Activities of Daily Living: (ADL's) Activities that people do independently everyday--eating, bathing, dressing, moving about (mobility), transferring (for instance, from a bed to a chair), using the toilet, and maintaining bladder and bowel continence--used to measure the ability to function.

Acute Care: Care for illness or injury that develops rapidly, has pronounced symptoms and is finite in length. Medical care that is required for a short period of time to cure a certain illness and/or conditions.

Alternate Facility: A licensed residence other than a skilled nursing facility where care services are delivered. (i.e. hospice, assisted living, Alzheimer's or Christian Science setting.)

Adult Day Care: Social, recreational, and/or rehabilitative services provided for persons who benefit from daytime supervision. An alternative between care in the home and in an institution. Refers to health support and rehabilitation services provided in the community to people who are unable to care for themselves independently during the day but are able to live at home at night.

Alternate facility: A licensed residence other than a skilled nursing facility where care services are delivered (i.e. hospice, assisted living, Alzheimer's or Christian Science setting.)

Alzheimer's Disease: A form of organic dementia resulting in premature mental, deterioration, first described in 1906 by German neurologist, Alois Alzheimer.

Aphasia: Loss of the ability to use or understand language.

Assessment: A determination of physical and/or mental status by a health professional based on established medical guidelines.

Asset Protection: Willful legal planning to achieve protection from Medicaid "spend down" requirements, typically provided by irreversible trusts-recently outlawed by congress except under specific conditions.

Assisted Living Facility: (ALF) a non-medical institution providing room, board, laundry, some forms of personal care, and usually recreational services. Licensed by state departments of social services, these facilities exist under several names including domiciary care facility, sheltered house, board and care home, community-based care facility, residential care facility, etc.

Bankruptcy: and event we are trying to avoid by utilizing the insurance mechanism.

Benefit Period: The maximum time, usually in days, that a policy will pay the daily benefit. The average stay in a skilled nursing facility is 2.8 years, so many people choose either a 3 year plan (1095 days) or 4 year plan (1465 days) to cover the average stay plus a little time to spare. Others feel safest with an unlimited benefit period.

Care Coordinator: A health care professional whose training includes managing and arranging for long-term care services. This person can be a doctor, nurse, social worker or other similarly trained and, licensed professional.

Chronic Care: Care for an illness continuing over a protracted period of time or recurring frequently. Chronic conditions often begin inconspicuously and symptoms are less pronounced than acute conditions.

Cognitive Impairment: Refers to the loss or deterioration of mental capacity in people suffering from conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

Daily Benefit Amount: A specified maximum, daily, dollar amount payable on a covered period of care. Policies offer a range of choices in 10 dollar increments. Your choice should take into account the local costs of care, how much you could pay for care out of your own resources (without dipping into savings) and how much money or care you could count on from your family.

Elimination Period: A deductible. A specified time period of covered care where no benefits are payable. Ideally should be selected as the longest period that you could afford to pay on your own, if you had to receive care during that time period.