A New Way to Understand Delaware’s Benefits System
Updated: Aug 13
For Delaware families trying to understand what public assistance programs they may qualify for, finding a clear answer can be surprisingly difficult.
That challenge prompted the development of the Delaware Benefits Screener, an interactive online tool designed to help Delaware households estimate potential eligibility for a range of federal and state benefit programs.
Rather than simply providing a yes-or-no eligibility response, the screener allows users to enter basic information about their household, income, children, housing costs, and other circumstances. It then provides estimates of programs and benefits for which the household may qualify.
Programs evaluated by the screener include:
SNAP food assistance
Medicaid and Delaware Healthy Children (CHIP)
TANF cash assistance
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Medicare Savings Programs
WIC
Free and reduced-price school meals
SUN Bucks
Delaware Purchase of Care child care assistance
Energy assistance
Housing assistance
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC)
The screener goes beyond potential eligibility by estimating the potential dollar value of benefits and explaining, in plain language, why a household may or may not qualify. Each result also provides the primary source behind the program information so users can review the applicable rules themselves.
The tool is based on official program rules and sources, including information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, and Delaware Department of Health & Social Services.
Understanding the Benefits Cliff
One of the screener’s most important features is its ability to illustrate the “benefits cliff.”
A benefits cliff can occur when an increase in earnings causes a household to lose public benefits faster than its income increases. In those circumstances, earning more money can temporarily leave a family with fewer overall resources.
The Delaware Benefits Screener allows users to explore this issue at the household level by changing income and seeing how estimated benefits change.
This is particularly timely in Delaware.
In June 2025, the Delaware General Assembly passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 102, directing the Department of Health and Social Services to examine benefits cliffs in Delaware and report its findings to the Governor and General Assembly.
The Delaware Benefits Screener provides another way to examine the same underlying issue—by allowing users to see how benefit programs may interact for an individual Delaware household.
Why Build a Delaware Benefits Screener?
Delaware currently offers the ASSIST “Do I Qualify?” process to help residents determine whether they may qualify for certain programs. However, traditional pre-screening tools generally focus on whether someone may be eligible rather than estimating the value of multiple benefits and showing how those benefits change as household income changes.
That distinction matters.
Families making decisions about employment, additional hours, raises, child care, housing, and other expenses need more than a list of programs. Understanding how those programs interact can provide a much clearer picture of the financial incentives—and disincentives—built into the system.
The goal of the Delaware Benefits Screener is to provide a more comprehensive way to explore these interactions and demonstrate how a broader benefits screening tool can help Delawareans better understand the potential impact of changes in income and household circumstances.
Explore the Delaware Benefits Screener
The Delaware Benefits Screener is now available directly on the Caesar Rodney Institute website. There is nothing to download or install. Simply open the screener in your web browser and begin exploring.
Enter a hypothetical household and review the estimated results. Then try increasing or decreasing the household’s income to see how the combination and estimated value of benefits may change.
Your Information Stays Private
The screener does not create an account, track users, or transmit the information entered into the tool. Calculations take place on the user's device, and the information disappears when the page is closed.
How to Access the Screener Anytime
The Delaware Benefits Screener is now a permanent resource on the Caesar Rodney Institute website, making it easy to return whenever you want to explore a different household or income scenario.
From the CRI website's main navigation, select:
Policy Areas → Economic & Fiscal Policy → Delaware Benefits Screener
Important Disclaimer
The Delaware Benefits Screener is a screening tool, not an application or official eligibility determination. Only the government agency responsible for each program can determine whether an applicant qualifies.
The screener's program parameters were checked against primary sources as of August 4, 2026, but benefit rules, income limits, program amounts, and interpretations can change. The screener provides links to official sources so users can verify current information.
One figure—the SNAP heating/cooling utility allowance—is currently a supported estimate pending Delaware DSS's published figure.
We Welcome Your Feedback
The Delaware Benefits Screener is a developing resource, and your feedback can help CRI evaluate the concept, identify potential issues, and determine ways the tool could be improved.
After exploring the screener, we invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section below. As you test the tool, consider:
Was anything confusing or potentially inaccurate?
Does the way the information is presented make sense?
Does seeing the estimated dollar value of benefits and the potential benefits cliff provide useful information that a traditional eligibility checklist does not?
What would you change, add, or improve?
Could giving Delawareans a clearer picture of how public benefits interact help families make better-informed financial and employment decisions—and help policymakers better understand the incentives created by the system?
I really like this screener and found it easy to use and understand. I also think it is much more helpful than a traditional yes-or-no eligibility form.
Delaware’s benefits system can be difficult to understand, particularly the differences between eligibility for food assistance and health coverage. While the screener makes it clear that the results are estimates, I think it could better explain that each program has very different eligibility requirements. For example, food assistance can have more restrictive income limits and qualifications than certain health coverage programs. Without that context, it can be confusing to understand why you may qualify for one but not another.
Overall, yes, I think this tool could be very helpful to Delawareans. I would…