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Vernon James, president of the Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ), says he has observed that customers are more invested in policies that cover health risks, against the COVID-19 backdrop.

"There has been a shift. COVID is a health event first, then an economic event. We've seen where it has escalated and so, there is a heightened interest in insurance that protects from health risks, and you can understand why," he told THE STAR.

Jamaica, which recorded its first case on March 10, has so far seen nearly 7,000 cases of the highly infectious disease that has claimed almost 120 lives locally. Worldwide, more than one million people have died from COVID-19 and in excess of 35 million infections.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, local insurers have seen a shift in Jamaicans' attitude towards insurance. With community spread in effect, and the number of deaths rising daily, persons are showing preference to two insurance policies - those that secure many family members and those that protect them from health risks, lest the worst should happen.

Oliver Tomlinson, general manager of JN Life Insurance, told THE STAR that persons are making their families their top priority, and so other insurance policies get pushed to the back burner.

"From my observation, family-type products that cover multiple members of a family... those are the policies that I see now that will be the last ones to be jeopardised. This is because persons are very conscious of the fact that they might need this more than anything," he said.

According to Tomlinson, some of the sought-after JN Life family insurance plans include the family indemnity plan which covers up to six members when they die, and the family critical illness plan which covers family members who have been diagnosed with critical illnesses.