STATEMENT BY ROBERT GREENSTEIN,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES,
ON THE NEW CENSUS BUREAU DATA ON
POVERTY, INCOME, AND HEALTH INSURANCE
The new Census figures are disappointing for the
fifth year of an economic recovery —showing a significant decline in poverty for
people over 65 but no significant decline in poverty for children or adults aged
18 to 64, and only a modest improvement in median income. In 2006, the poverty
rate remained higher, and median income for non-elderly households remained
$1,300 lower, than in 2001, when the last recession hit bottom. It is virtually
unprecedented for poverty to be higher and the income of working-age households
lower in the fifth year of a recovery than in the last year of the previous
recession.
The new figures are the latest evidence that the
economic growth of the past few years has been very uneven, with the gains
concentrated among the highest-income Americans. Too many low- and middle-income
families are not sharing in the gains. These figures are inconsistent with
claims that the policies of recent years have produced an outstanding economic
track record.
Number of Uninsured Children Climbs by 600,000
Perhaps of greatest concern, the number of
Americans without health insurance increased by 2.2 million in 2006, and the
number of uninsured children jumped by more than 600,000. The steady progress of
recent years in reducing the number of uninsured children stalled in 2005 and
began to reverse in 2006, in part because funding available for states to
increase the number of children enrolled in the State Children’s Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP) grew scarcer.
This is particularly noteworthy because the
President has vowed to veto legislation that the House and Senate passed (in
different versions) that would resume progress in this area and shrink the
number of uninsured children by 3 to 4 million. In addition, on August 17, the
Administration unveiled a controversial new policy that would force many states
to cut back their SCHIP programs, forcing up to several hundred thousand more
children into the ranks of the uninsured. The sobering data on the rising number
of uninsured children should prompt the President to rethink his positions on
children’s health insurance.
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The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs. It is supported primarily by foundation grants. |