Do widows face penalty in insurance rates? Advocates call for change.
The death of a spouse can be the hardest thing a person can face. But some consumer advocates say a loophole in Texas law is adding to their grief. They say its causing what they call a widow's penalty, increasing their insurance rates. "He was a retired Oklahoma City police officer," said Pam Kutcha, remembering her husband Jimmie Kutcha.On July 9th, 2021, Kutcha says her world was rocked when her husband of 25 years passed away.
FOX 26 Houston is now on the FOX LOCAL app available through Apple TV, Amazon FireTV, Roku and Google Android TV!But the Insurance Council of Texas argues that insurance rates are based on a wide variety of factors."The community you live in, what your claims' history was, how long you’ve been with the company. It’s not this one thing that changes your rate," explained Richard Johnson of ICT.And Johnson points out that Texas law prohibits discrimination in insurance pricing.
Some states have banned the so-called widow penalty, including Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Kutcha and these consumer advocates want Texas to follow suit.DOWNLOAD THE FOX 26 HOUSTON APP BY CLICKING HERE "As widows, we are not out, running in the streets and doing crazy things to make our rates go up. If anything, most widows and widowers are sitting in their homes for a year, trying to pull it all back together again," said Kutcha.
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