Note that while the national debt presently stands at over 29 trillion dollars and rising, yet partly due to Covid-19 and supererogatory measures (both are judgments from God) to control it, 61% of Americans paid no federal income taxes in 2020.
Reading “200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines” promoted me to investigate that first, and which means, for instance, that while for a household of three the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) would be $21,960 yet 200% of the FPL would be $43,920 (compared with $29,646 last year), and would qualify that household for $30 a month discount for high-speed Internet and “eligible households also can receive a onetime discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer or tablet from participating providers if the consumer contributes $10 to $50 toward the purchase price.” “The $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program is just a part of roughly $65 billion to improve access to high-quality, high-speed internet access contained in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed into law Nov. 15.” (https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html)
However, as reported here, the official poverty measure is based on cash income only, which fails to capture all the resources available to a family including tax credits and in-kind transfers. Also, the official measure of family resources is biased due to under-reporting of certain types of income that are commonly received by those with low reported income.
What are Federal Poverty Guidelines/Levels (FPL)?
The Federal Poverty Guidelines are federally set “poverty lines” that indicate the minimum amount of annual income that an individual / family needs to pay for essentials, such as housing, utilities, clothing, food, and transportation. These guidelines, also called Federal Poverty Levels (FPLs), are based on the size of a household and the state in which one resides. FPLs are the same in 48 of the 50 states. The two exceptions are Alaska and Hawaii, which have higher Federal Poverty Levels due to the higher cost of living. As an example, in 2021, the annual FPL for an individual in Alaska is $16,090, in Hawaii it is $14,820, and in the remainder of the states it is $12,880...
The exact percentage of the FPL used for eligibility purposes varies based on the program and the state...
The FPL in 48 Contiguous States
# of Persons in Household | 2021 Federal Poverty Level for the 48 Contiguous States (Annual Income) | ||||||
100% | 133% | 138% | 150% | 200% | 300% | 400% | |
1 | $12,880 | $17,130 | $17,774 | $19,320 | $25,760 | $38,640 | $51,520 |
2 | $17,420 | $23,169 | $24,040 | $26,130 | $34,840 | $52,260 | $69,680 |
3 | $21,960 | $29,207 | $30,305 | $32,940 | $43,920 | $65,880 | $87,840 |
4 | $26,500 | $35,245 | $36,570 | $39,750 | $53,000 | $79,500 | $106,000 |
5 | $31,040 | $41,283 | $42,835 | $46,560 | $62,080 | $93,120 | $124,160 |
6 | $35,580 | $47,321 | $49,100 | $53,370 | $71,160 | $106,740 | $142,320 |
7 | $40,120 | $53,360 | $55,366 | $60,180 | $80,240 | $120,360 | $160,480 |
8 | $44,660 | $59,398 | $61,631 | $66,990 | $89,320 | $133,980 | $178,640 |
Add $4,540 for each person in household over 8 persons | |||||||
The Federal Benefit Rate, abbreviated as FBR, is the maximum amount to which an aged, blind or disabled person who qualifies for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is able to receive in monthly cash benefits. In 2021, the maximum FBR is $794 for a single individual and $1,191 for a married couple...(https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/federal-poverty-guidelines)
What programs use FPL guidelines?
Several programs use either 100% of the poverty guidelines or a percentage multiple of the guidelines. For example, some programs use 125%, 150%, or 185% of the guidelines to determine eligibility. (https://www.medicareplanfinder.com/medicare/federal-poverty-level/#What-programs-use-FPL-guidelines)
[AT LEAST 30 PROGRAMS USE THE FPL.]
Some examples of federal programs that use the poverty guidelines in determining eligibility include the following:
Department of Health and Human Services: Community Services Block Grant, Head Start, Low-Income Home Energy Assistance
Department of Agriculture: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamp Program), National School Lunch Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program
Department of Energy: Weatherization Assistance for Low-Income Persons Federal Poverty Levels do not count Noncash benefits (e.g. food stamps and housing subsidies)
Department of Labor: Job Corps, National Farmworker Jobs Program, Workforce Investment Act Youth Activities (https://www.irp.wisc.edu/resources/what-are-poverty-thresholds-and-poverty-guidelines/)
Examples of Automotive Help Programs
New Car Program for Those in Need
Bad Credit Auto Loans
Extended Auto Warranties
Job Access and Reverse Commute
Disability Transportation
{https://reliefbenefits.com/government-assistance)
What income is not counted? [for SNAP benefits]
You must meet the SNAP income tests to get SNAP benefits. There is no asset test for most Massachusetts households....
Here are examples of income that does not count for SNAP:
VISTA, Youthbuild, AmeriCorps, and Foster Grandparent allowances, earnings, or payments for persons otherwise eligible.
U.S. temporary Census earnings, for the 2020 Census count.
Lump sum payments...
Reimbursements – money you get to pay you back for expenses,.
Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP)...
Anything you do not get as cash... paid directly to a landlord or utility company...that has no legal obligation to do so....
Veterans Services (M.G.L. c 115) payments made by vendor payment directly to your landlord or utility company.
Money earned by a child under age 18 who..lives with a parent or other responsible adult.
Much more: https://www.masslegalhelp.org/income-benefits/food-stamps/advocacy-guide/part3/q69-income-not-counted; Produced by Patricia Baker and Victoria Negus, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Reviewed January 2020
[Below are some more benefit programs and services, but which also include local, state and federal programs as well as some private organizations.]
GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS OR FINANCIAL HELP FROM LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS...
Government mortgage and foreclosure assistance is available...
Rent help from assistance programs is available from a number of sources.
Government mortgage and foreclosure assistance...
Rent help from assistance programs i..
a variety of additional low income assistance programs ..
Housing Choice Voucher Program...
Disability assistance is administered by most state governments..
Human or social service offices ...
Financial assistance from your utility company may be available...
Telephone assistance programs..
Water bill assistance programs..
Federal government grants are provided to states and local governments as part of low income energy (LIHEAP)...
Free weatherization programs are also available nationwide...
Medical bill assistance..
Prescription drug assistance programs ..
Government funded community clinics..
Find dental care from free clinics...Many accept both state or federal government assistance and public health insurance for payment..
Free government health care programs..
Government sponsored welfare programs are available nationally as well as locally....
Free food from assistance programs are offered by the state as well as federal government...
Charities, churches and other organizations that offer financial assistance or small amounts of money from the government can sometimes help you with paying bills or debts...
Older adults and senior citizens.. There are government funded agencies that focus on their needs..
Several federal government agencies are focused on supporting people and helping them find a job or gain new skills. ..
Day and child care assistance is available in all states.... Government child care vouchers and subsidies can be obtained
State & Local Resources[;] Rent Assistance[;]
Free Food Pantries[;] Utility Bill Help[;]
Free Stuff and Money[;] Extra Income and Home Work;
Public Assistance[;] Disability Programs[;] Section 8 Housing[;] Senior Assistance[;] Emergency Rent Assistance[;] Free Job Training[;] Free Money[;] Grants For Bills[;] Free Clothes & Supplies[;] LIHEAP Assistance[;] elephone Assistance[;] Help with Water Bills[;] Charity Assistance[;] Church Assistance[;] Community Action Agencies[;] Medical Bills[;] Free Healthcare[;] Free Prescriptions[;] Free Community Clinics[;] Free Dental Clinics[;] Loans For Bills[;] Automobile Loan Assistance[;] Free Cash Loans[;] Debt Help[;] Mortgage Help[;] ...
How much CASH assistance will I get?The amount of cash assistance available in each state listed below varies...the dollar amounts will always change from year to year... 8 highest vs. 8 lowest I found]
Alaska $923; New York $789; California $704; Connecticut $698; New Hampshire $675; Wisconsin $653; Massachusetts $618; Hawaii $610';
Mississippi $170; Tennessee $185; Alabama $215; Arkansas $204; Louisiana $240; Kentucky $262; Georgia $280; Texas $285 (https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/how_much_cash_assistance.html)
Paying For Child Care
Child care subsidies (also called vouchers and fee assistance):
Head Start and Early Head Start:
State-funded prekindergarten:
Military fee assistance programs:
Assistance for high school students:
College or university child care:
Employer-assisted dependent care:
Other employer resources:
Sliding fee scale:
Local assistance and scholarships:
Sibling discount:
Military discount:
American Indian and Alaska Native Assistance:
Native Hawaiian child care and preschool programs:
Child and dependent care tax credit
Earned income tax credit (https://childcare.gov/consumer-education/get-help-paying-for-child-care)
What types of federal student loans are available?
Direct Subsidized Loans .
Direct Unsubsidized Loans
Direct PLUS Loans
Direct Consolidation Loans
(https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans)
Social Security Survivors Benefits
Eligible survivors include:...
COVID funeral reimbursement now $9,000
If a relative of yours died from COVID-19, you may be able to get reimbursed up to $9,000 for funeral expenses. ..In 2019, the median national cost of a funeral with a viewing and a burial was $7,640 (https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/covid-funeral-reimbursement-now-9000-heres-how-to-apply-today/)
Also relevant:
The Social Security Administration has announced a 1.3% increase in Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for 2021...The new SSI federal base amount is $794 per month for an individual and $1,191 per month for a couple. The SSI payment amounts are higher in states that pay a supplementary SSI payment....average disability benefit: $1,277 p>An applicant for disability benefits through the Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) or SSI programs must be making less than $1,310 per month (up from $1,260 per month in 2021) to qualify for benefits. (Blind applicants can make up to $2,190 per month). Anyone working above those limits is considered to be doing "substantial gainful activity" (SGA)....
Over half of the income made by an SSI recipient is not counted toward the limit, so you can actually receive SSI until you make up to $1,672 per month (if you have no other income). However, any income received between $0 and $1,672 will reduce the monthly benefit. (For instance, if you earn $1,500 a month and have no other income, your SSI check will be only $86.50.) In some states that make extra payments to SSI recipients, the income limit for SSI recipients may be higher. The income exclusion amount for students receiving SSI is now $1,930 per month (up to an annual limit of $7,770). - https://www.nolo.com/legal-updates/social-security-and-ssi-disability-and-benefit-amounts-for-2021.html
The Social Security Administration provides benefits to children with disabilities in low-income households through the SSI program. More than 1.3 million children received SSI disability benefits in 2014; 16 percent of those – or 213,668 children -- are receiving benefits because of primary speech and language disorders. In the past decade, the size of this group has more than tripled; between 2007 and 2011, the number of children who began receiving SSI benefits for speech and language disorders increased by nearly 40 percent. ...Between 3 percent and16 percent of all children in the U.S. experience disruptions in communication because of speech and language disorders. - THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE; https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2016/01/increase-in-the-number-of-children-who-receive-federal-disability-benefits-for-speech-and-language-disorders-similar-to-trends-in-the-general-population-says-new-report
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides income support to needy persons aged 65 or older, blind or disabled adults, and blind or disabled children. Eligibility requirements and federal payment standards are nationally uniform. SSI replaced the former federal/state adult assistance programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Payments under SSI began in January 1974, with 3.2 million persons receiving federally administered payments. By December 1974, this number had risen to nearly 4 million and remained at about that level until the mid-1980s, then rose steadily, reaching nearly 6 million in 1993 and 7 million by the end of 2004. As of December 2019, the number of recipients was about 8.1 million. Of this total, more than 4.6 million were between the ages of 18 and 64, 2.3 million were aged 65 or older, and 1.1 million were under age 18.
The average monthly federally administered SSI payment was $566. Payments varied by age group, ranging from an average of $670 for recipients aged under 18 to $459 for those aged 65 or older. The maximum federal benefit rate in December 2019 was $783 for an individual and $1,175 for a couple, plus any applicable state supplementation.
- https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/chartbooks/fast_facts/2020/fast_facts20.html#page24
Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program [SSDI]. In December 2019, there were 9,765,096 people receiving Social Security disability benefits as disabled workers, disabled widow(er)s, or disabled adult children. The majority (85.8 percent) were disabled workers, 11.7 percent were disabled adult children, and 2.5 percent were disabled widow(er)s. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/di_asr/2019/sect01.html
The following is indirectly related to SSI: Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government...The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare combined....The vast majority of people on federal disability do not work.[1] Yet because they are not technically part of the labor force, they are not counted among the unemployed...
In Hale County, Alabama, nearly 1 in 4 working-age adults is on disability.[2] On the day government checks come in every month, banks stay open late, Main Street fills up with cars, and anybody looking to unload an old TV or armchair has a yard sale. ..There's no diagnosis called disability. You don't go to the doctor and the doctor says, "We've run the tests and it looks like you have disability." It's squishy enough that you can end up with one person with high blood pressure who is labeled disabled and another who is not....The health problems where there is most latitude for judgment -- back pain, mental illness -- are among the fastest growing causes of disability.
People on disability are not counted among the unemployed. "That's a kind of ugly secret of the American labor market," David Autor, an economist at MIT, told me. "Part of the reason our unemployment rates have been low, until recently, is that a lot of people who would have trouble finding jobs are on a different program."..disability has also become a de facto welfare program for people without a lot of education or job skills. But it wasn't supposed to serve this purpose; it's not a retraining program designed to get people back onto their feet. Once people go onto disability, they almost never go back to work. Fewer than 1 percent of those who were on the federal program for disabled workers at the beginning of 2011 have returned to the workforce since then, one economist told me....
As I got further into this story, I started hearing about another group of people on disability: kids. People in Hale County told me that what you want is a kid who can "pull a check." Many people mentioned this, but I basically ignored it. It seemed like one of those things that maybe happened once or twice, got written up in the paper and became conversational fact among neighbors. Then I looked at the numbers. I found that the number of kids on a program called Supplemental Security Income -- a program for children and adults who are both poor and disabled -- is almost seven times larger than it was 30 years ago.
Jahleel Duroc (pictured above) is gap-toothed, 10 and vibrating with enthusiasm. He's excited to talk to someone new, excited to show me his map of his neighborhood in the Bronx. He's disabled in the eyes of the government because he has a learning disability.
When you are an adult applying for disability you have to prove you cannot function in a "work-like setting." When you are a kid, a disability can be anything that prevents you from progressing in school. Two-thirds of all kids on the program today have been diagnosed with mental or intellectual problems....
Jahleel's mom wants him to do well in school. That is absolutely clear. But her livelihood depends on Jahleel struggling in school. This tension only increases as kids get older. One mother told me her teenage son wanted to work, but she didn't want him to get a job because if he did, the family would lose its disability check....
By Chana Joffe-Walt. More on a problem designed to combat a problem: https://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/