JA athletes' insurance plan gets cabinet approval

The Jamaican Cabinet has approved the establishment of the Jamaican Athletes Insurance Plan to provide group health as well as life and personal accident insurance for over 1,000 athletes across all sports.

The announcement was made by the Information minister Sandrea Falconer at Wednesday morning's post cabinet briefing.

“Cabinet has approved the selection of Guardian Life Insurance and Allied Insurance brokers as the providers of insurance coverage for our athletes. Guardian Life will provide group health while Allied will provide group life and personal accident coverage. The Jamaican Athletes Insurance Plan has received funding support from the Sports Development Foundation, the Tourism Enhancement Fund, the National Health Fund and the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) fund," said Falconer.

The national sports associations and federations have also committed to supporting the insurance plan by contributing five percent of the cost for their participating member athletes.

The news comes as confirmation, after Sports Minister Natalie Neita-Headley said in September that the insurance plan for active athletes would be implemented by December.