The elimination period under a hospital indemnity plan is

• A. The specified number of days an insured must wait before becoming eligible to receive benefits for each hospitalization
• B. The time after discharge when benefits resume
• C. The amount of time before a claim can be filed
• D. The total duration of benefits per year

Answer: (A)

In a hospital indemnity plan, the elimination period is the waiting period during a hospital stay before any daily benefits begin. It’s a specified number of days you must be hospitalized before you become eligible to receive indemnity payments for that admission. For example, if the elimination period is two days, you wouldn’t receive benefits for the first two days of the hospitalization, but starting on day three you would receive the per-day indemnity for the remaining days of that stay, subject to the policy’s limits. This rule applies to each hospitalization independently. It’s not the time after discharge when benefits resume, nor the total duration of benefits per year, nor the time before a claim can be filed.