Does my senior living policy still have a communicable disease exclusion?

The common form excludes any claim arising out of, resulting from, caused by, or in any way related to any actual or alleged transmission of, exposure to, or fear of any communicable disease, and frequently extends to any failure to prevent such transmission or exposure.

Two features make it broad. The absolute causation language, applying regardless of any other cause contributing concurrently to the loss, and the extension to failure to prevent, which reaches the facility own conduct rather than only the disease.

These exclusions were drafted with exactly this occupancy in mind. A residential setting with a medically vulnerable population, shared dining and common areas, and staff moving between residents is the environment underwriters were trying to exit.

But the practical exposure is not only pandemic-scale events. Influenza, norovirus, and antibiotic-resistant infections all produce claims in senior care in ordinary years, and infection control practice is a standard component of a neglect allegation. A plaintiff alleging that a facility was understaffed will routinely include a count about hygiene and infection control.

This is the part operators underestimate. An exclusion limited to the disease itself would leave a lot of coverage intact. An exclusion that also reaches failure to prevent transmission converts an ordinary negligence allegation into an excluded one whenever an infection appears anywhere in the causal story.

Because infection frequently appears in the story of a decline that also involves wounds, dehydration, and falls, the exclusion can be argued to reach a substantial part of a claim that nobody would describe as an infectious disease case.

Check three things: whether the exclusion is attached at all, whether it carves anything back, and whether every excess layer carries the same wording, since layer wordings frequently differ.

What to ask for, in order of ambition: removal of the exclusion; failing that, a carve-back so that ordinary negligence allegations are not excluded merely because an infection is present in the facts; failing that, at minimum a narrowing of the failure to prevent language so the exclusion reaches transmission claims rather than general care claims.

This is also a term that changes between renewals without anyone flagging it, so it belongs on the annual reconciliation rather than being checked once.

While in this part of the policy, confirm what happens on the property and business income side in an outbreak. Interruption caused by an outbreak, an isolation order, or an admissions restriction generally does not involve physical damage, and standard business income requires physical damage to trigger.

That means the operational and financial consequences of an outbreak may sit outside both the liability and the property program at once. Knowing that in advance is better than discovering it during one.