Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage ... - Census Bureau
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage ... - Census Bureau
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage ... - Census Bureau
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Medicare, Medicaid, public housing,<br />
<strong>and</strong> employer-provided fringe<br />
benefits.<br />
Since the publication of the first official<br />
U.S. poverty estimates in 1964,<br />
there has been continuing debate<br />
about the best approach to measuring<br />
income <strong>and</strong> poverty in the United<br />
States.<br />
Recognizing that supplemental estimates<br />
of income <strong>and</strong> poverty can provide<br />
useful information to the public<br />
as well as to the federal government,<br />
in 2009, the Office of Management<br />
<strong>and</strong> Budget’s (OMB) Chief Statistician<br />
formed the Interagency Technical<br />
Working Group on Developing the<br />
Supplemental <strong>Poverty</strong> Measure. This<br />
group asked the <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>, in<br />
cooperation with the <strong>Bureau</strong> of Labor<br />
Statistics (BLS), to develop the new<br />
statistic. The measure is designed to<br />
obtain an improved underst<strong>and</strong>ing of<br />
the economic well-being of American<br />
families <strong>and</strong> how federal policies<br />
affect those living in poverty. The text<br />
box “Supplemental <strong>Poverty</strong> Measure”<br />
provides more information.<br />
The CPS is the longest-running survey<br />
conducted by the <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>.<br />
The CPS ASEC asks detailed questions<br />
categorizing income into over<br />
50 sources. The key purpose of the<br />
CPS ASEC is to provide timely <strong>and</strong><br />
detailed estimates of income, poverty,<br />
<strong>and</strong> health insurance coverage <strong>and</strong> to<br />
measure change in those estimates at<br />
the national level. The CPS ASEC is the<br />
official source of the national poverty<br />
estimates calculated in accordance<br />
with OMB’s Statistical Policy Directive<br />
No. 14 (Appendix B).<br />
The <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong> also reports<br />
income, poverty, <strong>and</strong> health insurance<br />
coverage estimates based on<br />
data from the American Community<br />
Survey (ACS). The ACS is part of<br />
the 2010 <strong>Census</strong> program <strong>and</strong> has<br />
eliminated the need for a long-form<br />
census questionnaire. The ACS offers<br />
broad, comprehensive information on <strong>and</strong> local estimates, see the text box<br />
social, economic, <strong>and</strong> housing topics “State <strong>and</strong> Local Estimates of <strong>Income</strong>,<br />
<strong>and</strong> provides this information at many <strong>Poverty</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Insurance</strong>.”<br />
levels of geography, particularly for<br />
local communities.<br />
The CPS ASEC provides reliable esti-<br />
mates of the net change, from one<br />
Since the CPS ASEC produces more year to the next, in the overall districomplete<br />
<strong>and</strong> thorough estimates bution of economic characteristics of<br />
of income <strong>and</strong> poverty, the <strong>Census</strong> the population, such as income <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Bureau</strong> recommends that people use earnings, but it does not show how<br />
it as the data source for national esti- those characteristics change for the<br />
mates. Estimates for income, poverty, same person, family, or household.<br />
health insurance coverage, <strong>and</strong> other Longitudinal measures of income,<br />
economic characteristics at the state poverty, <strong>and</strong> health insurance coverlevel<br />
can be found in forthcoming age that are based on following the<br />
briefs based on data from the 2009 same people over time are avail-<br />
ACS. For more information on state able from the Survey of <strong>Income</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
State <strong>and</strong> Local Estimates of <strong>Income</strong>, <strong>Poverty</strong>, <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Health</strong> <strong>Insurance</strong><br />
The U.S. <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong> presents annual estimates of median household<br />
income, poverty, <strong>and</strong> health insurance coverage by state <strong>and</strong> other smaller<br />
geographic units based on data collected in the American Community<br />
Survey (ACS). Single-year estimates are available for geographic units<br />
with populations of 65,000 or more. The ACS also produces estimates of<br />
income <strong>and</strong> poverty for counties <strong>and</strong> places with populations of 20,000 or<br />
more by pooling 3 years of data. Before the end of this year, 5-year income<br />
<strong>and</strong> poverty estimates will be available for all geographic units, including<br />
census tracts <strong>and</strong> block groups. (Since questions on health insurance<br />
coverage were added to the ACS in 2008, 3-year estimates for health<br />
insurance coverage will not be available until next year. Five-year health<br />
insurance coverage estimates for the smallest geographic units will be<br />
available in 2013.)<br />
The <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>’s Small Area <strong>Income</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Poverty</strong> Estimates (SAIPE)<br />
program also produces single-year estimates of median household income<br />
<strong>and</strong> poverty for states <strong>and</strong> all counties, as well as population <strong>and</strong> poverty<br />
estimates for school districts. These estimates are based on models using<br />
data from a variety of sources, including current surveys, administrative<br />
records, intercensal population estimates, <strong>and</strong> personal income data<br />
published by the <strong>Bureau</strong> of Economic Analysis. In general, SAIPE estimates<br />
have lower variances than ACS estimates but are released later because<br />
they incorporate ACS data in the models. Estimates for 2008 are available<br />
at . Estimates for 2009 will<br />
be available later this year.<br />
The <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>’s Small Area <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Insurance</strong> Estimates (SAHIE) program<br />
produces model-based estimates of health insurance coverage rates<br />
for states <strong>and</strong> counties. The SAHIE program released 2007 estimates of<br />
health insurance coverage by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, <strong>and</strong> income<br />
categories at the state level <strong>and</strong> by age, sex, <strong>and</strong> income categories at the<br />
county level in 2010. These estimates are available at .<br />
U.S. <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong> <strong>Income</strong>, <strong>Poverty</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Insurance</strong> <strong>Coverage</strong> in the United States: 2009 3