Texas TPA’s, their insurance carrier partners, insurance agents and brokers should understand that Chapter 541 of the Texas Insurance Code applies to them:
§ 541.003. UNFAIR METHODS OF COMPETITION AND UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES PROHIBITED. A person may not engage in this state in a trade practice that is defined in this chapter as or determined under this chapter to be an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of
insurance.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1274, § 2, eff. April 1, 2005.
Sec. 541.054. BOYCOTT, COERCION, OR INTIMIDATION. It is an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance to commit through concerted action or to enter into an agreement to commit an act of boycott, coercion, or intimidation that results in or tends to result in the unreasonable restraint of or a monopoly in the business of insurance.
Molly Mulebriar, investigative reporter from Warring, Texas, is currently winding up her investigative report of a Texas TPA’s efforts to boycott a competitor in violation of the Texas Insurance Code.
“We will report that a Texas TPA, in a coordinated effort with a major insurance carrier, clearly violated Section 541.054 of the Texas Insurance Code” said Mulebriar. Mulebriar’s report will be posted on www.mollymulebriar.org in a few days.
