Glossary
Elimination period, defined
The waiting time, counted from the day a claim qualifies, that must pass before a disability or care policy starts paying benefits. It works like a deductible measured in days rather than dollars: the insured absorbs the first stretch, and the policy picks up from there.
In practice
Common choices run from a few weeks to several months, and a longer wait buys a noticeably lower premium because many short claims never reach the policy. Read how days are counted: some care policies count only days on which paid care was received, so three visits a week can stretch a ninety-day wait to many months; others count calendar days. Some policies impose it once per lifetime, others once per claim. Disability policies define it against the date the disability began, and a recurrence of the same condition within a set time often does not restart it. The wait should be matched to savings and to any employer-paid benefit that covers the gap.
A worked example
Suppose a home care policy has a ninety-day wait counted in service days and pays $150 a day. The insured receives care three days a week from a home health aide. Ninety service days take about thirty weeks to accumulate, and the family pays roughly $20,000 for care before the policy pays its first dollar. Under a calendar-day count the policy would start paying after three months. Hypothetical figures.
Applies to: Life Insurance