Poverty

This week at CBPP, we focused on poverty and inequality, state budgets and taxes, food assistance, health, and the economy.

Puerto Rico residents don’t have the same access to federal assistance programs as people in the mainland United States. For instance, key nutrition assistance and health coverage programs exist in limited form in Puerto Rico, providing substantially lesser benefits and services than in the rest of the country due to funding constraints.

These links and interactive tables provide state-by-state data on participants in a variety of programs for families and individuals living with low income.

Massachusetts yesterday became the first state to receive federal approval to issue benefits through the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program to replace the free or reduced-price meals that children are missing at school during this school year, but every other state has the authority and experience to begin issuing P-EBT benefits as well.

With the holiday season upon us and federal unemployment benefits for more than 12 million jobless workers expiring the day after Christmas, a growing number of households are under severe financial strain.

Es cierto que el PAN proporciona importantes beneficios nutricionales, pero este apoyo tiene grandes limitaciones versus los beneficios del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria.

Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund faces depletion in only about three years, according to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). To improve program solvency and avoid cuts in benefits, action is needed before then.

This week at CBPP, we focused on health, state budgets and taxes, housing, the economy, poverty and inequality, food assistance, and federal taxes.

If federal policymakers don’t extend a national eviction moratorium — like the one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that’s in effect until December 31 — millions could soon lose their homes and face a higher risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 at a time when cases are already growing rapidly.

An estimated 9.2 million adult renters — 23 percent of renters — who have lost employment income during COVID-19 are not caught up on rent, our new analysis of Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data from August to November shows.

States can chart a course toward more prosperous, equitable economies and more widely shared well-being, even as they navigate COVID-19’s short-term health and economic challenges, as we show in a new report.

Families’ access to wealth has played a large role in determining how the pandemic has affected them. The worst of the economic and health effects have largely bypassed wealthier, higher-paid families — which are disproportionately white — but have been far more prevalent among lower-income families and those of color.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final count of people selecting health coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual marketplace for 2021 is expected soon after open enrollment closes on December 15th.

Most Medicaid or Medicare enrollees do not have comprehensive health coverage for vision, dental, or hearing benefits. Congress should consider adding coverage for these services to Medicare and Medicaid.