In Case You Missed It . . .

This week at CBPP, we focused in particular on analyzing 2023 Census Bureau data on poverty, income, and health coverage.

• We released a statement from CBPP President Sharon Parrott on how Census data demonstrate the need for policymakers to adopt robust policies that drive down poverty and further expand health coverage. 

• On our live resource updated throughout the week, Danilo Trisi explained the 2023 Census poverty data revealed uneven progress and underscored the importance of making policy decisions that reduce poverty. He noted that across all racial and ethnic groups, overall poverty and child poverty in 2023 was much higher than the historic lows achieved in 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic-related relief measures. Trisi and Gideon Lukens emphasized programs that reduce poverty, like SNAP (formerly food stamps) and improve health coverage, like Medicaid, would suffer deep cuts under conservative budget plans and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda. 

• Lukens highlighted the rate of people without health insurance in 2023 remained at a record low across Census and other measures, though the share of uninsured children rose. He explained that greater enrollment in the Affordable Care Act marketplace and Medicaid drove record-low rates of health insurance coverage. Elizabeth Zhang dove deeper into the data, finding progress in reducing coverage inequities by race and ethnicity and by income; noting the persistent gap in coverage between states that have expanded Medicaid and those that have not; and looking at the coverage landscape state by state, with the uninsurance rate decreasing across most states following policy improvements.

• Will Fischer and Erik Gartland noted the new Census data continue to show a persistent gap between income and rent costs, and the effectiveness of rental assistance in lifting households above the poverty line.

Beyond our Census data analyses, we focused on federal taxes, state budgets and taxes, and health.

• On federal taxes, Chuck Marr and Samantha Jacoby dismantled arguments against taxing very wealthy households’ unrealized capital gains (or the increased value in assets in a household’s possession), which would end these households’ permanent income tax avoidance, make the tax code more equitable, and raise billions in revenue. 

• On state budgets and taxes, we updated our state tax cuts tracker with an entry on how tax cuts lead to budget pressures.

• On health, we updated our resource tracking states’ unwinding from Medicaid continuous coverage.

Chart of the Week – Uninsured Rate Decreased Across Most States Following Policy Improvements

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts this past week. Here are some of our highlights: 

The Nagging, Unnecessary Persistence of Child Poverty
The New Republic
September 13, 2024

Household income popped to prepandemic levels in 2023
The Hill
September 12, 2024

After years of threats, Trump still doesn't have a plan to replace Obamacare
NBC News
September 11, 2024

Poverty Increased in 2023 as Prices Rose and Pandemic Aid Programs Expired
New York Times
September 10, 2024

Household incomes rose last year for the first time since 2019
Washington Post
September 10, 2024

Median income rose to $80,610 in 2023
CNN
September 10, 2024

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