Insurance for Personal Care Services
Comprehensive insurance coverage for agencies and individuals providing hands-on assistance with activities of daily living including bathing, dressing, toileting, grooming, and mobility support.
- Complete coverage for intimate personal care services
- Essential sexual abuse and molestation protection included
- Licensed in all 50 states with specialized carriers
Understanding Personal Care Services
Personal care services providers (also called personal assistance services or ADL care providers) specialize in hands-on assistance with activities of daily living. You help clients with intimate personal care tasks including bathing, showering, dressing, undressing, toileting, grooming, oral hygiene, and mobility assistance. Your services focus on the physical assistance needed for daily personal care rather than medical or companion services.
You serve clients who are physically unable to perform these tasks independently due to age, disability, illness, or injury but don’t necessarily require skilled medical care. Your caregivers provide respectful, dignified assistance with sensitive personal care needs in clients’ homes, assisted living facilities, or other residential settings. The intimate nature of your services creates unique insurance needs requiring specialized coverage.
- Bathing and showering assistance
- Dressing and undressing
- Toileting and incontinence care
- Grooming (hair care, shaving, oral hygiene)
- Mobility assistance and transfers
- Feeding assistance
- Positioning and repositioning in bed
- Skin care and hygiene
- Assistance with adaptive equipment
- Personal care for individuals with disabilities
Essential Insurance Coverage for Personal Care Services
Sexual Abuse & Molestation Coverage (Critical/Essential)
What It Covers: Legal defense and damages for allegations of sexual abuse, molestation, inappropriate touching, or sexual harassment. Covers even completely false allegations
Why You Need It: Personal care involves touching clients in private areas during bathing, toileting, dressing. General liability EXCLUDES abuse. This is your most critical coverage
Typical Cost: $2,000-$5,000 annually
General Liability Insurance (Required)
What It Covers: Client falls and injuries, property damage in client homes, accidents during care, injuries to visitors, equipment damage, premises liability at your office
Why You Need It: Required by state licensing and all contracts. Covers bodily injury and property damage from accidents. Foundation coverage for all operations
Typical Cost: $2,000-$5,000 annually
Professional Liability Insurance (Strongly Recommended)
What It Covers: Allegations of negligent care, improper transfer techniques, failure to prevent falls, inadequate supervision, hiring unqualified caregivers, breach of care standards
Why You Need It: Even though you’re non-medical, intimate personal care creates professional liability exposure. Many contracts require this. Protects against negligence claims
Typical Cost: $3,000-$8,000 annually
Workers Compensation Insurance (Required by Law)
What It Covers: Employee injuries including back strains from lifting and transferring clients, slip and falls, auto accidents, exposure to bodily fluids, injuries from aggressive clients
Why You Need It: Legally required in nearly all states when you have employees. Personal care workers have high injury rates. Essential protection
Typical Cost: $10-$14 per $100 of payroll (higher than companion care due to physical demands)
Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance
What It Covers: Liability when employees use personal vehicles for work. Covers accidents while driving between clients or transporting clients to appointments
Why You Need It: Your caregivers drive constantly. Their personal insurance won’t cover business use. You’re liable for their work-related accidents
Typical Cost: $800-$2,000 annually
Cyber Liability Insurance (Recommended)
What It Covers: Data breaches, stolen devices with client data, HIPAA violations, ransomware attacks, breach notification costs, regulatory penalties
Why You Need It: You store client personal information and medical details electronically. Breach costs average $200,000+. Many contracts require this
Typical Cost: $1,500-$3,500 annually
Why Personal Care Services Need Specialized Insurance
Sexual Abuse Allegations (True or False)
The intimate nature of personal care creates significant exposure to abuse allegations. You assist clients with bathing, toileting, and dressing, which requires touching private areas. Vulnerable clients with dementia or cognitive impairment may misinterpret appropriate care as inappropriate conduct. Family members may make false allegations during disputes. Even completely false allegations require extensive legal defense costing $100,000-$200,000+.
Real Scenario: Caregiver assisting male client with dementia during shower. Client later told family member caregiver “touched him inappropriately.” Family filed police report and sued agency for $1.2 million. Investigation revealed client had history of false accusations due to dementia. Legal defense cost $165,000. Sexual abuse and molestation insurance covered all costs. Without this coverage, agency would have been financially devastated.
Client Falls During Transfers and Mobility Assistance
Personal care involves constant physical assistance with transfers, ambulation, and positioning. You help clients in and out of beds, chairs, wheelchairs, toilets, and showers where surfaces are wet and slippery. Despite proper technique and safety protocols, falls occur. Elderly clients suffer serious injuries from falls including hip fractures, head injuries, and spinal damage leading to costly liability claims.
Real Scenario: Caregiver assisting 84-year-old client from wheelchair to toilet. Client lost balance during transfer and fell, fracturing hip and wrist. Required surgery and rehabilitation. Family sued claiming inadequate training and improper transfer technique. General liability insurance defended case and settled for $385,000 plus $85,000 legal costs.
Negligent Hiring and Inadequate Screening
You send caregivers into clients’ homes to provide intimate personal care. If you hire someone with inadequate background screening who abuses or harms a client, you face devastating negligent hiring claims. Families expect thorough vetting of caregivers given the vulnerable nature of clients and intimate services provided. Documentation of screening is critical.
Real Scenario: Agency hired caregiver who passed basic background check but had out-of-state conviction for elder abuse that didn’t appear due to database limitations. Caregiver accused of rough handling and verbal abuse of client. Family sued for negligent hiring claiming agency should have conducted more thorough checks. Professional liability insurance defended claim and settled for $225,000.
Employee Back Injuries and Workers Comp Claims
Personal care workers experience back injuries at rates 2-3 times higher than other occupations due to frequent lifting, transferring, and repositioning of clients. These physical demands, combined with inadequate lifting equipment in home settings, result in substantial workers compensation exposure. One serious back injury can cost $100,000-$150,000 in medical care and lost wages.
Real Scenario: Caregiver assisting 240-pound client with limited mobility from bed to wheelchair. Despite training, caregiver suffered herniated disc requiring surgery. Unable to work for 8 months during recovery and rehabilitation. Workers compensation claim totaled $142,000 for medical expenses, lost wages, and permanent partial disability settlement.
What Does Personal Care Services Insurance Cost?
Insurance costs vary based on your size, services, location, and claims history. Here are typical package examples:
Small Agency
- Profile: 5-10 caregivers, $500K-$1M revenue, single county, basic personal care services
- Coverage: $1M/$2M general liability, $1M/$3M professional liability, workers comp, $1M/$2M sexual abuse coverage, $1M hired/non-owned auto
- Typical Annual Cost: $15,000-$25,000
Medium Agency
- Profile: 20-40 caregivers, $2M-$5M revenue, multi-county, comprehensive personal care including bariatric clients
- Coverage: $2M/$4M general liability, $1M/$3M professional liability, workers comp, $2M/$4M sexual abuse coverage, $1M hired/non-owned auto, $1M cyber
- Typical Annual Cost: $32,000-$55,000
Large Agency
- Profile: 75+ caregivers, $8M+ revenue, multi-state, specialized services including complex disability care
- Coverage: $2M/$4M general liability, $2M/$4M professional liability, workers comp, $3M/$5M sexual abuse coverage, commercial auto, $2M cyber, $3M umbrella
- Typical Annual Cost: $70,000-$130,000+
These are estimates. Actual costs depend on specific factors.
Personal Care Services Insurance Specialists
We Understand Intimate Care Liability
Unlike general insurance brokers, we specialize in coverage for agencies providing intimate personal care. We understand the unique exposures created by bathing, toileting, and dressing assistance. We know why sexual abuse and molestation coverage is critical and work with carriers that take these risks seriously.
Access to Specialized Carriers
We work with A+ rated carriers that specialize in personal care services and understand intimate care liability. These carriers offer appropriate sexual abuse limits, flexible underwriting for physical care services, and competitive pricing because they focus on your industry.
Complete Insurance Solutions
We provide all coverages you need in comprehensive packages: general liability, professional liability, sexual abuse and molestation coverage, workers compensation, auto insurance, cyber liability, and umbrella coverage. Bundling saves 10-25% and simplifies management.
Risk Management Expertise
We help you prevent claims through guidance on background screening, two-person assistance protocols for high-risk transfers, maintaining professional boundaries, documentation standards, and training programs. Lower claims equal lower premiums.
Licensed in All 50 States
Whether you operate in one state or nationwide, we’re licensed in all 50 states and can coordinate coverage for all your locations with carriers licensed in each jurisdiction.
Personal Care Services Insurance Questions
Personal care involves touching clients in private areas during bathing, toileting, and dressing. This intimate contact creates exposure to abuse allegations whether true or false. General liability policies EXCLUDE all abuse allegations, leaving you completely unprotected. Defense costs alone average $100,000-$200,000. Given the intimate nature of your services, this coverage is absolutely essential, not optional.
General liability covers accidents and bodily injuries like client falls or property damage. Professional liability covers negligence in how you deliver care services such as improper techniques, inadequate training, or hiring unqualified caregivers. Personal care agencies need BOTH. A fall during a transfer might trigger both policies depending on whether negligence was involved.
Typically $10-$14 per $100 of payroll for personal care aides due to the physical demands and high injury rates. If your annual caregiver payroll is $600,000, expect $60,000-$84,000 in workers comp premium. Rates vary by state and your claims history. Physical demands of lifting and transferring result in higher rates than companion care.
Yes. Even with contractors, you need general liability, professional liability, and sexual abuse coverage to protect your business. You may avoid workers compensation if contractors are truly independent (check your state law carefully as many states reclassify home care contractors as employees). Many agencies also require contractors to carry their own insurance.
Possibly, but it depends on the nature and outcome of allegations. Substantiated abuse allegations may make you uninsurable with standard carriers. Unsubstantiated or false allegations that were properly investigated and resolved may result in higher premiums but coverage is usually available. Full disclosure is essential as carriers verify claims history.
Most carriers require comprehensive screening including criminal background checks (state and federal), sex offender registry searches, employment verification, reference checks, and driving records. Some carriers require 7-10 year criminal history checks. Document all screening and maintain files. Strong screening can reduce premiums 15-25%.
Get Your Personal Care Services Insurance Quote Today
We’ll assess your specific services, client population, employee count, and risk management practices to recommend appropriate coverage and provide quotes from specialized carriers.
What You Need to Get Started:
- Basic business information (name, location, years in business)
- Number of caregivers (full-time, part-time, contractors)
- Annual revenue or projected revenue
- Specific services provided (types of ADL assistance)
- Client population served
- Current insurance information (if applicable)
Complete our quick form and receive your customized quote within 48 hours.
Speak with a personal care insurance expert who understands intimate care liability.
Personal care services provide essential support for individuals with daily living activities, and having proper insurance coverage protects both your business and the clients you serve. Whether you’re assisting with bathing, dressing, toileting, or other ADL needs, comprehensive insurance including sexual abuse and molestation coverage is critical for your operations. For more information about personal care services standards and caregiving best practices, visit the National Association for Home Care & Hospice at nahc.org.
✓ Licensed in All 50 States | ✓ A+ Rated Carriers | ✓ 500+ Personal Care Agencies Served | ✓ 20+ Years Experience | ✓ Intimate Care Specialists