if you have access to a non MIB participating insurer, you should be golden as long as her prescription history is actually devoid of treatment for the condition flagged from her MIB file.

Interesting stuff.

So, assuming someone has NOT been treated for drug or alcohol abuse (i.e. assuming she's telling the truth) why would such a thing get pinged during a phone interview?

I had her whole script history there and the person doing the phone interview said that wasn't the problem and that her prescriptions were fine, it was just a record of treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. Person at Apptical also said something to the effect of "I dunno, it looks kind of weird. I'm not sure what's going on here."

I rarely write Foresters, both because they're usually the most expensive option and because of crap like this. I don't think I've EVER had an app easily go through with them.

 

[goillini52]

MS. I'm assuming it was the MIB report, I'm just going on what Apptical said needed "further review." I can still write her with some other companies and get her approved but Foresters had by far the best price for what she wanted and she could still get preferred level with them minus this fluke.


Interesting stuff.

So, assuming someone has NOT been treated for drug or alcohol abuse (i.e. assuming she's telling the truth) why would such a thing get pinged during a phone interview?

I had her whole script history there and the person doing the phone interview said that wasn't the problem and that her prescriptions were fine, it was just a record of treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. Person at Apptical also said something to the effect of "I dunno, it looks kind of weird. I'm not sure what's going on here."

I rarely write Foresters, both because they're usually the most expensive option and because of crap like this. I don't think I've EVER had an app easily go through with them.

Some other companies that you could look at for Level are Equitable and KSKJ. If not diagnosed or treated before age 25 Sentinel Security.

 

[Ksutton]

MS. I'm assuming it was the MIB report, I'm just going on what Apptical said needed "further review." I can still write her with some other companies and get her approved but Foresters had by far the best price for what she wanted and she could still get preferred level with them minus this fluke. Interesting stuff. So, assuming someone has NOT been treated for drug or alcohol abuse (i.e. assuming she's telling the truth) why would such a thing get pinged during a phone interview? I had her whole script history there and the person doing the phone interview said that wasn't the problem and that her prescriptions were fine, it was just a record of treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. Person at Apptical also said something to the effect of "I dunno, it looks kind of weird. I'm not sure what's going on here." I rarely write Foresters, both because they're usually the most expensive option and because of crap like this. I don't think I've EVER had an app easily go through with them.

Foresters is not THE most expensive option - you have never had an app easily go through with them ? .......................... I don't feel like this is a fair thing to say about a company given the amount of applications, to my knowledge, you have written with them. I'm not trying to "throw you under the bus" but it's not good for agents who are using this forum to learn to see a post like this and be swayed to not use a company because of your experience .

I edited this post to remove a couple of questions that I asked - I don't see the need for asking them . I hope you understand where I'm comMing from Afro .

 

[Baseball7]

I've had very few problems with Foresters. There rates may be mid-pack but they a easy app, issued quick, etc.

 

[suranceman]

MS. I'm assuming it was the MIB report, I'm just going on what Apptical said needed "further review." I can still write her with some other companies and get her approved but Foresters had by far the best price for what she wanted and she could still get preferred level with them minus this fluke.


Interesting stuff.

So, assuming someone has NOT been treated for drug or alcohol abuse (i.e. assuming she's telling the truth) why would such a thing get pinged during a phone interview?

I had her whole script history there and the person doing the phone interview said that wasn't the problem and that her prescriptions were fine, it was just a record of treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. Person at Apptical also said something to the effect of "I dunno, it looks kind of weird. I'm not sure what's going on here."

I rarely write Foresters, both because they're usually the most expensive option and because of crap like this. I don't think I've EVER had an app easily go through with them.

The why is because an insurance company that participates with MIB made a report about her within the last two years. That report indicated that she has or may have had treatment for alcohol or drug abuse or used illegal drugs.

Her script history has no bearing whatsoever on her MIB file. Furthermore, pretty much every FE company will ask about this stuff for the prior two years so this issue will come up with every carrier that participates with MIB (98% of them do). Don't point your anger at Foresters for this It's certainly not their fault.

If her script history truly is clean, get her letter from her doctor clearly stating she has not dealt with this stuff in the last two years and they will most likely bypass this MIB hit. Of course, if you have a non MIB FE company, that would be the path of least resistance and quickest resolution to this situation. Or if you have a company that does not ask about alcohol or drug abuse stuff in the last two years, that would work too but I'm quite certain that isn't out there.

 

[jdeasy]

Finding and creating problems does seem to be something that Foresters does very well.

This is the 2nd time in a week that it's posted about here. I always found Foresters to be very difficult to deal with. Especially on post issue things like changing beneficiaries, address changes, banking changes, etc.

But 2 rate increases in the last 4 years makes it all a non issue anyway.

When I first contracted with Foresters was back in my NAA days. They were supposed to be the answer to all the problems agents were having with F&G.

Turned out they were worse than F&G. Now they are overpriced, difficult to deal with and a fraternal. That doesn't add up to be useful.

 

[AfroPope]

Foresters is not THE most expensive option - you have never had an app easily go through with them ? .......................... I don't feel like this is a fair thing to say about a company given the amount of applications, to my knowledge, you have written with them. I'm not trying to "throw you under the bus" but it's not good for agents who are using this forum to learn to see a post like this and be swayed to not use a company because of your experience .

I edited this post to remove a couple of questions that I asked - I don't see the need for asking them . I hope you understand where I'm comMing from Afro .

Of course, you know I always appreciate your input!

Foresters' rates are at the higher end in Oregon, and I don't often run into clients who have health issues they're friendly to (MS, in this case) AND who are good candidates for phone interviews - as a result I don't write much with them. Nothing against them!

I realize the tone of some of my posts makes it look like I'm side-eyeing or mad at Foresters, and that's not the case. If they hadn't been quoted already I'd edit them, because it was unfair - I was just frustrated about the issue I was having, and the few Foresters apps I've written have been headaches for various reasons, usually minor stuff like this. But yeah, nothing against them.

Interesting stuff, all. Thanks.