Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Let's add some data here.
The U.S. poverty level is a measure of how many Americans are in poverty as measured by their annual income. 14.8% of the U.S. population is in poverty in 2014 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The poverty level is not a measure of whether the individual or family lives in poverty because welfare benefits are not included as income in the Census Bureau reporting. Welfare benefits boost most low-income Americans out of a poverty status.
Therefore, it is estimated that probably less than 3% of the U.S. population actually live in poverty.
These 3% of Americans do not participate in the welfare system due to a variety of reasons such as poor education, disability, mental illness or addiction to alcohol or drugs. A homeless person on the street is obviously living in poverty even though the welfare programs available to them would prevent it. This is one of the tragedies of our current complex welfare system - it often misses those most in need.
Moreover, analyzing the poverty gap in 2014, $177 billion would have been required to give directly to each family or individual to raise their income out of poverty, yet government expenditures were $361 billion on 13 entitlement programs not including social security.
Census Bureau Measure of well being
The Census Bureau reports the following statistics regarding the well being of all households in America that are in a poverty status[ii].
Overall satisfaction with housing - 93%
Living space is greater than one room per person – 81%
Household is food secure – 73.5%
No unpaid essential needs (rent, mortgage, utility, phone, doctor and dentist payments) – 68%
Household has the following amenities:
Refrigerator – 98%
Stove – 97%
Television – 96%
Microwave oven – 93%
VCR – 83%
Air Conditioning – 83%
Cell Phone – 81%
Clothes washer – 69%
Clothes dryer – 65%
Computer – 58%
Dishwasher – 45%
Last who makes up the population we are discussing?
The poverty rate in 2015 for:
Adults not working 32%
Single moms - 28%
Black Americans - 24%
Hispanic Americans - 21%
All Children - 20%,
Single dads - 15%
All Americans – 13.5%
Seniors - 9%
Married couples - 5%
Full time working adults - 2%
Rate of poverty compared to education:
No high school diploma 30.6%
High school diploma 12.9%
some college 9.6%
College degree 4.5 %
Lastly, let's examine the impact of Obamacare on a family of four making above the subsidy threshold of $47,000.
Income: $47,000
Health insurance premiums (15,000)
Deductibles (6,500)
Co pays (1300)
Net $24,200 which is below the 2015 established level of poverty $24,237 for a family of four.
Your analysis was really great except for one mistake. The threshold limit of $47k only applies to a single-person household. For a family of four, I believe it's around $100k.
Other than that, great analysis. I took a lot from it, but especially striking was the fact that odds of living in poverty drop from 1 in 3 to around 1 - in 10 simply by finishing high school.
Anonymous wrote:Let's add some data here.
The U.S. poverty level is a measure of how many Americans are in poverty as measured by their annual income. 14.8% of the U.S. population is in poverty in 2014 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The poverty level is not a measure of whether the individual or family lives in poverty because welfare benefits are not included as income in the Census Bureau reporting. Welfare benefits boost most low-income Americans out of a poverty status.
Therefore, it is estimated that probably less than 3% of the U.S. population actually live in poverty.
These 3% of Americans do not participate in the welfare system due to a variety of reasons such as poor education, disability, mental illness or addiction to alcohol or drugs. A homeless person on the street is obviously living in poverty even though the welfare programs available to them would prevent it. This is one of the tragedies of our current complex welfare system - it often misses those most in need.
Moreover, analyzing the poverty gap in 2014, $177 billion would have been required to give directly to each family or individual to raise their income out of poverty, yet government expenditures were $361 billion on 13 entitlement programs not including social security.
Census Bureau Measure of well being
The Census Bureau reports the following statistics regarding the well being of all households in America that are in a poverty status[ii].
Overall satisfaction with housing - 93%
Living space is greater than one room per person – 81%
Household is food secure – 73.5%
No unpaid essential needs (rent, mortgage, utility, phone, doctor and dentist payments) – 68%
Household has the following amenities:
Refrigerator – 98%
Stove – 97%
Television – 96%
Microwave oven – 93%
VCR – 83%
Air Conditioning – 83%
Cell Phone – 81%
Clothes washer – 69%
Clothes dryer – 65%
Computer – 58%
Dishwasher – 45%
Last who makes up the population we are discussing?
The poverty rate in 2015 for:
Adults not working 32%
Single moms - 28%
Black Americans - 24%
Hispanic Americans - 21%
All Children - 20%,
Single dads - 15%
All Americans – 13.5%
Seniors - 9%
Married couples - 5%
Full time working adults - 2%
Rate of poverty compared to education:
No high school diploma 30.6%
High school diploma 12.9%
some college 9.6%
College degree 4.5 %
Lastly, let's examine the impact of Obamacare on a family of four making above the subsidy threshold of $47,000.
Income: $47,000
Health insurance premiums (15,000)
Deductibles (6,500)
Co pays (1300)
Net $24,200 which is below the 2015 established level of poverty $24,237 for a family of four.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous[b wrote:]Paying $500 a month when you may only be making $2500 is not in the cards. [/b] Most people are struggling to stay in the bronze plans.
It is time for us to stop worrying about welfare queens and figure out what we need to do to help people get out of poverty.
OP: come and serve meals at SOME, meet working poor people and get your eyes opened.
A family making $30000 a year (the $2500 a month you mention) gets a bronze plan for free. If they kick a little bit, they can get a silver.
Anonymous[b wrote:]Paying $500 a month when you may only be making $2500 is not in the cards. [/b] Most people are struggling to stay in the bronze plans.
It is time for us to stop worrying about welfare queens and figure out what we need to do to help people get out of poverty.
OP: come and serve meals at SOME, meet working poor people and get your eyes opened.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My job is helping poor people in a medical setting and what I've noticed is a majority of the people getting free and cheap medical care are elderly, or mentally or physically disabled. Many are not even literate and more are mentally ill. They truly are unable to care for themselves in many ways. They are so poor, free medical care is all they have, but they often can't even afford transportation to their appointments. There isn't a reason in the world to feel these people are getting something better or more easily than you. You cannot hold them to the same expectations you have for yourself, and it would be cruel and uncivilized to deny them basic heathcare, food and shelter.
I don't hear anyone talking about denying them basic healthcare, food, and shelter.
What I DO hear is that in the crazy world of liberalism, poor people are getting superior "gold" level health insurance - free - while the struggling middle class can barely afford the silver. Why are people supposed to buy better care for poor people than they can afford themselves?
LOL at Medicaid being superior, better care. You should quit your job and sign up.
Shows, once again, how liberals don't have a clue about Obamacare. I'm not taking about Medicaid. For those with low incomes, they get what is equivalent to a gold plan, with a private insurance company. With the subsidies they get on the exchange, the premium drops to next to nothing with a $5 co-pay. It can be the exact same gold level plan that runs $1000 a month or more. I can't afford that - I can't even afford the silver - so I'm going to have to go with bronze at about $600 a month, and a $6500 deductible before it pays a cent.
NOW do you understand? The low-income gets a gold plan for free, while many in the middle class can't even afford a silver. It's really scary how the liberals supporting this program understand so little about the inequity. Haven't you read any articles about the "reversal of fortunes," where the low income now get top line insurance and the middle class can't even afford a decent plan?
Well, you were railing against free health care with no copay, which would be Medicaid. Now you are complaining about premiums that are "next to nothing" and $5 co-pays, which is not "for free". I just did a quick search and for a family of 3, a gold plan would be run about $1000 per month. The maximum subsidy you could qualify for would be $500 per month. Paying $500 per month is not next to nothing.
Anonymous wrote:Paying $500 a month when you may only be making $2500 is not in the cards. Most people are struggling to stay in the bronze plans.
It is time for us to stop worrying about welfare queens and figure out what we need to do to help people get out of poverty.
OP: come and serve meals at SOME, meet working poor people and get your eyes opened.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My job is helping poor people in a medical setting and what I've noticed is a majority of the people getting free and cheap medical care are elderly, or mentally or physically disabled. Many are not even literate and more are mentally ill. They truly are unable to care for themselves in many ways. They are so poor, free medical care is all they have, but they often can't even afford transportation to their appointments. There isn't a reason in the world to feel these people are getting something better or more easily than you. You cannot hold them to the same expectations you have for yourself, and it would be cruel and uncivilized to deny them basic heathcare, food and shelter.
I don't hear anyone talking about denying them basic healthcare, food, and shelter.
What I DO hear is that in the crazy world of liberalism, poor people are getting superior "gold" level health insurance - free - while the struggling middle class can barely afford the silver. Why are people supposed to buy better care for poor people than they can afford themselves?
LOL at Medicaid being superior, better care. You should quit your job and sign up.
Shows, once again, how liberals don't have a clue about Obamacare. I'm not taking about Medicaid. For those with low incomes, they get what is equivalent to a gold plan, with a private insurance company. With the subsidies they get on the exchange, the premium drops to next to nothing with a $5 co-pay. It can be the exact same gold level plan that runs $1000 a month or more. I can't afford that - I can't even afford the silver - so I'm going to have to go with bronze at about $600 a month, and a $6500 deductible before it pays a cent.
NOW do you understand? The low-income gets a gold plan for free, while many in the middle class can't even afford a silver. It's really scary how the liberals supporting this program understand so little about the inequity. Haven't you read any articles about the "reversal of fortunes," where the low income now get top line insurance and the middle class can't even afford a decent plan?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My job is helping poor people in a medical setting and what I've noticed is a majority of the people getting free and cheap medical care are elderly, or mentally or physically disabled. Many are not even literate and more are mentally ill. They truly are unable to care for themselves in many ways. They are so poor, free medical care is all they have, but they often can't even afford transportation to their appointments. There isn't a reason in the world to feel these people are getting something better or more easily than you. You cannot hold them to the same expectations you have for yourself, and it would be cruel and uncivilized to deny them basic heathcare, food and shelter.
I don't hear anyone talking about denying them basic healthcare, food, and shelter.
What I DO hear is that in the crazy world of liberalism, poor people are getting superior "gold" level health insurance - free - while the struggling middle class can barely afford the silver. Why are people supposed to buy better care for poor people than they can afford themselves?
LOL at Medicaid being superior, better care. You should quit your job and sign up.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My job is helping poor people in a medical setting and what I've noticed is a majority of the people getting free and cheap medical care are elderly, or mentally or physically disabled. Many are not even literate and more are mentally ill. They truly are unable to care for themselves in many ways. They are so poor, free medical care is all they have, but they often can't even afford transportation to their appointments. There isn't a reason in the world to feel these people are getting something better or more easily than you. You cannot hold them to the same expectations you have for yourself, and it would be cruel and uncivilized to deny them basic heathcare, food and shelter.
I don't hear anyone talking about denying them basic healthcare, food, and shelter.
What I DO hear is that in the crazy world of liberalism, poor people are getting superior "gold" level health insurance - free - while the struggling middle class can barely afford the silver. Why are people supposed to buy better care for poor people than they can afford themselves?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OK first of all, much of the reason for poor people not paying income tax is that republicans under Reagan popularized the Earned Income Tax Credit as the Republican answer to poverty.
Second, your anecdote about two people you know who do not want to fill out forms does not nullify the behavior of millions who do. And obviously you know this because if no one ever bothered to fill out forms, we would be budgeting zero dollars for these benefit programs.
My point is that if I know two, there are also MILLIONS others who also don't feel they need to do anything to get what they are "entitled" to. It's the demanding attitude that everything be provided without any expectations of them that I am pointing out.
Oh yeah. Like, I know this one guy who claimed a $900 million loss so he didn't have to pay taxes for 20 years!
And if I know one, I'm sure there are MILLIONS of others. We need to start letting those people know they aren't "entitled" to pay zero in taxes!
Yes! There must be MILLIONS of billionaires doing this shit.
Is this a joke? We don't have MILLIONS of billionaires in this country. You're either ignorant or being sarcastic.
There are about 500. If liberals really think there are millions of billionaires, no wonder they think taxing the rich will raise enough money to expand entitlement programs.