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Nakinskie Robinson reports
Sagicor Life Insurance Company says it has seen a rise in demand for autism-related insurance benefits.
The company has, for the past 10 years, been offering health insurance coverage for people with autism spectrum disorder, a developmental condition affecting communication, behaviour and sensory processing.
Sagicor Life's Director of Sales and Employee Benefits, Sean Edwards, says the company's decision to provide autism-related insurance benefits was initially driven by the realisation that several clients have been struggling to care for their autistic children.
"There are a lot of medical services that are available in Jamaica and of course you can only access it if you can afford it. And we know that diagnostic testing and some of these things that are necessary to assist with the therapeutic responses that these clients would require is available here. Autism is a very expensive developmental disorder to treat. There's a lot of behavioural therapy. There's speech therapy that is ongoing, and this can run you into millions of dollars," he explained.
Mr. Edwards said last year Sagicor Life paid out over $20 million for claims relating to autism. He added that since the start of this year, the company has paid out over $3 million.
"We have seen an increase in the claimants. In 2024, we paid out to over 180 claimants. And so far for this year, we have paid out for over 59 persons and we're just at the end of the first quarter, so to speak. So with the building of their awareness and the fact that there are persons who may not be readily aware that this is something that can be included in their benefit schedules, I'm expecting that we'll also see yet more increases," he noted.
Sagicor primarily offers autism coverage through group insurance policies. But Mr. Edwards says that the company is looking into other avenues for the policy to be made available.
Last month, Jamaica joined the rest of the world in observing Autism Awareness Month.
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