96-4915. Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines  

  • [Federal Register Volume 61, Number 43 (Monday, March 4, 1996)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 8286-8288]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 96-4915]
    
    
    
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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 438F, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and 
    Human Services (HHS), Washington, D.C. 20201.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the poverty 
    guidelines are used in a particular program, contact the Federal (or 
    other) office which is responsible for that program.
        For general information about the poverty guidelines (but not for 
    information about how they are used in a particular program), contact 
    Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 
    Evaluation, Room 438F, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and 
    Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201--telephone: (202) 690-6141.
        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, HRSA, HHS, Room 7-31, Parklawn 
    Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857--telephone: 
    (301) 443-5656 or 1-800-638-0742 (for callers outside Maryland) or 1-
    800-492-0359 (for callers in Maryland). 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.
        Under an amendment to the Older Americans Act, the figures in this 
    notice are the figures that state and area agencies on aging should use 
    to determine ``greatest economic need'' for Administration on Aging 
    programs. For information about Administration on Aging programs, 
    contact Donald Fowles, Administration on Aging, HHS--telephone: (202) 
    619-0011.
        For information about the Department of Labor's Lower Living 
    Standard Income Level (an alternative eligibility criterion with the 
    poverty guidelines for certain Job Training Partnership Act programs), 
    contact Josephine Nieves, Associate Assistant Secretary for Employment 
    and Training, U.S. Department of Labor--telephone: (202) 219-6236.
        For information about the number of persons in poverty or about the 
    Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds, contact Income, 
    Poverty, and Labor Force Information Staff, U.S. Bureau of the Census--
    telephone: (301) 763-8578.
    
    1996 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
                                    Columbia                                
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Poverty 
                         Size of family unit                       guideline
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1............................................................     $7,740
    2............................................................     10,360
    3............................................................     12,980
    4............................................................     15,600
    5............................................................     18,220
    6............................................................     20,840
    7............................................................     23,460
    8............................................................     26,080
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
        For family units with more than 8 members, add $2,620 for each 
    additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes 
    also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
    
                       1996 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska                   
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                                                                    Poverty 
                         Size of family unit                       guideline
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1............................................................     $9,660
    2............................................................     12,940
    3............................................................     16,220
    4............................................................     19,500
    5............................................................     22,780
    6............................................................     26,060
    7............................................................     29,340
    8............................................................     32,620
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
        For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,280 for each 
    additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes 
    also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
    
                       1996 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii                   
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Poverty 
                         Size of family unit                       guideline
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1............................................................     $8,910
    2............................................................     11,920
    3............................................................     14,930
    4............................................................     17,940
    5............................................................     20,950
    6............................................................     23,960
    7............................................................     26,970
    8............................................................     29,980
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
        For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,010 for each 
    additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes 
    also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
        The preceding figures are the 1996 update of the poverty guidelines 
    required by sections 652 and 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget 
    Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1981 (Pub.L. 97-35). 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 
    the poverty guidelines as an eligibility criterion for the Community 
    Services Block Grant program, while section 652 (42 U.S.C. 9847) 
    requires the use of the poverty guidelines as an eligibility criterion 
    for the Head Start program. The poverty guidelines are also used as an 
    eligibility criterion by a number of other Federal programs (both HHS 
    and non-HHS). When such programs give an OBRA-1981 citation for the 
    poverty guidelines, they cite section 673(2). 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 annually in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of 
    Health and Human Services under authority of section 673(2) of the 
    Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981.'' 
    
    [[Page 8287]]
    
        The poverty guidelines are a simplified version of the Federal 
    Government's statistical poverty thresholds used by the Bureau of the 
    Census 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 
    1996 guidelines--reflect price changes through calendar year 1995, they 
    are approximately equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar year 
    1995 which the Census Bureau will issue in late summer or autumn 1996. 
    (A preliminary version of the 1995 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, 130 percent or 185 percent of the 
    guidelines). Some other programs, while not using the guidelines to 
    exclude non-lower-income persons as ineligible, use them 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 
    nonfarm 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 ``income,'' 
    ``family,'' ``family unit,'' or ``household'' that is valid for all 
    programs that use the poverty guidelines. Federal programs may 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 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, one must 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 P60-188 and 
    earlier reports in the same series) are made available for illustrative 
    purposes only.
        (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 Bureau of the Census 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. Bureau of 
    the Census 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.
        (e) Income. Programs which use the poverty guidelines in 
    determining eligibility may use administrative definitions of 
    ``income'' (or ``countable income'') which differ from the statistical 
    definition given below. Note that for administrative purposes, in many 
    cases, income data for a part of a year may be annualized in order to 
    determine eligibility--for instance, by multiplying by four the amount 
    of income received during the most recent three months.
        For statistical purposes--to determine official income and poverty 
    statistics--the Bureau of the Census defines income to include total 
    annual cash receipts before taxes from all sources, with the exceptions 
    noted below. Income includes money wages and salaries before any 
    deductions; net receipts from nonfarm self-employment (receipts from a 
    person's own unincorporated business, professional enterprise, or 
    partnership, after deductions for business expenses); net receipts from 
    farm self-employment (receipts from a farm which one operates as an 
    owner, renter, or sharecropper, after deductions for farm operating 
    expenses); regular payments from social security, railroad retirement, 
    unemployment compensation, strike benefits from union funds, workers' 
    compensation, veterans' payments, public assistance (including Aid to 
    Families with Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income, 
    Emergency Assistance money payments, and non-Federally-funded General 
    Assistance or General Relief money payments), and training stipends; 
    alimony, child support, and military family allotments or other regular 
    support from an absent family member or someone not living in the 
    household; private pensions, government employee pensions (including 
    military retirement pay), and regular insurance or annuity payments; 
    college or university scholarships, grants, fellowships, and 
    assistantships; and dividends, interest, net rental income, net 
    royalties, periodic receipts from estates or trusts, and net gambling 
    or lottery winnings.
        For official statistical purposes, income does not include the 
    following types of money received: Capital gains; 
    
    [[Page 8288]]
    any assets drawn down as withdrawals from a bank, the sale of property, 
    a house, or a car; or tax refunds, gifts, loans, lump-sum inheritances, 
    one-time insurance payments, or compensation for injury. Also excluded 
    are noncash benefits, such as the employer-paid or union-paid portion 
    of health insurance or other employee fringe benefits, food or housing 
    received in lieu of wages, the value of food and fuel produced and 
    consumed on farms, the imputed value of rent from owner-occupied 
    nonfarm or farm housing, and such Federal noncash benefit programs as 
    Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches, and housing 
    assistance.
    
    
        Dated: February 27, 1996.
    Donna E. Shalala,
    Secretary of Health and Human Services.
    [FR Doc. 96-4915 Filed 2-29-96; 10:52 am]
    BILLING CODE 4150-04-P
    
    

Document Information

Published:
03/04/1996
Department:
Health and Human Services Department
Entry Type:
Notice
Action:
Notice.
Document Number:
96-4915
Dates:
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).
Pages:
8286-8288 (3 pages)
PDF File:
96-4915.pdf