Privacy Policy

Overview

BenefitsUSA is a free eligibility screening tool for American families. We built this tool to help families discover government assistance programs they may qualify for. Your privacy is important to us, and we've designed this tool to collect only what's necessary to check your eligibility and connect you with help.

BenefitsUSA (benefitsusa.org) is run by Benefits Navigator, Inc., a private company. It is not a government agency.

Information We Collect

When you use our eligibility screener, we collect the information you provide, including:

• Personal information: name, email address, and phone number (when you request specialist assistance)
• ZIP code (to determine state-specific programs)
• Demographic information: age, household size, income, employment status, and citizenship status
• Health-related information (only with your explicit consent): disability status, insurance status
• Current benefit enrollment status
• Usage data: IP address, browser type, pages visited, and device information

We do not collect: Your Social Security number, bank account information, or medical records.

How We Use Your Information

The information you provide is used to:

• Determine your eligibility for government benefit programs
• Connect you with licensed insurance agents (with your consent) for health insurance and Medicare enrollment
• Send you a personalized benefits guide via email
• Improve our services and screening accuracy

Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information for money, and we never sell or share your screening answers. We do not share your individual screening responses with third parties, government agencies, or anyone else without your explicit consent. Advertising cookies on our article pages may count as "sharing" under California law; the Advertising section below explains how to opt out.

We may share anonymized, aggregated data for analytics purposes. Aggregated data cannot identify any individual.

If you choose to connect with a licensed specialist through our results page, we will share your contact information and relevant screening results with that specialist. This sharing only occurs with your explicit, affirmative consent.

Referral Partner Data Sharing

When you consent to be contacted about health insurance or Medicare options, your name, email, phone number, and relevant screening results are shared with Health Plan Advocates and its licensed insurance agents to facilitate enrollment assistance. This constitutes a transfer of personal data to a third party.

This sharing only occurs when you affirmatively opt in by checking the consent box on the specialist request form. You are never required to connect with a partner to use the screener.

California residents and residents of other states with comprehensive privacy laws have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information. To exercise this right, visit our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page, or contact us at privacy@benefitsusa.org.

Text Messages

If you give us your phone number and agree to texts, Benefits USA may send you text messages about the help you asked for, such as a reminder before a Medicare deadline or a message when we have a licensed agent in your state. How often we text depends on what you asked for. Message and data rates may apply.

Reply STOP to any message to stop getting texts. Reply HELP for help, or email help@benefitsusa.org. Agreeing to texts is never required to use Benefits USA.

We do not sell your mobile phone number. We do not share your mobile number, or your agreement to receive our texts, with any third party or affiliate for their marketing or promotional purposes. Your text message opt-in and consent are not shared with anyone, except the service providers that help us send the messages, such as our texting platform, which may use your number only to deliver them.

How We Stay Free

BenefitsUSA is completely free to use. We may offer to connect you with licensed professionals (such as health insurance brokers or disability advocates) who can help you apply for programs you qualify for. If you choose to connect with a partner, we may receive compensation from them.

This is always optional. You can use our screening tool and apply to programs on your own without ever being connected to a partner. We will never share your information with partners without your explicit consent.

Data Security

We use industry-standard security measures to protect your information. All data is transmitted using encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS). Access to personal data is limited to authorized personnel only. We do not store sensitive information like Social Security numbers or bank details.

Data Retention

Screening submissions are retained to allow us to improve our service, analyze usage patterns, and understand which programs best serve our users. Retained data is anonymized — we generalize ZIP codes, income ranges, and household sizes to prevent re-identification. Individual screening records are retained for up to 24 months. You do not need to create an account and we do not maintain individual user profiles. You may request deletion of your screening data by contacting help@benefitsusa.org.

Cookies

We use cookies necessary for the website to function, and Vercel Analytics, which collects anonymized usage data and does not identify individual visitors. Our article and guide pages also carry display advertising from Google AdSense, which sets advertising cookies (see the Advertising section below). The quiz, screener, results and tool pages do not load advertising cookies.

Advertising

Our articles and guides show display ads served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners set advertising cookies on those pages and may use them to show you ads based on your visit to this site and other sites. We do not give advertising partners your name, email, screening answers or health information. The quiz, screener, results pages and tools never load advertising.

You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings and California residents can opt out of the sharing of personal information for advertising through our Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information page.

Third-Party Services

Our website is hosted on Vercel (hosting). We use Supabase (database) for data storage, Resend (email delivery) to send benefits guides, and Google AdSense (advertising on article pages). Each of these providers has their own privacy policy. We have data protection agreements in place with each sub-processor.

Children's Privacy

This tool is intended for adults screening their household's eligibility. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to: know what personal information we collect about you, request deletion of your personal information, opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, and not be discriminated against for exercising your rights. To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@benefitsusa.org or visit our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page.

Your Privacy Rights

You have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you, request deletion of your data, opt out of communications at any time, and obtain a copy of your data. Residents of California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington, Nevada, and other states with comprehensive privacy laws have additional rights under applicable state law.

For rights related to health-specific data, please see our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.

To exercise your rights, contact us at help@benefitsusa.org. We will respond within 45 days.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy or our practices, please contact us at help@benefitsusa.org.