The difference between a Waiting Period and an Elimination Period is as follows…
The Waiting Period is the time beginning when a contract is issued and ends when the contract owner can begin to receive benefits.
The Elimination Period is the period of time that begins at some point after the Waiting Period is over and when the contract owner incurs a benefit trigger event.
Here’s an example of both a Waiting Period and Elimination Period as they relate to a Long Term Care insurance policy…
If the Long Term Care insurance policy has a Waiting Period of 6 months, then the policy is unusable for 6 months from the date the policy issue date.
If this same Long Term Care insurance policy has an Elimination Period of 90 days, then assuming the policy has passed its 6 month Waiting Period, once a benefit trigger has occurred, benefits will begin after the 90 day Elimination Period has ended.
