YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY

(If you haven't read the page "It's a Company" FIRST, I recommend you do so.  This page will make more sense if you will.  Click Here to go to It's A Company).

Your Medical History - At Their Fingertips (and on YOUR lips)

Obtaining medical information on a prospective policy holder is the key that unlocks the (highest) price the insurance company will quote you. 

• The Medical Information Bureau (MIB)  No, this is not something out of a George Orwell novel. It is a membership corporation owned by approximately
  470 insurance companies that archives and makes available to insurance
  companies your medical history. 
   
• Past Insurance Carriers.  This primarily refers to past individual health plan
  carriers, if indeed you were ever covered previously by an individual plan.
   
• YOU.  The information listed on your MIB Consumer Profile will be incomplete, especially if you were covered by large group insurance for many years.  Insurance companies know this.  So how do they fill in the blanks on the
  rest of your medical history?

The insurance company will ask many questions about your medical history. 
They hope you will talk...a lot.

So before you TALK, you need to have a carefully thought-out plan of HOW you are going to use the insurance, and a then make a determination to stick to it.  You will then need to reflect back to a prospective insurer what your actual usage of their insurance will be.

VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

The information below is best used by those who are generally healthy and can therefore afford to both shop around for insurance coverage, and limit their health insurance usage.  This site does not attempt to advise those who have serious, chronic conditions which require frequent, expensive and ongoing medical care, nor do we, in any way, advocate the switching of insurance policies for these individuals.

What To Do...

DON'T talk to an insurance company until you...

1. Obtain your MIB Consumer Profile from the Medical Information Bureau.
   CLICK HERE.  Profiles may be obtained by consumers once yearly without
   cost.  This Profile will contain the same information the insurance companies have access to, so you know exactly what THEY know.  (P.S. - Always
   disclose to a prospective insurance carrier what is on your MIB Consumer
   Profile.  They know anyway).
    
2. Make decisions about your FUTURE USAGE of your insurance.  Here are
   two truths about this process that your insurance company or agent probably won't tell you -
   
        1)  You really don't have to run every single health expenditure
             you ever incur through your insurance policy - and,
        2)  The more your prospective insurer thinks you will use your
             insurance, the higher your premium will be.
   
   Therefore, to get to a LOWER premium price, decisions will need to be made regarding HOW, and FOR WHAT EXPENDITURES, you will use insurance.  And Prescriptions are the primary factor in this decision-making process.
    
3. Research your options with reputable online pharmacies.  Many
   high-quality generic prescriptions can be obtained at LESS than insurance
   co-pay prices!  Do your homework and learn what ongoing prescriptions can
   be outsourced safely and cost-effectively from reputable overseas pharmacies.
    
4. Once you make the plan - STICK WITH IT.  If you determine you are NOT going to run certain expenditures through your policy, you must NEVER waver from the plan.  If you ever treat your insurance differently at any time, your premiums WILL go up, or your policy may be outright terminated.  Your plan needs to factor in doctors' visits related to prescription refills.  Discuss with
   your doctor a plan regarding insurance billings for these visits.
    
5. Give a FAIR AND ACCURATE picture of your FUTURE INSURANCE USAGE
   to a prospective insurer.  What does this mean?  And how do you do this?  This is by far the most complicated and difficult aspect of this process.  It certainly was for me.
   
   You are dealing with a system that attempts to judge your future insurance
   usage based on your past history.  But if you are now making decisions to use
   your insurance policy less, in order to obtain a better policy quote, your past medical history - that is, what the insurance knows about your past medical history - works against these decisions. 
   
   This site does not advise how to resolve this conflict.  Having the system
   judge your future insurance usage based on your past history is, frankly, completely fair if you intend to use the insurance for the conditions you  disclose.  And, if an insurance company asks outright about a condition
   they are aware of, you should confirm it, and clearly state your intention to handle the expenditures related to the condition outside the policy.
   
   Beyond these statements, this site leaves it completely to your discretion to
   determine how you wish to handle disclosures regarding conditions and expenditures that you have already determined beforehand will not be run
   through your insurance policy.

Now, let's learn more Prescriptions and Overseas Pharmacies - CLICK HERE for the Prescriptions page.

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