Benefits = The monetary sum paid or payable to a recipient for which the insurance company has received the premiums.
Benefit Period = The length of time a specific benefit will be paid. It begins when the policyholder becomes eligible for benefits and ends when the policyholder has been out of claim status for a given period of time.
Zero-Day Home Care Elimination Period = A feature in a long-term care insurance policy that waives the elimination period for qualified care received at home. The policy can pay benefits for the first day of qualified care received at home.
Spouse Premium Waiver = A provision in an insurance policy that relieves the insured and insured’s spouse/partner of paying the premiums while receiving benefits.
Shared Benefits = This allows married couples or domestic partners to share each others maximum benefits. For example, one spouse/partner exhausts his/her policy benefits, he/she can continue to receive benefits from the other spouse/partner’s policy.
Return of Premium = A feature in some long-term care policies where the premium is returned to your heirs upon death. There are many different types of “return of premium” benefits.