Benefit Period

In general, the term "benefit period" refers to the amount of time you use a service, usually related to health insurance. So if you break your arm and stay in a hospital for a few days, those days would become your benefit period for that insurance claim.

There's also a more specific context in which the term gets used. Within the U.S. government's Medicare program, "benefit period" applies to the use of hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. With Medicare, the benefit period begins the day you check into the facility and ends when you haven't received care at the facility at any point for 60 days in a row.