This section bars unfair insurance discrimination based on listed personal characteristics, and it adds special rules for widowed people and marital-status-related coverage and rates.
Sec. 544.002. UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION. (a) A person may not refuse to insure or provide coverage to an individual, refuse to continue to insure or provide coverage to an individual, limit the amount, extent, or kind of coverage available for an individual, or charge an individual a rate that is different from the rate charged to other individuals for the same coverage because of the individual's: (1) race, color, religion, or national origin; (2) age, gender, marital status, or geographic location; or (3) disability or partial disability. (b) Subsection (a)(2) does not prohibit an insurer or health maintenance organization from considering marital status in defining persons eligible for dependent benefits. (c) Subsection (a) does not prevent requirements to provide title insurance coverage relating to possible community, homestead, or other marital rights in land. (d) Notwithstanding Section 544.003, an insurer may not: (1) refuse to continue to insure or provide coverage to an individual or limit the amount, extent, or kind of coverage available to an individual because the individual is widowed or the individual's marital status otherwise reflects the death of a spouse; or (2) charge an individual who is widowed or whose marital status otherwise reflects the death of a spouse a rate that is different from the rate that would be charged if the individual's marital status was married. (e) Subsection (d) may not be construed to prohibit a title insurance company or title insurance agent from imposing a reasonable requirement on a widowed insured or widowed individual seeking insurance coverage for the purpose of determining heirship, probate matters, or other similar issues in the same manner as an insured or individual who is not widowed. Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1274, Sec. 2, eff. April 1, 2005. Amended by: Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 91 (S.B. 1238), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2025.