Specifications

Medical Information

Medical information is withheld by default — it reaches a report only on specific, described consent.

What it ensures

The FCRA singles out medical information for heightened protection, barring its furnishing for employment, credit, or insurance unless narrow conditions — chiefly the consumer’s specific written consent for a described use — are met. This control redacts medical information from the report unless those conditions are satisfied.

It ensures the most sensitive category of data isn’t furnished on a general authorization or by oversight.

Watch it run

A report being assembled contains medical information about the applicant.

Illustrative run — one case moving through the Medical Information specification.

Medical review Permitted Included Redacted
Permitted transition Forbidden move Start Terminal state
Medical information is the FCRA’s most protected category. It may be furnished only on specific written consent for a described use — otherwise it is redacted. Furnishing it without that consent is in red.
✕ Furnish medical 1 ✓ Report 2 ✓ Consent check 3 ✓ Redacted
Ready

A report being assembled contains medical information about the applicant.

  1. Ready

    The medical item

    Among the data sits medical information — the category the FCRA guards most closely.

  2. Permitted

    The consent check

    Medical data may be furnished only on specific written consent for a described use — conditions not met here.

    Where it comes from

    The FCRA singles out medical information for heightened protection, barring its furnishing for employment, credit, or insurance unless narrow conditions are satisfied.

    What it satisfies

    Checking each report for medical information against the §1681b(g) conditions before release is the mechanical core of the protection.

    FCRA §1681b(g) Statute 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(g)(1) A consumer reporting agency shall not furnish for employment purposes, or in connection with a credit or insurance transaction, a consumer report that contains medical information … about a consumer, unless … the consumer provides specific written consent for the furnishing of the report that describes in clear and conspicuous language the use for which the information will be furnished… U.S. Code · Cornell LII ↗
  3. Blocked

    The wrong move

    Including it is the violation. Absent specific written consent for the described use, the medical information cannot be furnished.

    Where it comes from

    Consent here is specific, not general: it must describe, in clear and conspicuous language, the use for which the medical information will be furnished.

    What it satisfies

    Refusing to furnish the medical information without that consent is exactly what §1681b(g) requires.

    FCRA §1681b(g) Statute 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(g)(1) A consumer reporting agency shall not furnish for employment purposes, or in connection with a credit or insurance transaction, a consumer report that contains medical information … about a consumer, unless … the consumer provides specific written consent for the furnishing of the report that describes in clear and conspicuous language the use for which the information will be furnished… U.S. Code · Cornell LII ↗
  4. Redacted

    Redacted

    What goes out carries no medical information it isn’t permitted to carry.

  5. On the record

    The proof

    The file shows the medical information was withheld, not furnished.

Why it holds

Why the whole holds

No single reviewer reliably catches protected data at volume. What holds is that medical information has no path into the report without the specific consent the statute names. Reliability isn’t carefulness; it’s that the protected item is withheld by default.

Why it matters

Furnishing medical information without the required consent is a direct §1681b(g) violation in a category courts and regulators treat as especially sensitive.