Activities of Daily Living (ADLs):
Everyday functions and activities
individuals usually do without help. ADL functions
include bathing, continence, dressing, eating,
toileting, and transferring. Many policies use
the inability to do a certain number
of ADLs (such as 2 out of 6) to decide when to
pay benefits.
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Acute Care:
Care for illness or injury that
develops rapidly, has pronounced symptoms, and
is finite in length. An example
is medical care for a short time to cure a certain
illness and/or condition.
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Adult Day Care:
Refers to care, health support,
or rehabilitative services provided at a center
or facility during the day.
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Alzheimer's Disease:
A progressive, degenerative form
of dementia that causes severe intellectual deterioration.
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Aphasia:
Loss
of the ability to use or understand language.
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Assessment:
A determination of physical and/or
mental status by a health professional based on
established medical guidelines.
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Assisted Living Care or Residential
Care:
Provides nursing or custodial
care in an environment that helps maintain independence
and an active lifestyle.
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Bed Reservation Benefit:
A benefit that may or may not
be included in a long term care insurance plan
that pays for reserving your bed in a care facility
should you need to be hospitalized during a covered
stay.
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Benefit Period:
The length of time that a policy
can pay the benefit amount.
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Caregiver, Primary:
The key person (usually a relative)
overseeing and/or providing care for a person
who is incapacitated.
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Caregiver(s), Secondary:
Relatives or others who assist part-time
in giving care.
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Catastrophic Illness:
An illness that causes sudden
temporary or permanent change or significant disruption
to a person's normal lifestyle.
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Chronic Care:
Care
for an illness continuing over a protracted period
of time or recurring frequently.
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Cognitive Impairment:
A deficiency in a person's short
or long term memory; orientation as to person,
place and time; deductive or abstract reasoning;
or judgment as it relates to safety awareness.
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Custodial (or Informal) Care:
Services that can be given safely
and reasonably by a trained or capable non-medical
person, designed mainly to assist with ADLs, such
as bathing, eating, dressing, and other routine
activities.
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Daily Benefit:
The amount of insurance benefit
per day in a long term care policy a person can
choose to cover long term care expenses (typically
between $50 and $400 - selected by the applicant).
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Dementia:
Deterioration of mental faculties
due to a disorder of the brain.
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Elimination Period:
A type of deductible; the length
of time the insured must pay for long term care
services before the insurance policy begins to
pay benefits.
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No glossary entries for this letter.
No glossary entries for this letter.
Home Health Care:
At home services for occupational,
physical, respiratory, speech therapy, or nursing
care. Also typically included
are medical, social worker, home health aide,
and homemaker services.
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Home Modification:
Physical
adaptations to a home that enable a person to
stay and function in that environment.
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Homemaker Services:
Services designed to provide
household support. They may include light housekeeping,
laundry, shopping, cooking, home management, and
similar services.
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Hospice Care:
Is usually provided at home and
provides care to alleviate physical, emotional,
or spiritual discomforts near the end of life.
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Inflation Protection:
An optional policy feature that
is available for additional premiums that provides
for increases in benefit levels over time to help
pay for expected inflation in the costs of long
term care services.
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Intermediate Nursing Care:
Assistance needed for stable
conditions that require daily, but not 24-hour,
nursing supervision. This care is initially ordered
by a physician and supervised by registered nurses.
It is less specialized than skilled nursing care,
often involves more personal care, and is generally
needed for a longer period of time.
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No glossary entries for this letter.
No glossary entries for this letter.
Long Term Care (LTC):
Personal care and other related
services provided on an extended basis to people
who need help with activities
of daily living or who need supervision due to
a severe cognitive impairment. It can be provided
at home, in a nursing home, assisted living facility
or an adult day care center.
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Means Test:
Measures
of income and assets to determine eligibility
for some government benefit programs such as Medicaid.
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Medicaid:
A means-tested medical and health
welfare program supported by federal, state and
local funds, and administered by each state to
provide health care for eligible poverty level
individuals.
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Medicare:
The federal program providing
hospital and medical insurance to people aged
65 or older and to certain younger ill or disabled
persons. Benefits for nursing home and home health
care services are limited.
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Medicare Supplement ("Medigap")
Insurance:
A private insurance policy that
supplements Medicare benefits by covering co-payments
and deductibles for medical and hospital expenses.
These policies do not provide coverage for personal
or custodial care.
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Monthly Benefit:
The amount of insurance benefit
per month in a long term care policy a person
can choose to cover long term care expenses (typically
between $1,500 and $12,000 - selected by the applicant).
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Nursing Home:
Generally a state licensed facility
that provides room and board and a planned, continuous
medical treatment program, including 24-hour-per-day
skilled nursing care, personal care and custodial
care.
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No glossary entries for this letter.
Plan of Care:
A written, individualized plan
prescribed by a physician or developed by other
qualified health care professionals that specifies
the type and frequency of long term care services
required by the recipient of the care.
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Pre-existing Condition:
An illness or disability for
which you were treated or advised within a time
period before applying for a long term care policy.
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Preferred Health Discount:
A discount received on policy
premiums available to applicants who are determined
to be in very good health.
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No glossary entries for this letter.
Respite Care:
Long term care services provided
at home or in a facility to temporarily relieve
the family or friends who would normally provide
care.
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Skilled Nursing Care:
Nursing and rehabilitative care
that is performed by skilled medical personnel,
usually available 24-hours-a-day and ordered by
a physician under a treatment plan. It can be
either in a facility setting or at home. (Note:
Medicare and Medicaid both have their own definitions
of "skilled nursing care" which do not
necessarily match those in long term care insurance
policies.)
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Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF):
Generally a state-licensed institutional
setting that provides skilled care by skilled
medical personnel. This care is available 24-hours-a-day
and is ordered by a physician under a treatment
plan.
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Spousal Discount:
A discount applicable if both spouses
are eligible and apply for coverage.
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Third-party Notification:
A process that lets you name
someone who the insurance company would notify
if your coverage is about to lapse due to a failure
to pay premium. The notice can go to a relative,
friend or professional such as a lawyer or accountant,
for example.
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No glossary entries for this letter.
No glossary entries for this letter.
Waiver of Premium:
A provision in an insurance policy
that can relieve the insured from having to pay
premiums while receiving benefits.
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No glossary entries for this letter.
No glossary entries for this letter.
No glossary entries for this letter.
