The COVID-19 pandemic not only affected how businesses conducted operations but also introduced a great deal of uncertainty to the life insurance industry. A relevant consideration for the industry was how might the morbidity exposure of COVID-19 translate into a higher death claim incidence. The Company (National Western and Ozark National) incurred approximately $8.0 million in net death claims for which COVID-19 was identified as the cause of death which did not result in total death claims significantly higher than historical experience. The more significant consequence of the pandemic was the impact on asset valuations. Invested assets declined in value due to downgrades in credit market securities resulting in impairment-related losses or sizable additions being made to the allowance for current credit losses in financial statements. Consequently, there has been balance sheet asset deterioration, charges to capital, and lower reported earnings.
The Company closed on the sale of its Reno nursing home operations effective February 1, 2019 and on the sale of its San Marcos nursing home operations effective May 1, 2019. Revenues associated with these operations were $(0.6) million, $4.3 million and $17.2 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Operating revenues for each nursing home entity were included in 2019 through their respective dates of sale. In addition, net gains from the sale of personal property and equipment at the Reno facility of $1.4 million are included in 2019 revenues.
Revenues from domestic life insurance operations include life insurance premiums on traditional type products and contract revenues from universal life insurance. Revenues from traditional products are simply premiums collected, while revenues from universal life insurance consist of policy charges for the cost of insurance, policy administration fees, and surrender charges assessed during the period. A comparative detail of premiums and contract revenues is provided below.
As previously noted, net investment income and contract interest include period-to-period changes in fair values pertaining to call options purchased to hedge the interest crediting feature on the fixed-index universal life products. With the relatively large size of the fixed-index universal life block of business, the period-to-period changes in fair values of the underlying options have a significant effect on net investment income and universal life contract interest. A detail of net investment income for international life insurance operations is provided below.
Life and policy benefits primarily consist of death claims on policies. National Western’s clientele for international products are generally wealthy individuals with access to U.S. dollars and quality medical care. Consequently, the amounts of coverage purchased historically tended to be larger amounts. Life and policy benefit expense for the international life segment reflects the larger policies historically purchased, however mortality due to natural causes is comparable to that in the United States. The Company's maximum risk exposure per insured life is capped at $500,000 through reinsurance. The average international life net claim amount (after reinsurance) in 2020 decreased to $158,200 from $175,000 while the number of claims incurred increased 14% from the amount incurred in 2019. Included in International Life death claims for 2020 were 18 with a cause of death identified as COVID-19 which aggregated to $2.7 million in net claims. Measured over a period of years, the Company's international life mortality experience has generally been better than pricing assumptions.
The Company's unrealized gain balance for debt securities held at December 31, 2020 and 2019 is shown in the following table.