Medical Information Burea: How Insurance Companies Get Around HIPAA

Most of us know that we should check on our credit scores periodically, but did you realize you probably ought to check on your Medical Information Bureau (MIB) Consumer File periodically.  Yes, it's true.  The insurance companies compile all your information from insurace claims into a central database, the Medical Information Bureau.  The beauty of this is that when you apply for insurance it allows insurance companies to get around the privacy rules of HIPAA.  The website certainly makes it appear to be a thing of beauty and worth and I'm sure it is to insurance companies looking for reasons not to insure people who might cost them something.

Aren't insurance companies in the business of taking risks (or in other words people who may not be so healthy) and providing people with individual coverage by mitigating the risks over the thousands of people they insure?