| An elderly or disabled person who receives Medicare health insurance. |
 Benefit (a.k.a., Coverage) |
| The amount that someone receives from a Medicare insurance plan. |
| Benefit Period |
| How Original Medicare measures a beneficiaries use of hospital or skilled nursing facility (SNF) services. A benefit period begins the day a person goes into a hospital or SNF and ends when he/she hasn't received hospital or SNF care for 60 consecutive days. |
| Catastrophic Coverage |
| Coverage provided when a person's prescription drug expenses exceed a level ($3,600 out-of-pocket) that is considered very high by the federal government. At this level, the most assistance is provided to beneficiaries and the government pays up to 95% of any additional expenses, with no upper limit. |
| Catastrophic Coverage Threshold (a.k.a., Stop-Loss Limit) |
| The amount of total annual spending on prescription drugs required to receive catastrophic coverage. In 2006, catastrophic benefits are provided when a beneficiary's prescription drug costs exceed $5,100. At this point, a Medicare beneficiary would have spent $3,600 out-of-pocket. |
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| Recommended Links: Beneficiary Medicare |
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