General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObamacare is critical to raising the 80% out of poverty
* Hard to believe these figures are correct!
In the U.S. 49.7 Million Are Now Poor, and 80% of the Total Population Is Near Poverty
If you live in the United States, there is a good chance that you are now living in poverty or near poverty. Nearly 50 million Americans, (49.7 Million), are living below the poverty line, with 80% of the entire U.S. population living near poverty or below it.
That near poverty statistic is perhaps more startling than the 50 million Americans below the poverty line, because it translates to a full 80% of the population struggling with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on government assistance to help make ends meet.
In September, the Associated Press pointed to survey data that told of an increasingly widening gap between rich and poor, as well as the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs that used to provide opportunities for the Working Class to explain an increasing trend towards poverty in the U.S.
But the numbers of those below the poverty line does not merely reflect the number of jobless Americans. Instead, according to a revised census measure released Wednesday, the number 3 million higher than what the official government numbers imagine are also due to out-of-pocket medical costs and work-related expenses.
http://politicalblindspot.com/us-poor/
leftstreet
(36,107 posts)Employer, Medicare, Medicaid, Vets, etc
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)numbers.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)According to The Associated Press, four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.
Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. The chart above depicts this cumulative economic insecurity by age.
leftstreet
(36,107 posts)But it has nothing to do with the ACA
Weird article
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)Even today I have already had several clients who applied and were approved. Many even have primary insurance throug their employer and were eligible for medicaid as a secondary.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)Some of those employee insurance policies still left the possibility of having big expenses. So that's part of the answer as to how it can be that this much poverty exists if 80% are covered by employers.
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)Many think the ACA addresses this but it really doesn't. In fact it's possible we may be doing away with some programs that assisted families because we will eventually combine current medicaid eligibility with expanded medicaid and ACA rules so these people with employer provided health insurance may eventually be left out in the cold. I am only speaking about what "I" think may occur based on my experience.