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The
Aging Network
Information Memoranda
2002 Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines
[Federal Register: February 14, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 31)]
[Notices] [Page 6931-6933]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14fe02-79]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines
AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice provides an update of the HHS poverty guidelines
to account for last (calendar) year's increase in prices as measured
by the Consumer Price Index.
EFFECTIVE DATE: These guidelines go into effect on the day they
are published (unless an office administering a program using
the guidelines specifies a different effective date for that particular
program).
ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS), Washington, DC 20201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the
poverty guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular
program, contact the Federal (or other) office which is responsible
for that program. For general questions about the poverty guidelines
(but NOT for questions about a particular program--such as the
Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program--that uses the poverty
guidelines), contact Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Planning
and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health
and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201--telephone: (202) 690-5880;
persons with Internet access may visit the poverty guidelines
Internet site at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/poverty.htm.
For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services
Program (no-fee or reduced-fee health care services at certain
hospitals and other health care facilities for certain persons
unable
to pay for such care), contact the Office of the Director, Division
of
Facilities Compliance and Recovery, Health Resources and Services
Administration, HHS, Room 10C-16, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers
Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. To speak to a person, call (301)
443-5656.
To receive a Hill-Burton information package, call 1-800-638-0742
(for callers outside Maryland) or 1-800-492-0359 (for callers
in Maryland), and leave your name and address on the Hotline recording.
Persons with Internet access may visit the Division of Facilities
Compliance and Recovery Internet home page site at http://www.hrsa.gov/osp/dfcr>.
The Division of Facilities Compliance and Recovery notes that
as set by 42
CFR 124.505(b), the effective date of this update of the poverty
guidelines for facilities obligated under the Hill-Burton Uncompensated
Services Program is sixty days from the date of this publication.
For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as INS Form I-864,
Affidavit of Support, [[Page 6932]] contact the U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service. To obtain
information on the most recent applicable poverty guidelines from
the Immigration and Naturalization Service, call 1-800-375-5283.
Persons with Internet access may obtain the information from the
Immigration and Naturalization Service Internet site at
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/howdoi/affsupp.htm.
For information about the Department of Labor's Lower Living
Standard Income Level (an alternative eligibility criterion with
the
poverty guidelines for certain programs under the Workforce Investment
Act of 1998), contact John Beverly, Employment and Training Administration,
U.S. Department of Labor--telephone: (202) 693-3502-- e-mail:
jbeverly@doleta.gov;
persons with Internet access may visit the Employment and Training
Administration's Lower Living Standard Income Level Internet site
at http://wdsc.doleta.gov/llsil.
For information about the number of people in poverty since
1959 or about the Census Bureau statistical poverty thresholds,
contact the HHES Division, Room G251, Federal Office Building
#3, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, D.C. 20233-8500--telephone:
(301) 457-3242--or send e-mail to hhes-info@census.gov;
persons with Internet access may visit the Poverty section of
the Census Bureau's Internet site at
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html.
2002 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District
of Columbia
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................... $8,860
2.......................................................... 11,940
3.......................................................... 15,020
4.......................................................... 18,100
5.......................................................... 21,180
6.......................................................... 24,260
7.......................................................... 27,340
8.......................................................... 30,420
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,080 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family
sizes also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
2002 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................... $11,080
2.......................................................... 14,930
3.......................................................... 18,780
4.......................................................... 22,630
5.......................................................... 26,480
6.......................................................... 30,330
7.......................................................... 34,180
8.......................................................... 38,030
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,850 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family
sizes also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
2002 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................... $10,200
2.......................................................... 13,740
3.......................................................... 17,280
4.......................................................... 20,820
5.......................................................... 24,360
6.......................................................... 27,900
7.......................................................... 31,440
8.......................................................... 34,980
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,540 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family
sizes also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
(Separate poverty guideline figures for Alaska and Hawaii reflect
Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning
in the 1966-1970 period. Note that the Census Bureau poverty thresholds--the
primary version of the poverty measure--have never had separate
figures for Alaska and Hawaii. The poverty guidelines are not
defined for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa,
Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States
of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
and Palau. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty
guidelines serves any of
those jurisdictions, the Federal office which administers the
program is responsible for deciding whether to use the contiguous-states-and-
D.C. guidelines for those jurisdictions or to follow some other
procedure.)
The preceding figures are the 2002 update of the poverty guidelines
required by section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act (OBRA) of 1981 (Pub.L. 97-35--reauthorized by Pub.L. 105-285,
Section 201 (1998)). As required by law, this update reflects
last year's change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U); it was
done using the same procedure used in previous years.
Section 673(2) of OBRA-1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the
use of these poverty guidelines as an eligibility criterion for
the Community Services Block Grant program. The poverty guidelines
are also used as an eligibility criterion by a number of other
Federal programs (both HHS and non-HHS). Due to confusing legislative
language dating back to 1972, the poverty guidelines have sometimes
been mistakenly referred to as the ``OMB'' (Office of Management
and Budget) poverty guidelines or poverty line. In fact, OMB has
never issued the guidelines; the
guidelines are issued each year by the Department of Health and
Human Services (formerly by the Office of Economic Opportunity/Community
Services Administration). The poverty guidelines may be formally
referenced as ``the poverty guidelines updated periodically in
the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).''
The poverty guidelines are a simplified version of the Federal
Government's statistical poverty thresholds used by the Census
Bureau to prepare its statistical estimates of the number of persons
and families in poverty. The poverty guidelines issued by the
Department of Health and Human Services are used for administrative
purposes--for instance, for determining whether a person or family
is financially eligible for assistance or services under a particular
Federal program.
The poverty thresholds are used primarily for statistical purposes.
Since the poverty guidelines in this notice--the 2002 guidelines--
reflect price changes through calendar year 2001, they are
approximately equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar year
2001 which the Census Bureau expects to issue in September or
October 2002. (A preliminary version of the 2001 thresholds is
now available from the Census Bureau.)
In certain cases, as noted in the relevant authorizing legislation
or program regulations, a program uses the poverty guidelines
as only one of several eligibility criteria, or uses a percentage
multiple of the guidelines (for example, 125 percent or 185 percent
of the
guidelines). Non-Federal organizations which use the poverty guidelines
under their own authority in non-Federally-funded activities also
have the option of choosing to use a [[Page 6933]]
percentage multiple of the guidelines such as 125 percent or 185
percent. While many programs use the guidelines to classify persons
or families as either eligible or ineligible, some other programs
use the guidelines for the purpose of giving priority to lower-income
persons or families in the provision of assistance or services.
In some cases, these poverty guidelines may not become effective
for a particular program until a regulation or notice specifically
applying to the program in question has been issued. The poverty
guidelines given above should be used for both farm and non-farm
families. Similarly, these guidelines should be used for both
aged and non-aged units. The poverty guidelines have never had
an aged/ non-aged distinction; only the Census Bureau (statistical)
poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged
one-person and two-person units.
Definitions
There is no universal administrative definition of ``family,''
``family unit,'' or ``household'' that is valid for all programs
that
use the poverty guidelines. Federal programs in some cases use
administrative definitions that differ somewhat from the statistical
definitions given below; the Federal office which administers
a program has the responsibility for making decisions about its
administrative definitions. Similarly, non-Federal organizations
which use the poverty guidelines in non-Federally-funded activities
may use administrative definitions that differ from the statistical
definitions given below. In either case, to find out the precise
definitions used by a particular program, please consult the office
or organization administering the program in question.
The following statistical definitions (derived for the most part
from language used in U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population
Reports, Series P60-185 and earlier reports in the same series)
are made available for illustrative purposes only; in other words,
these statistical definitions are not binding for administrative
purposes.
(a) Family
A family is a group of two or more persons related by birth,
marriage, or adoption who live together; all such related persons
are considered as members of one family. For instance, if an older
married couple, their daughter and her husband and two children,
and the older couple's nephew all lived in the same house or apartment,
they would all be considered members of a single family.
(b) Unrelated Individual
An unrelated individual is a person 15 years old or over (other
than an inmate of an institution) who is not living with any relatives.
An unrelated individual may be the only person living in a house
or
apartment, or may be living in a house or apartment (or in group
quarters such as a rooming house) in which one or more persons
also live who are not related to the individual in question by
birth,
marriage, or adoption. Examples of unrelated individuals residing
with others include a lodger, a foster child, a ward, or an employee.
(c) Household
As defined by the Census Bureau for statistical purposes, a
household consists of all the persons who occupy a housing unit
(house or apartment), whether they are related to each other or
not. If a family and an unrelated individual, or two unrelated
individuals, are living in the same housing unit, they would constitute
two family units (see next item), but only one household. Some
programs, such as the Food Stamp Program and the Low-Income Home
Energy Assistance Program,
employ administrative variations of the ``household'' concept
in
determining income eligibility. A number of other programs use
administrative variations of the ``family'' concept in determining
income eligibility. Depending on the precise program definition
used, programs using a ``family'' concept would generally apply
the poverty guidelines separately to each family and/or unrelated
individual within a household if the household includes more than
one family and/or unrelated individual.
(d) Family Unit
``Family unit'' is not an official U.S. Census Bureau term,
although it has been used in the poverty guidelines Federal Register
notice since 1978. As used here, either an unrelated individual
or a family (as defined above) constitutes a family unit. In other
words, a family unit of size one is an unrelated individual, while
a family unit of two/three/etc. is the same as a family of two/three/etc.
Note that this notice no longer provides a definition of ``income.''
This is for two reasons. First, there is no universal
administrative definition of ``income'' that is valid for all
programs
that use the poverty guidelines. Second, in the past there has
been confusion regarding important differences between the statistical
definition of income and various administrative definitions of
``income'' or ``countable income.'' The precise definition of
``income'' for a particular program is very sensitive to the specific
needs and purposes of that program. To determine, for example,
whether or not taxes, college scholarships, or other particular
types of income should be counted as ``income'' in determining
eligibility for a specific program, one must consult the office
or organization administering the program in question; that office
or organization has the responsibility for making decisions about
the definition of ``income'' used by the program (to the extent
that the definition is not already contained in legislation or
regulations).
Dated: February 6, 2002.
Tommy G. Thompson,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 02-3627 Filed
2-13-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-05-P
Last Modified: 2/24/2009 11:42:04 AM |
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