- Rising child poverty rates could be a ‘taste’ of what’s ahead, By Ron Scherer, November 29, 2011, Christian Science Monitor: “In a troubling snapshot of the declining finances of Americans, considerably more school-age children are living in poverty than in the pre-recession year of 2007, the US Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Of all 3,142 counties in the US, 653 counties saw significant increases in poverty for children ages 5 to 17, according to the 2010 Census Bureau survey. Only eight counties saw a decrease. Nationally, 19.8 percent of schoolchildren qualify as poor – and one-third of all counties now have child poverty rates above that threshold. About one quarter had child poverty rates significantly lower than the national average…”
- More schoolchildren in Central Texas living in poverty, By Juan Castillo, November 29, 2011, Austin American-Statesman: “About 1 in 4 school-age children in Travis, Bastrop and Caldwell counties lived in poverty in 2010 – higher than the national average – and the poverty rate for schoolchildren has risen since the recession began in 4 of 5 counties in the Austin metro area, according to census estimates Tuesday reflecting the effects of the weakened economy…”
- Wisconsin schools see more children in poverty, By Erin Richards and Ben Poston, November 30, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “More than four out of 10 school-aged children in Milwaukee are living in poverty, a jump of nearly 10 percentage points from 2007, according to new estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau that underscore another effect of the Great Recession. The percentage of children in poverty residing in the Milwaukee Public Schools district rose to 41% in 2010 from 32.4% in pre-recession 2007, according to the bureau’s 2010 income and poverty estimates for all counties and school districts…”
- Alabama struggles with number of children living in poverty at 27.4%, By Kim Chandler, November 30, 2011, Birmingham News: “More than one in four Alabama children live in poverty — a figure that has jumped since the recession began in 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday. In 2010, 27.4 percent of children age 18 and under in Alabama lived in poverty. The percentage was 23.6 percent in 2007…”
- Poverty rate soars among S. Florida kids, By Donna Gehrke-White, Dana Williams and Cara Fitzpatrick, November 30, 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “The poverty rate for school-age children skyrocketed in South Florida from 2007 to 2010 with thousands of parents thrown out of work during the Great Recession. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, about one in five children ages 5 to 17 live in poverty, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. In Miami-Dade, nearly one in four children fall below the poverty level. The huge increase in poverty among school-aged children places the three South Florida counties in the nation’s top 20 percent of counties experiencing the steepest jump in child poverty, according to the Census Bureau data…”
- Fresno County has state’s highest poverty rate, By Kurtis Alexander, November 29, 2011, Fresno Bee: “Soaring unemployment has pushed California’s poverty rate up for three straight years — but nowhere higher than in Fresno County, according to new Census data. The nearly 250,000 county residents living in poverty in 2010 gives Fresno County claim to the state’s highest poverty rate, at 26.8%. Almost 70,000 more people lived in poverty last year than in 2007 when the recession began. Statewide, 15.8% were impoverished, the census data show, up 3.4 percentage points from three years ago…”
- Poverty rates varied greatly among Oklahoma counties in 2010, By Chris Casteel, November 30, 2011, The Oklahoman: “Poverty rates jumped in some of the poorest and richest counties in Oklahoma in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Tuesday that show Okfuskee County had the highest rate last year, with 27 percent of its residents in poverty…”
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Poverty Measurement in the US and Canada
- The Near Poor: Many educated, employed Americans struggle to make ends meet, By Elizabeth Stuart, November 30, 2011, Deseret News: “Federal poverty statistics may not paint an accurate picture of how Americans are getting along economically, two new studies suggest. About 45 percent of U.S. residents who are not considered poor by federal standards don’t have enough money for basic expenses like housing, food and health care, according to a new study by the advocacy group Wider Opportunities for Women. And the number of people hovering just above the federal poverty threshold is 76 percent higher than official records indicate, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data published in the New York Times…”
- In U.S., Canada, new measures of the poverty line, By Miles Corak, November 28, 2011, Globe and Mail: “U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Rebecca Blank — a capable, no-nonsense, PhD in economics, and a former Dean at the University of Michigan — to his new administration, and told her to answer a simple question: How should the United States measure poverty? Blank did an end-run around the sad politics that has characterized discussions of poverty measurement in the U.S. by having the Census Bureau develop an entirely new indicator that reflects the realities of participating in contemporary American society…”
Poverty Measurement – China
- China raises poverty line, increasing number of official poor by 100 million, Associated Press, November 29, 2011, Washington Post: “Even with its booming economy, China now has more poor people – at least officially. A sharp upward revision in the official poverty line, announced by the government Tuesday, means that 128 million Chinese in rural areas now qualify as poor, 100 million more than under the previous standard. The new threshold of about $1 a day nearly doubles the previous amount. While the revised poverty line is still below the World Bank threshold of $1.25 a day, the change brings China closer to international norms and better reflects the country’s overall higher standards of living after three decades of buoyant growth…”
- China increases rural poverty limit to $1 a day, November 29, 2011, BBC News: “China has redefined the level at which people in rural areas are considered poor to include everyone earning less than $1 a day (6.5 yuan). Previously people in the countryside were only regarded as poor if they earned less than 55 cents a day. The move should see millions more people get access to state benefits. Some 27 million people were classified as rural poor last year. The new threshold is expected to increase that number fourfold…”
States and Children’s Health Insurance Coverage
- Study: Even with more kids in poverty, number of uninsured children fell 14% over 3 years, Associated Press, November 29, 2011, Washington Post: “Even with more children living in poverty because of the rough economy, the number of children without health insurance in the U.S. has dropped by 1 million in the past three years, according to a report released Tuesday by Georgetown University. Many states have expanded eligibility for, and simplified access to, the children’s Medicaid program. This has helped shrink the number of uninsured children from 6.9 million in 2008 to 5.9 million in 2010. Experts say the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care overhaul that requires states to maintain income eligibility levels and discourages other barriers to coverage, has played a key role in the improvement…”
- Safety-net programs insure more Texas children, By Todd Ackerman, November 29, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Houston-area children’s health insurance is increasingly being provided by government safety-net programs as employers cut jobs and benefits, according to a new study. The survey, sponsored by Texas Children’s Hospital, found that in the last three years, area children’s enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program doubled as coverage through work-based plans decreased significantly. This shift comes in a state known for not embracing government health programs…”
- Number of uninsured Minnesota kids climbs, By Jeremy Olson, November 29, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “The number of children without health insurance rose sharply in the past two years in Minnesota, making it the only state to see a significant increase since 2008, according to a report released Tuesday. Uninsured Minnesota kids totaled 84,000, although that number could fall again as a result of changes enacted by the Legislature in 2009. The uninsured rate rose from 5.8 to 6.6 percent. While Minnesota’s rate remains better than the national average of 8 percent, the state is no longer among the nation’s best…”
- Utah lags behind other states in covering kids, By Kirsten Stewart, November 29, 2011, Salt Lake Tribune: “Even as unemployment and child poverty has grown, the uninsured rate for children nationally – and in Utah – has shrunk, an analysis of census data shows. From 2008 to 2010 the number of American children living in poverty rose 19 percent, while the number of uninsured children fell 14 percent, according to a report released Tuesday by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. How, given the high cost of health care, is this possible? Two words, say Georgetown researchers: Medicaid and CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program…”
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program – Maine
Federal cuts give Maine a chill as winter approaches, By Abby Goodnough, November 27, 2011, New York Times: “Michele Hodges works six days a week but still cannot afford a Maine winter’s worth of heat for her trailer in Corinth, a tiny town where snowmobiles can outnumber cars. Ms. Hodges and her two teenage daughters qualified for federal heating assistance last year, but their luck might have run out. President Obama has proposed sharply cutting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and Maine is at this point expecting less than half of the $55.6 million that it received last winter, even as more people are applying. The average state benefit last year was about $800 for the season; now it may be closer to $300. Eligibility requirements have tightened too, and with oil prices climbing – the average in Maine was $3.66 a gallon last week, up from $2.87 a year ago – many here are anticipating days or weeks of forgoing heat…”
Economic Security Index
More than 1 in 5 Americans are economically insecure, By Tami Luhby, November 28, 2011, CNNMoney.com: “More than one in five Americans saw at least a quarter of their available household income vanish in the Great Recession, yet lacked a sufficient financial cushion, according to a report released Monday. The situation has left them economically insecure, according to the report, which updates an Economic Security Index created by Jacob Hacker, a political science professor at Yale. More than 20% of the nation was in this condition in the three years spanning 2008 to 2010, a sharp increase from 14.3% in 1986. Some 62 million Americans faced economic insecurity last year. The Great Recession is also prompting deep losses among the insecure, with the median drop in income for this group hitting a record 46.4% in 2009…”
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- Number of N.J. residents receiving food stamps doubled in last four years, By Eric Sagara and Stephen Stirling, November 27, 2011, Star-Ledger: “The number of New Jersey residents receiving food stamps has doubled in the past four years and is at its highest level in more than a decade as the nation’s still sputtering economy continues to take its toll on the poorest residents of the Garden State, state and federal data show. As of September, the most recent data released by the state Department of Human Services, more than 400,000 households and nearly 822,000 people were enrolled in the food stamp program, meaning nearly one out of every 10 residents in New Jersey receives assistance.As of September, the most recent data released by the state Department of Human Services, more than 400,000 households and nearly 822,000 people were enrolled in the food stamp program, meaning nearly one out of every 10 residents in New Jersey receives assistance…”
- Michigan ranks third in use of food stamps, By Maureen Groppe, November 21, 2011, Lansing State Journal: “Michigan households relied on food stamps last year more than all but two other states, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the 16.9 percent of Michigan households that received food stamps in 2010 was up from the 14.5 percent that did in 2009. The figures released last week come from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. Participants were asked whether anyone in the household received food stamps in the last 12 months…”
- Food stamp divide grows, By Bob Smietana, November 23, 2011, The Tennessean: “David Shelley of Nashville used to work two jobs to feed his wife and two children, but it still wasn’t enough. So, for a few months, they used food stamps to make ends meet. Two decades later, he’s a Baptist pastor and small businessman, and he’s joining a growing number of people critical of the food stamp program at the same time participation is at a record high. He fears it’s becoming an entitlement program people don’t try to leave. ‘If you are working and you are doing your best and you need food stamps, then God bless you,’ he said. Otherwise, he believes the Bible message is clear: If you don’t work, you don’t eat. Nearly 46 million Americans participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. That’s up from 17 million in 2002 and includes 15 percent of households in Tennessee, according to the Census Bureau. The price of the program – about $68 billion annually – and the nation’s budget crisis have opened it to scrutiny and revealed deep divides in American culture…”
- Food stamp usage sticking, By Joan Garrett, November 25, 2011, Chattanooga Times Free Press: “As Tennessee families paused to give thanks around the dinner table Thursday, one of every six households was getting help from Uncle Sam. A new study found that Tennessee ranked second behind only Oregon in the share of households receiving food stamps, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Payments (SNAP), during 2010. The U.S. Bureau of Census reports that 45 states provided more federal help with groceries last year, swelling the number of U.S. households getting food stamps to 13.6 million…”
Child Poverty – Canada
- Ottawa lacks plan to fight child poverty, coalition says, By Laurie Monsebraaten, November 23, 2011, Toronto Star: “When it comes to helping Canada’s 639,000 children living in poverty, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That is the sobering message from Campaign 2000, a national coalition of more than 120 groups and individuals that has been lobbying for federal action on the issue for two decades. ‘Neither the promised poverty elimination or plans have materialized,’ the group says in its 20th anniversary progress report on Ottawa’s 1989 pledge to tackle the issue. The report, obtained by the Star, is being released Wednesday and calls on the government to cut poverty by at least 50 per cent by 2020. Canada’s poverty rate in 2009 was 9.5 per cent. And although the rate has inched up and down with the business cycle over the past 20 years, the report notes that the problem remains largely unchanged from 1989, when 11.9 per cent of the nation’s children were living in poverty…”
- Report: More kids living in poverty, By Frances Willick, November 23, 2011, Chronicle Herald: “It was 22 years ago this week that Canada’s leaders gathered in the House of Commons to unanimously pass a lofty, daunting goal: to eliminate poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000. A laudable goal, yes, but in hindsight, it was unattainable. The most recent statistics, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, show that child poverty has not only lingered, but for the first time since 2003, it’s on the rise. In 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, nearly 10 per cent of Canadian children under the age of 18 lived in poverty. In Nova Scotia, 8.2 per cent of kids lived below the poverty line. That’s up from a nationwide low of 9.1 per cent in 2008 and a low in Nova Scotia of 7.9 per cent…”
High School Graduation Rate – Missouri
Missouri, Illinois adjust to changing graduation formula, By Jessica Bock, November 21, 2011, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “For years, comparing high school graduation rates between Missouri and Illinois – or any other state for that matter – was difficult to impossible. The numbers simply didn’t match. Education officials in each state had their own way of calculating the percentage of students graduating each year. Some, like Missouri, accounted for certain students who needed more than four years to earn a diploma. A few included in the equation those who had obtained equivalency diplomas. Others were thought to have inflated graduation rates because of poor tracking of dropouts. In data released today, Missouri for the first time is publishing a graduation rate under a new formula – mandated by the federal government – that makes it easier to make comparisons across the country…”
State Earned Income Tax Credits
- Malloy touts new tax credit, By JC Reindl, November 23, 2011, The Day: “Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday joined Democratic lawmakers and social services advocates to herald the implementation of Connecticut’s new Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The credit was included in the governor’s biennial budget plan that passed the General Assembly this spring. The cost to the state is a projected $110 million this fiscal year. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia now offer some type of earned income tax credit. Under Connecticut’s program, the approximately 190,000 state households that are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit will receive an additional credit equal to 30 percent of the federal one…”
- Taxing the working poor back to starting line, Editorial, November 20, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “As much as younger pensioners may howl about the state income taxes they’ll have to pay come Jan. 1, the hardest hit group of people who file income tax forms may be the poorest — workers whose wages barely bring their families up to the poverty level. That’s because the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit will drop from 20% of the federal payment to 6%. Although this is better than nothing — which, in fact, was what Michigan had until three years ago — it will return the state to the unwelcome status of taxing some people back into poverty…”
Medicaid and Adult Day Health Care – California
California adult day healthcare centers get a reprieve, By Anna Gorman, November 18, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Just weeks before the planned closure of adult day healthcare centers throughout California, state officials and disability rights attorneys reached a legal settlement Thursday that preserves services for those low-income seniors and disabled residents most at risk of being institutionalized. The state, which faces a $3.7-billion revenue shortfall, had targeted the centers as part of a plan to reduce spending on Medi-Cal, the government health program for the poor and disabled. Adult day healthcare centers provide nursing care, occupational therapy, physical therapy, meals and exercise to people with serious disabilities, brain injuries and chronic illnesses…”
Foster Children and Antipsychosis Drug Prescriptions
Drugs used for psychotics go to youths in foster care, By Benedict Carey, November 20, 2011, New York Times: “Foster children are being prescribed cocktails of powerful antipsychosis drugs just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters on Medicaid, a new study suggests. The report, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to investigate how often youngsters in foster care are given two antipsychotic drugs at once, the authors said. The drugs include Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa – among other so-called major tranquilizers – which were developed for schizophrenia but are now used as all-purpose drugs for almost any psychiatric symptoms…”
Child Welfare System – Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania still lacks computerized child welfare system network, By Kari Andren, November 20, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Four-year-old Kristen Tatar’s emaciated body was wrapped in garbage bags, stuffed inside a picnic cooler and left out with the trash at her parents Armstrong County home. Her death in 2003 brought calls for creation of a computerized network that would allow all counties and the state to share information about children receiving child welfare services anywhere in Pennsylvania. Eight years later, that network does not exist…”
Census Poverty Data
- Older, suburban and struggling, ‘near poor’ startle the Census, By Jason DeParle, Robert Gebeloff and Sabrina Tavernise, November 18, 2011, New York Times: “They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by. Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called ‘near poor’ and sometimes simply overlooked – and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood. When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people – one in three Americans – either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it…”
- Counting the poor in America proves difficult, controversial, By Elizabeth Stuart, November 18, 2011, Deseret News: “How many poor people are there in America? It depends how you ask the question. The official U.S. Census Bureau report released in September put the number at 46.2 million. In a second, unofficial report published last week, the bureau estimated the number is closer to 49 million. The official measure, devised in 1964 to measure progress in President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” is based on the idea that families spend one-third of their income on food. To establish federal poverty lines, experts calculated the lowest annual cost of feeding a family and multiplied it by three. Poverty experts have long criticized the method as outdated and simplistic. The measure does not account for money received in food stamps and other benefits or the money lost to taxes and medical care. It also doesn’t account for regional differences in cost of living. The new report, known as the supplemental poverty measure, attempts to address these factors…”
State Medicaid Cuts – Texas
Texas may cut Medicaid reimbursements to healthcare providers, By Darren Barbee, November 20, 2011, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Therapy and physician groups in Texas are alarmed about proposed cuts in government healthcare reimbursement rates that they say would hurt the sickest and poorest Texas patients, most of them children. Therapists stand to lose millions of dollars as Medicaid reimbursement rates for their services are slashed. The average reduction for home health providers, for example, would be 35 percent. All told, the state plan calls for cutting $150 million a year for therapists; that is 19 percent of the $792 million they received last year. The state would save millions more with cuts in co-payments to physicians for people covered by both Medicaid and Medicare. But doctors say the proposed change will further push doctors from wanting to practice in less affluent parts of the state…”
State Unemployment Insurance Debt
Businesses penalized for state unemployment insurance debt, By Pamela M. Prah, November 18, 2011, Stateline.org: “Employers in 20 states will have to shell out more in taxes next year as a penalty for the states not paying back federal loans that kept unemployment programs afloat during the recession. Altogether, states still owe $37.6 billion to the feds that they borrowed when their unemployment insurance trust funds sank to zero. Most states have dealt with the problem by raising state payroll taxes on employers, making benefits to workers less generous; or a combination of the two. A handful, though, have opted to issue bonds. Idaho did it earlier this year, and Texas did it last year. And just this month, Illinois lawmakers approved legislation allowing the state to issue bonds to pay back the $2 billion the state owes the federal government for unemployment relief. Governor Pat Quinn has applauded the UI package and has indicated he will sign the measure. The state figures it will get an interest rate lower than the 4 percent it would have to pay the federal government, saving the state and businesses millions of dollars…”
Medicaid Program – Utah
- State drafting a waiver to provide health insurance benefits in exchange for community service, By Wendy Leonard, November 17, 2011, Deseret News: “Community service in exchange for health insurance? It’s an idea that the Utah Department of Health is exploring to allow an otherwise economically challenged population to give back to their community. Based on income, some recipients of the state’s Medicaid health insurance benefit share in the cost by paying modest co-pays and premiums. A pilot program would offer the service option in exchange for health benefits for those who can’t afford to contribute toward cost of Medicaid. But the proposed program would first need approval by federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. UDOH has until the first of the year to submit a waiver to CMS that could change how Medicaid operates in Utah and allow the program…”
- Utahns: Mandated charity work for Medicaid is ‘demeaning’, By Kirsten Stewart, November 17, 2011, Salt Lake Tribune: “Annette Wright minces no words when asked about the prospect of having to do community service for her Medicaid coverage. It’s ‘crazy’ and ‘demeaning,’ because it presumes people on the low-income health care program don’t already give back, said the 54-year-old career actress. ‘Volunteering should come from the heart. It’s something you do because you want to, not because you have to. What they’re doing is more like coercion.’ Such was the prevailing sentiment Thursday at a public hearing on an experiment that, if approved by the federal government, would require fewer than 100 Medicaid recipients to do charity work in exchange for health insurance. The pilot program is meant to build a sense of community, not punish the poor, said its architect, Rep. Ronda Menlove, R-Garland…”
Welfare Overpayment Collections – Ohio
Welfare roundup reaches way back to collect overpayments, By Catherine Candisky, November 16, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “The state is reaching back more than a quarter of a century to collect millions in nonfraudulent overpayments to former welfare recipients, most the result of administrative errors by government workers. The state Department of Job and Family Services said an estimated 14,000 notices have been sent in an effort to collect about $18 million in welfare overpayments from before 2001. An estimated 8,000 Ohioans owe an additional $8.4 million in food-stamp overpayments that are more than 10 years old…”
Poverty Rate – Israel
Report: Israel poverty levels fall to lowest since 2003, By Dana Weiler-Polak, November 17, 2011, Haaretz Daily Newspaper: “Israel poverty levels fell slightly in 2010, and is now at the lowest level since 2003, according to the annual poverty report published by the National Insurance Institute on Thursday. According to the report, 19.8% of Israeli families suffered from poverty in 2010, compared to 20.5% in 2009. The number of children living below the poverty line fell from 36.3% in 2009 to 35.3%, and the overall percentage of Israeli citizens living in poverty also fell – from 25% in 2009, to 24.45…”
Supplemental Poverty Measure
New Census measure shifts the face of poverty, By Sarah D. Sparks, November 15, 2011, Education Week: “Federal social programs are keeping nearly 2 million American children out of poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s first new poverty-calculation measure in more than four decades. The new poverty measure, released on Nov. 6, is intended to supplement the federal government’s official count, which is used by the education field for everything from achievement research to setting eligibility criteria for programs such as Title I school grants for disadvantaged students. The new measure will not affect eligibility or grant allocations for those programs, Census research economist Kathleen Short said at a briefing on the release at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, but it does give a much more comprehensive picture of who is poor in America and how they are affected by housing, child care, and other daily costs…”