HEALS Act Unemployment Benefit Calculator — Enhanced UI Estimator
Model a HEALS-Act-style enhanced unemployment benefit: enter your wages, your state replacement rate, the federal weekly supplement and how long it lasts, and see your Phase 1 and Phase 2 weekly benefits, total payout and effective wage-replacement rate.
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State benefit plus federal supplement during Phase 1
- 1
State benefit
1,000 × 45% ÷ 100 = 450Weekly state unemployment insurance at the entered replacement rate. - 2
Phase 1 weekly (state + federal supplement)
450 + 300 = 750 - 3
Total benefit (Phase 1 + Phase 2)
12,000 + 16,100 = 28,100
How does this calculator work?
A two-phase enhanced unemployment model: Phase 1 = state UI + federal supplement for the entered weeks; Phase 2 = max(state UI, target replacement rate × wage) for remaining weeks. Enter wage, state rate (~45%), federal top-up (~$300), supplement duration (~16 weeks), total duration (~39 weeks) and target rate (~70%) to see weekly benefit, total payout and effective replacement.
Formula
How this is calculated
In 2020 the US Congress passed the CARES Act, which added a $600/week federal supplement on top of state unemployment insurance (UI) payments — effectively raising average replacement rates above 100% of prior wages for many workers. When that supplement expired, the HEALS Act (proposed by the Senate in 2020) offered a different structure: a lower flat supplement ($200/week initially) that would phase out in favour of a 70% wage-replacement target once state systems could calculate it.
This calculator models that two-phase structure for any set of editable parameters. Phase 1 pays the state benefit (your state replacement rate times your wage) plus the flat federal supplement you enter. Phase 2 pays whichever is higher between the state benefit and the target replacement rate applied to your wage, but never more than the Phase 1 total. You can model the original HEALS proposal ($200 supplement, 70% target, 16-week transition), the CARES Act ($600 supplement, no Phase 2 change) or any other proposed or actual benefit structure by adjusting the fields.
The effective replacement rate is the average weekly benefit divided by the gross weekly wage. The income gap is the shortfall you would need to cover from savings or other income. All figures are pre-tax — UI benefits are taxable income in the United States.
Frequently asked questions
The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act was a $1 trillion relief bill proposed by Senate Republicans in July 2020 to extend pandemic economic relief. It proposed replacing the $600/week CARES Act UI supplement with $200/week, then transitioning to a 70% wage-replacement system. A compromise (the $300/week FEMA LWA program) was implemented instead by executive order.
Phase 1 usually pays more per week because the flat supplement is added on top of your state benefit. Phase 2 is capped at the target replacement rate, which may be less than Phase 1 but more than the state benefit alone. The total depends on how many weeks fall in each phase — a shorter Phase 1 means more weeks at the lower Phase 2 rate.
No — this calculator uses the parameters you enter, not your state actual UI formula. State UI varies significantly: some states cap weekly benefits as low as $235 (Mississippi) while others allow over $1,000 (Massachusetts). Look up your state maximum weekly benefit and replacement rate at your state UI agency website, then enter those figures here.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). HEALS Act Unemployment Benefit Calculator — Enhanced UI Estimator [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/unemployment-benefit-heals-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "HEALS Act Unemployment Benefit Calculator — Enhanced UI Estimator." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/unemployment-benefit-heals-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "HEALS Act Unemployment Benefit Calculator — Enhanced UI Estimator," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/unemployment-benefit-heals-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_unemployment_benefit_heals_calculator, title = {HEALS Act Unemployment Benefit Calculator — Enhanced UI Estimator}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/unemployment-benefit-heals-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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