Nutrition Assistance Copayment Balance Tool

Description

Use min(benefit, purchase-copayment), with household payment and unused benefit as remainders.

Food affordability calculations combine prices, basket quantities, currency factors and available resources. Fixed-basket arithmetic does not by itself account for substitution, actual benefit rights or an individual household's circumstances.

Use min(benefit, purchase-copayment), with household payment and unused benefit as remainders.

When to use this tool

Use Nutrition Assistance Copayment Balance when you need a supplied food-cost or purchasing-power calculation.

How to use the tool and how it works

Enter eligiblePurchase, benefitAvailable, requiredCopayment. Use the units and conventions below.
Run the tool. Correct any format, range, or cross-field input error before interpreting the output.
Read benefitUsed, householdPayment, unusedBenefit. Use the output convention below.

Require nonnegative eligible purchase, available benefit and copayment no greater than purchase. Use min(benefit, purchase-copayment), with household payment and unused benefit as remainders.^[1]

Input field	Meaning and units	Accepted input
eligiblePurchase	Eligible Purchase	Required. Finite number; minimum 0.
benefitAvailable	Benefit Available	Required. Finite number; minimum 0.
requiredCopayment	Required Copayment	Required. Finite number; minimum 0.

Output field	Interpretation	Returned shape
benefitUsed	Benefit Used	Required. Finite number.
householdPayment	Household Payment	Required. Finite number.
unusedBenefit	Unused Benefit	Required. Finite number.

json

{
  "input": {
    "eligiblePurchase": 100,
    "benefitAvailable": 80,
    "requiredCopayment": 30
  },
  "output": {
    "benefitUsed": 70,
    "householdPayment": 30,
    "unusedBenefit": 10
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Amounts share currency. Eligibility and minimum copayment are supplied and do not establish benefit entitlement, payment authorization or actual purchasing access.
Inputs must satisfy both the field types and the cross-field conditions above. Invalid input causes an error; a successful false flag or documented placeholder is a different result.
Numeric calculations use binary floating point unless exact decimal-integer arithmetic is explicitly stated. No hidden measurement tolerance or decimal rounding is added; nonfinite or out-of-contract results are rejected. Numeric signed-zero results are exported as zero.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Align basket contents, currency, price date and household scope before comparison. Verify actual assistance rules and seek the appropriate financial or service guidance for consequential decisions.

References

Calculation and input contract: food-security/nutrition-assistance-copayment-balance — tool.io

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