It is records kept by private or government insurance agencies that we have been financially responsible for our interactions with the health care system. The most important but least known is the Medical Information Bureau where health insurance companies collaborate to create a unified record of a person's interactions with the health care system. A new law just passed by Congress will allow banks, brokers and insurance companies to share consumer information. It will be possible for your health record to shared among all these businesses. I have reviewed Medical Information Bureau records and detailed comments in certified letters to the various companies.
Some examples are in order.
These are real events that happened to patients in my practice. First, there was the case of a woman in her thirties who was given severely restricted health care coverage. Her MIB files contained a benign diagnosis from several years earlier and the insurance company was not going to cover any problems with her female reproductive or urinary system. Second, was a woman in her forties who was denied any coverage for health care because of her MIB file. Some of the diagnosis went back more than 10 years and all were benign conditions.