Abstract
Kathleen Short and Thesia I. Garner (2002) "Experimental
Poverty Measures Under Alternative Treatments of Medical Out-of-Pocket
Expenditures: An Application of the Consumer Expenditure Survey."
This paper presents experimental poverty measures that update those
presented in Current Population Report, P60-216, "Experimental Poverty
Measures: 1999". Estimates for 2000 are presented and compared with the
official measure. In this paper we emphasize the difference in two of the
measures that use Consumer Expenditure (CE) data to estimate medical
out-of-pocket expenses. Poverty rates, poverty gaps, and
income-to-poverty-threshold ratios are computed and compared across
poverty measures for various subgroups, particularly children and the
aged. Results show that alternate methods of measuring medical expenses
affect our perception of the relative incidence of poverty, the depth of
poverty experienced by these groups, and the number of people who are
classified in extreme poverty (those with family income below one-half of
the poverty threshold).
Last Modified Date: July 19, 2008
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