Whether Abuse Coverage Has Its Own Aggregate

Beyond the size of the abuse sublimit, there is the question of whether abuse claims draw on their own annual aggregate or on the same aggregate as every other claim. Where abuse shares the general aggregate, an abuse claim reduces the limits available for falls, medication errors, and everything else, and vice versa.

Abuse allegations in senior care rarely arrive alone. Where one is substantiated against a staff member, others involving the same person or the same unit commonly follow, and a regulatory investigation frequently surfaces additional incidents. A shared aggregate means a cluster of related allegations can consume the protection for the entire operation for the rest of the policy year, including for ordinary claims that have nothing to do with the abuse. A separate abuse aggregate ringfences that scenario. Ask specifically; the declarations page often shows only one aggregate figure, and the sharing language sits in the endorsement.