Disclaimer

This paper reports the results of research and analysis undertaken by Census Bureau staff. It has undergone a Census Bureau review more limited in scope than that given to official Census Bureau publications. This report is released to inform interested parties of ongoing research and to encourage discussion of work in progress.

In a recent posting on the Census poverty measurement working papers web page, David Betson provided a forceful restatement of the National Research Council's rationale for proposing a poverty measure with no amounts included for health care. No doubt there will be much more debate before we know which of the NRC's proposals, including a recommended separate health care measure, will be adopted as the official measure of poverty. The current Census program of experimental poverty statistics based on combinations and variations of the NRC proposals should inform that debate. Other postings on the working papers web page present reasons and data in support of adding to the experimental data program a threshold variation that includes something for medical out-of-pocket expenses. Instead of that issue, what follows will address a question raised explicitly for the first time in Betson's paper: Do the current poverty thresholds implicitly include any amounts for health care?