The Canadian health and long term care industries have been hit
particularly hard by COVID-19. It would appear that this has not
gone unnoticed by insurance underwriters.
We are now aware that at least two large national insurers have
begun to implement dramatic changes to the policies that they
underwrite for health care organizations and long term care
facilities. Specifically, it appears that a "Contagious
Disease Exclusion Endorsement" is being added to some policies
upon renewal. This broad Endorsement purports to completely remove
from coverage "any claim, action, occurrence, accident, loss,
damage, injury, cost, expense, fee, charge, fine, penalty, or other
amount" alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by a
number of contagious diseases listed in the Endorsement.
Unsurprisingly, this list includes COVID-19, but it also includes
"any other strain, derivative, mutation, or variation"
thereof, as well as other known diseases such as SARS and MERS.
