Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States

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Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States

This report presents data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States based on information collected in the 2008 and earlier Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Data presented in this report indicate the following:

Real median household income increased between 2006 and 2007—the third annual increase.
The poverty rate was not statistically different between 2006 and 2007.
Both the number and the percentage of people without health insurance coverage decreased between 2006 and 2007.

These results were not uniform across groups. For example, between 2006 and 2007, real median household income rose for non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks but remained statistically unchanged for Asians and Hispanics; the poverty rate increased for children under 18 years old but remained statistically unchanged for people 18 to 64 years old and people 65 and over; and the percentage of people without health insurance decreased for the native-born population, while the foreign-born population remained statistically unchanged.

These results are discussed in more detail in the three main sections of this report—income, poverty, and health insurance coverage. Each section presents estimates by characteristics such as race, Hispanic origin, nativity, and region. Other topics include earnings of year-round, full-time workers; families in poverty; and health insurance coverage of children. This report concludes with a section discussing health insurance coverage by state using 2- and 3-year averages.

The Census Bureau recognizes that measuring money income may not completely capture the economic wellbeing of individuals and families.

Families and individuals also derive economic well-being from noncash benefits, such as food stamps and housing subsidies, and they have reductions in disposable income due to taxes. While the income and poverty estimates shown in this report are based solely on money income before taxes and do not include the value of noncash benefits, the Census Bureau computes a number of alternative measures of income and poverty that do attempt to account for those factors. ...

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DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith,
U.S. Census Bureau,
Current Population Reports, P60-235, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC.

CONTENTS
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage
in the United States: 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Source of Estimates and Statistical Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
State and Local Estimates of Income, Poverty,
and Health Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Dynamics of Economic Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Income in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Household Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Race and Hispanic Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Nativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Metropolitan Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Income Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Equivalence-Adjusted Income Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Work Experience and Earnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Per Capita Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Poverty in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Race and Hispanic Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Nativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Metropolitan Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Work Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Depth of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Ratio of Income to Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Income Deficit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Health Insurance Coverage in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
What Is Health Insurance Coverage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Type of Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Race and Hispanic Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Nativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Economic Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Children’s Health Insurance Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Metropolitan Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
State-Level Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
CPS Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Additional Data and Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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Comments (2) add comment

ISABEL said:

I totally agree with you Rudy. But let me tell u something that happened to me. I am young and I encountered a health problem so I visited my gynecologist and I told him my concerns etc. I do not have health insurance myself. My gynecologist did not want to do any lab work, or any exams because according to him one I am young and he does not think it is cancer and two and I will quote him"Lab work is very expensive and just to look at the cultures etc is 400 dlls." He said,"Do not worry about it it is nothing, you should apply for Medicaid maybe you will qualify." But I do not qualify for Medicaid because here in Texas the guidlines to get Medicaid for a family of 3 is that I cannot go over 180 dlls. That is what my income is suppose to do. I told the doctor that I did not care about how much it is to do lab work and that health is more important and what he did was referred me to another doctor who according to him is more "flexible." So I have this doctor here who I was going to pay for my exams cause I did not ask for anything free and he simply did not want to do any lab work there. I am single mom and I have a part time job and I am going to school to get a better education and a better job. I did not have the money, but what I did was to pawn all of my jewelry to pay for the doctors visit and for any exams. SO what do I do in this case?

May 03, 2009

Rudy Lehder Rivas said:

In 2009 my best guess is that between 50-60Million or more Americans are without Health Insurance, this translates into a huge percentage being left without proper preventative care. My biggest fear is that with an "Swine Epidemic" spreading here in America how will this effect those left un-insured, lets look at the facts Swine flu in Mexico has killed many and is spreading: IN AMERICA HISPANICS ARE THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE LEFT WITHOUT HEALTHCARE, THINK OF THIS ACCORDING TO THE LAST CENSUS STUDIES ONE IN THREE HISPANICS ARE UNISURED (2007) - TODAY BECAUSE OF OUR TERRIBLE ECONOMY I BELIEVE IT IS MORE LIKE ONE IN TWO (50%) OF HISPANICS LIVING IN AMERICA BEING UN-INSURED.

IF THIS OUTBREAK HITS AMERICA IT WILL CAUSE HAVOC WITHIN THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY, MOST HISPANICS HAVE NOT SEEN A PHYSICIAN FOR YEARS, MANY ARE WALKING AROUND WITH UN-DIAGNOSED DIABETES AND OR HBP, ELEVATED BMI'S AND A HUGE PERCENTAGE OF HISPANICS OVER 50 HAVE NOT SEEN A PHYSICIAN IN YEARS.

I ENCOURAGE EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN TO SCHEDULE A PHYSICAL TODAY, LETS ALL START LIVING AND EATING HEALTHY!

Sincerely,

Rudy Lehder Rivas, President
www.HispanicInsure.com

April 27, 2009

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