“Not to go too far off topic but the data collection has been there for years and is quite surprising at what and how they can get the data.”
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Think about how willingly most people give up their buying patterns, whereabouts, preferences, etc. So many businesses - grocery stores and other retailers - have affinity programs that people readily sign up for to save a few bucks, qualify for discounts, or the occasional freebie.
The MIB (Medical Information Board, formerly the Medical Information Bureau) has been collecting patient health information for decades https://www.truebluelifeinsurance.com/mib-insurance-report-what-you-need-to-know/
Fascinating. I follow this sort of thing as a hobby and had never heard of the MIB.
https://www.insure.com/life-insurance/mib-report.html. Looks like you can request a copy of the report they have on you https://www.mib.com/facts_about_mib.html
None of it surprises me. There weren’t digital records, but records could be shared, nonetheless. I remember needing a procedure and wondering how it could affect future coverage. We could always go back to a pharmacy and get a record of Rx history.
Today Amazon and others track. Now Whole Foods. That’s on top of what credit card companies can know. It’s there. I was once part of a university longitudinal study and freaked at how much they asked me to reveal. Our own credit history includes all sorts of personal info. Most data sharing goes on without us thinking much about it.
If you’ve never applied for an individual insurance policy, you may not have a MIB file:
“Before requesting a free copy of your MIB Consumer File, you should know that you will not have an MIB Consumer File if you have not applied for individually underwritten life, health, disability income, long-term care or critical illness insurance with a member insurer within the last 7 years or earlier depending on applicable law. Therefore, you may not have an MIB Consumer File if: (i) you applied for insurance more than 7 years ago; or (ii) you applied for insurance that was not individually underwritten (for example, group insurance or guaranteed issue life, or ACA-based health insurance); or (iii) you applied to an insurance company that was not an MIB member.”
From link above on requesting your MIB file. H and I have never applied for individual policies so probably don’t have MIB files.