13 Devastating Numbers About Poverty, Income And Health Insurance In America: EPI

It's far from a secret that the U.S. economy is in trouble. A new report by the U.S. Census Bureau just puts numbers on what so many Americans already know.

Across the country last year, the state of poverty, income and health insurance worsened. Indeed, 15.1 percent of Americans lived in poverty in 2010, the highest percentage since 1993, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Tuesday report on poverty. In total numbers, 2.6 million more people fell into poverty last year, bringing the total to 46.2 million nationwide. For a family of four, poverty is defined as living with an income of $22,314 or less.

An increasingly stratified economy has taken its toll on income as well. The same report finds that inflation-adjusted wages for the median male worker are at lows not seen since 1968, as businesses begin to tailor product lines to account for a country with more rich and poor, and fewer middle-class.

Health insurance benefits has also taken a hit. Many employers are beginning to suspend worker health insurance benefits or instead rely on part-time workers to cut costs. The Census Bureau reports that 1.5 million fewer Americans were covered by employee-sponsored health plans in 2010. Furthermore, the number of Americans with no insurance at all now sits around 50 million. Dire, indeed.

Here are 13 devastating numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau's report, compiled by the Economic Policy Institute:

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Comments

[scotlandzking]

06:19 PM on 09/18/2011

I want to know who comes up with these numbers. A family of 4 living off just $22,113 is ridiculous! Think about it, 4 people living off such little. A family of 4 should be considered at poverty at $36,000 or less.

To use a now popular Tea Party phrase, if 180k per law maker is good enough for them, then 10% of that should be good enough per individual. In other words, 18k per year, per person should be the poverty cut off.

[mcmutter]

05:46 PM on 09/18/2011

America is all about the upper 2% .... and corporations .....

Make you peace with that new reality ....

the America you grew up in .... is gone ....

[scotlandzking]

06:24 PM on 09/18/2011

Is anyone really surprised? This coming from the most arrogant, selfish country in the world. I bet Jesus would be real proud that he bestowed this country with the greatest wealth to only say - screw your neighbor, it's every man for himself.

Yep, sounds like something Jesus would say. GOP = party of Jesus. Jesus in their minds is a venture capitalist, in favor of the death penalty, against helping the poor, against giving free medical assistance, rewarding the wealthy, and destroying the Earth for profit.

[Austin V]

07:44 AM on 09/19/2011

This is not truly accurate--Mississippi maybe but other states not so.

[wright4ulg]

04:54 PM on 09/18/2011

Bankruptcy will not protect you from fraud Bank of Defrauding America!.
http://www.piggybankblog.com/2011/09/04/john-bofa-daily-blo/.
Nice try with the psychological warfare! .
My name is John Wright AND I AM FIGHTING BACK!.
John Wright
piggybankblog.com

[Lisainseattle]

07:22 PM on 09/15/2011

No surprises there.

[knewsreply]

06:51 PM on 09/15/2011

Sorry, but I feel like some politicans are trying to purge the nation of the poor, sick, and old. Am I right or am I the only one who feels like this?

[priceut]

07:14 PM on 09/15/2011

You're not alone, but politicians are only a symptom. As one of the old, I wonder why so many in the same boat with me apparently aren't old enough to figure it out. How do these people keep getting re-elected?

[pooka47401]

12:39 PM on 09/16/2011

I think that the politicians are being Bribed with campaign contributions, to only worry about Profits for the Corporations. Health Insurance Corporations don't want to insure the elderly and sick. And the Rich don't care about the Poor. I keep remembering the movie "Soylent Green", where Charlton Heston discovers that the bodies of the Elderly who are convinced to die, are recycled into food cakes. That movie seems scarily more probable, considering the Republicans pandering to the John Birchers.

[zelda777]

06:04 PM on 09/15/2011

Welcome to the New USA - soon to become the New Calcutta...

[Samla Daniel]

05:42 PM on 09/16/2011

Even Calcutta is growing faster ...........!!!!
Visit : www.thegeekbook.com

[OldTulsan]

01:39 PM on 09/15/2011

Any job that can be performed at a desk or a computer can be performed overseas for much less; e.g.:

o computer programmer

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4ea_1195705444
LiveLeak.com - "30 Days: Outsourcing" (2006) (Part 1/2)

The "star" is Chris Jobin, a programmer whose job was outsourced to India. He traveled to India and stayed for 30 days as an employee of a call center.

o accountant
o architect
o engineer
o radiologist
o car designer
o legal services:

http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/10/0126/outsourcing.html
Outsourcing Firms And Foreign Countries Target More American Service Industries, Especially U.S. Law Firms

"...Legal services offshoring (LSO) is the next big thing, due to high margins and economic pressures on law firms. There have been "profound changes in companies' perceptions of the legal industry, once regarded as a sensitive and privileged activity that needed to be kept in-house," says the study. "The attractive economic benefit of LSO may explain the high number of service providers entering the market and of companies exploring opportunities to outsource their most routine legal activities over the past few years." In India, the legal process outsourcing industry has grown by 40 percent per year, and there are now 110 service providers concentrating in that specialty area..."

[OldTulsan]

01:21 PM on 09/15/2011

The Deficit Commission is considerin­g the eliminatio­n of the tax deduction for job-based health insurance:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/28/health-care-tax-break-deficit_n_788852.html
Job-Based Health Care Threatened

"WASHINGTO­N — Job-based health care benefits could wind up on the chopping block if President Barack Obama and congressio­nal Republican­s get serious about cutting the deficit.

Budget proposals from leaders in both parties have urged shrinking or eliminatin­g tax breaks that help make employer health insurance the leading source of coverage in the nation and a middle-cla­ss mainstay.

The idea isn't to just raise revenue, economists say, but finally to turn Americans into frugal health care consumers by having them face the full costs of their medical decisions.

[snip]

Repealing the tax break would raise several hundred billion dollars a year, depending on how it's done. Many economists believe employers would boost pay if they didn't provide health care..."

Anyone who thinks employers would boost pay to compensate is delusional­.

[Liberal2009]

01:18 PM on 09/15/2011

49.1 Million American under 65 don't have any health insurance, and the Tea Party solution is don't get sick, because if you do its your fault so die quickly.

[Liberal2009]

01:14 PM on 09/15/2011

20.3 million people kept out of poverty thanks to SS. I'll bet more than half of that number vote Republican.

[j soe]

12:37 PM on 09/15/2011

41.9 percent of america does not work. Even in times of high prosperity roughly 35 percent did not work. The bottom 50 percent will always look skewed when you include such a large number of non-producers. http://seekingalpha.com/article/285851-u-s-employment-population-ratio-hits-new-low-why-it-matters-for-the-budget-debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDhcqua3_W8&NR=1

[pooka47401]

11:42 AM on 09/15/2011

A 2 parent family, working 32 hours per week at minimum wage, earns 100% of the poverty level. Then you subtract the child care for their 2 children, if they are not school age...in Indiana they will pay $200 per child per week. And that $22, 314 is Gross, prior to taxes being taken out. Then there are their rent and utility payments. They are living on $1860 per month. The child care takes almost all of one parent's check. The other expenses are paid by the other parent, leaving them no extra, and sometimes not even enough, to pay all of their bills. Thank God for food stamps and Children's medicaid!!....But wait, the Republicans want to get rid of this assistance for those "Lazy" people on "Welfare".
And Yes, Corporations are reducing their hours per worker so that they don't have to pay for medical or other benefits, including Retirement pensions. The whole fabric of assumptions that Congress acts upon, like "who needs to assist people, because then they won't work"; or "who needs medicare and social security because people will have Retirement pensions and Health Coverage from their former employers when they retire", disappeared about 15 years ago. .

[j soe]

01:15 PM on 09/15/2011

They need to get part time jobs or work split shifts. Maybe they should have not had children they can not afford. The fact that they made poor life choices does not mean I should be responsible for them. The government should help those in need due to temporary Circumstances but not for their entire lives. When do we hold people accountable for their life choices? Why do we find it so easy to hand off irresponsibility to others who had no part in the poor choices they have made?

[OldTulsan]

01:23 PM on 09/15/2011

The two-party duopoly has made sure the tax breaks for offshoring good-paying jobs will NOT end.

See Senator Hollings latest HuffPo article.

[pooka47401]

12:29 PM on 09/16/2011

What they need is a job that pays a living wage. How do you think that they have made "bad choices". The families that I see used to have jobs that paid them a living wage, like factory or construction, and those jobs have ended. I was on unemployment for a year, after my State job of 20 years was privatized. How was that my choice?? You just don't have a clue!

[garylinn]

11:01 AM on 09/15/2011

US President Barack Obama told fired up supporters Wednesday that if they loved him, they must help pass his jobs bill, injecting more urgency into his push for key legislation.

Obama hit another key 2012 electoral swing state, North Carolina, to hike pressure on Republicans over his $447 billion American Jobs Act which is designed to jolt the economy and ease 9.1 percent unemployment.

One supporter from the raucous crowd shouted to Obama that they loved him, and in a standard response from his 2008 campaign he replied “I love you back” then added a new twist.

“If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill,” Obama said, repeating the line to more cheers.

[3dtrix]

10:33 AM on 09/15/2011

Republicanism has gutted everything great and good about the USA, and wrenching upheaval is coming - there is simply no way that more for the few at the expense of the many is sustainable...

[j soe]

12:38 PM on 09/15/2011

Name a few things

[3dtrix]

12:53 PM on 09/15/2011

How about you chew on just this one - that the USA (the country that used to be known as the land of opportunity) is now LAST among developed nations in the likelihood that a child born into poverty - or an adult who falls into poverty - will EVER escape that poverty.

LAST. Not "among the" or "declining" - LAST.

This country used to be the greatest engine of broad-based prosperity and social mobility the world has EVER seen. No more.

While our social mobility has jammed in reverse - income disparity - the gap between the what rich and poor earn - is at RECORD levels as a consequence of 30+ years of Republicanism.

The USA is now simply a lab experiment in how wide that gap can grow without the structure of society collapsing...

[jstafrnd03]

08:59 AM on 09/15/2011

not in your lifetime!