Life or disability insurance; illegal dealings.

(1) No life or disability insurer shall refuse to renew, sell, or issue a life or disability insurance policy, establish or charge a premium or rate to an applicant or a prospective policyholder, or establish or charge an unfair, discriminatory premium or rate to such person solely on the ground that the applicant or policyholder suffers from a severe disability.

(2) “Severe disability,” as used in this section, means any spinal cord disease or injury resulting in permanent and total disability, amputation of any extremity that requires prosthesis, permanent visual acuity of 20/200 or worse in the better eye with the best correction, a peripheral field so contracted that the widest diameter of such field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees, or neurosensory deafness.

(3) Nothing in this section should be construed as requiring an insurer to provide insurance coverage against a severe disability which the applicant or policyholder has already sustained.