What Is The Long Term Care Insurance Elimination Period?

Many of our clients at Boca Home Care Services, Inc. have Long Term Care Insurance. They use their long term care insurance policy when personal care and household assistance following a fall, accident, illness or surgery is needed. The client may be returning home from a hospitalization or Rehab stay, creating a stressful and busy time of coordinating care while recuperating at the same time.

There are a lot of details about long term care insurance that are often overlooked by policy holders. One of the factors related to long term care insurance that is usually forgotten are the provisions surrounding the “Elimination Period”.

What is the Elimination Period?

The long term care insurance elimination period is “waiting period” that the policy holder must wait from the time the claim is made until the policy actually pays out benefits. During the elimination period, the policy holder must pay all costs of care out of pocket.

There are different provisions for elimination periods based on the type of policy you purchase; changes can also be based on the state that you live in. No matter the case, it is extremely important to understand how the elimination period works with respect to your long term care insurance policy.

Understanding Your Policies Elimination Period

It’s not unusual for people to forget that the policy they purchased has an “Elimination Period” which likely lowered their premium payments. However it means home care coverage does not begin right away, but after the “Elimination Period” is met.

Let’s face it, few people remember the terms of their insurance policies. As time goes by, details fade. It’s an expensive “surprise” through which time you must pay out of pocket for the care you need.  Adding insult to injury, because usually the most help is needed at the start of care.

“Elimination Periods” can be a few days, a few weeks or even a few months. If you require live-in or substantial care, the costs can be thousands of dollars – you didn’t expect to pay.

Steps to take:

Boca Home Care Services, urges you to familiarize yourself with your Long Term Care Policy BEFORE you need to use it.

•    Call your agent or the company and review the terms of your coverage.
If your policy has an “Elimination Period”, plan accordingly.

•    Setting funds aside to cover the period you would have to pay out of pocket expenses for your care

•    Put together a plan with family, neighbors and friends of who can help with which tasks. If some people can do the shopping, bring in cooked dishes, and take you to appointments, then you may need a Home Health Aide just for personal care such as bathing, dressing, respite time and laundry.  In this way, you may be able to manage with only the minimum hours from an Aide.

•    Research which food stores, restaurants and pharmacies deliver in your neighborhood.

Lastly, some policies will count days in a Rehabilitation facility and Medicare home health visits towards the “Elimination Period”. Explore these possibilities with your insurer. Ask what paperwork is required to have these Rehab and Medicare visits count.

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Related posts:

1. Long Term Care Insurance – Elimination Periods
2. Does my Aging Parent need Long Term Care Insurance?
3. Is long-term care insurance worth the price?