Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Declines, Number of Uninsured Up | US Census Bureau | 8.29.07
Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, from 12.6 percent in 2005 to 12.3 percent in 2006. There were 36.5 million people in poverty in 2006, not statistically different from 2005. The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 44.8 million (15.3 percent) in 2005 to 47 million (15.8 percent) in 2006.
The uninsured not related to poverty.
A Sobering Census Report: Bleak Findings on Health Insurance | NYT | 8.29.07
The number of uninsured Americans has been rising inexorably over the past six years as soaring health care costs have driven up premiums, employers have scaled back or eliminated health benefits and hard-pressed families have found themselves unable to purchase insurance at a reasonable price. Last year, the number of uninsured Americans increased by a daunting 2.2 million, from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47.0 million in 2006. That scotched any hope that the faltering economic recovery would help alleviate the problem.
The main reason for the upsurge in uninsured Americans is that employment-based coverage continued to deteriorate. Indeed, the number of full-time workers without health insurance rose from 20.8 million in 2005 to 22.0 million in 2006, presumably because either the employers or the workers or both found it too costly.
Census Income Report Feeds Health-Care Debate | WSJ | 8.29.07
The percentage of Americans living below the poverty line fell to 12.3% last year from 12.6% in 2005, the first significant drop in a decade, according to the Census Bureau’s annual snapshot of American living standards. The inflation-adjusted income of the typical, or median, household rose, but median household income remained below a 1999 peak, and earnings of full-time workers fell despite a low unemployment rate.
Sufficient to be a major election 2008 issue?