Is a lack of health insurance in America a problem? According to Washington, it is. The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Table 8 on page 26 covers some of the data on those without health insurance. Here’s what caught my eye.

The Census Bureau estimates that 16.3 percent of those living in the United States have no health insurance.

45% of all non-citizens have no health coverage. Of the 49.9 million people in the United States without health insurance, 19% are non-citizens.

792,000 people over age 65 have no insurance. Why not? Medicare is designed for that age group.

16.2 million people earning less than $25,000 per year have no health insurance. Why not? Medicaid is designed for low income folks. 28.5 percent of those uninsured did not work at least one week in 2010, again the people Medicaid was designed for.

2.6 million calling themselves “disabled” have no insurance. Why not? Both Medicare and Medicaid are available to those folks.

Table 10 on page 29 shows the breakdown by type of plan. 14.5% of Americans were on Medicare and 15.9% on Medicaid.

9.5 million people earn $75,000 a year or more and have no health insurance. It’s just an assumption, but shouldn’t many of those people be able to afford coverage IF THEY WANT IT?

49,904,000
less non-citizens 9,667,000
less half of those eligible for Medis 8,479,000
less top earners 9,473,000
= 22,285,000

Over half of those that the Census Bureau reports as without health insurance coverage are eligible for coverage and don’t have it or don’t want it, or are non-citizens. Do we have a health insurance coverage problem in America?

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America.

It is difficult to discover anything but estimates on the number of non-citizens living in the United States. Some of these are legal residents. Others have overstayed visas or just crossed the border without documentation.

In its annual report, the Census Bureau attempts to estimate this data and the number of non-citizens living in poverty. These are estimates and could be off by hundreds of thousands. How does this happen?

• The 2010 Census, used to apportion the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as for many other uses reports that the population of the United States was 308,745,538.
• The Report on Poverty in the United States, on page 15, Table 4, shows a population of 305,688,000.
• The Census Bureau’s report titled Nativity Status and Citizenship in the United States: 2009 shows a U.S. population of 307,007,000.

Clearly, if the total population of the United States cannot be estimated and reported, the number of non-citizens is also variable. The 2009 report shows 21,671,000 non-citizens and the 2010 poverty report shows 21,403,000.

This series explores the data, and estimates, in the 2010 poverty report so those figures will be used. The term “Hispanic” is used as in the rest of the series, and is treated as a race for data analysis purposes.

Seven percent of the U.S. population are non-citizens, and 12.4% of those living in poverty are non-citizens. All of the racial categories of non-citizens have higher rates of poverty than the U.S. population as a whole.

Non-citizens in America by race 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Non-citizens in America living in poverty 2010. Click on the chart for a larget image.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

Being Hispanic is not a race thing. It’s an identity thing. Hispanics can be members of any race or any combination of races. The actions of a few Hispanics are unfairly used to tar them all.

Of 305.7 million Americans used as the baseline in the poverty report, Hispanics of all races were 49.9 million or 16.3% of the country’s residents. 12.3 million Hispanics are non-citizens. 75% of all Hispanics living in the United States are citizens.

26.6% of Hispanics are living in poverty. 32.3% of non-citizen Hispanics are living in poverty. Of the 13,243,000 Hispanics living in poverty, 3,995,000 are non-citizens. 70% of Hispanic Americans living in poverty are citizens.

Hispanic poverty in America by citizenship status. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty in America from 1972 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty rate in America from 1972 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty rates in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

For the 2002 report, the category the Census Bureau called “Black” was changed to read “Black alone” and a new category was added called “Black alone or in combination”. For this piece, the data was drawn from the first two categories.

Black poverty in America is tied to two measures, the unemployment rate and the poverty rate for single mom families. Despite the existence of deep poverty in America’s black community, the historical rates are much lower than in the 1960′s. The trend has continued for the last twenty years, which saw a record low for the black poverty rate.

Black poverty rate in America from 1965 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Black poverty in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

The 2010 poverty report reveals the following about blacks and black families in America.

• Of the just under 40 million black in the United States, 31.4 million live in families. That is 81%.
• 14.2 million blacks live in families with a female head of household and no husband present. That represents 37% of all American blacks.
• 10.7 million blacks in America live in poverty. 27.4%.
• 26% of those living in black families live in poverty.
• 41% of those living in black single mom households live in poverty.
• A staggering 54.6% of all black Americans in poverty live in single mom homes.

Poverty rate for American blacks living in families 1990-2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Poverty rate for black Americans living in families headed by a single female. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Family status of American blacks living in poverty in 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by race, by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

The press is making much of the actual numbers of Americans in poverty. Remember, however, that with a growing population, the numbers will increase even if the rate stays the same. Every person living in poverty matters, but it is the increase or decrease in the rate that will describe most accurately what the economy is doing.

46,180,000 Americans are believed to live in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Just over 33 million live in families and about 12.4 million are unrelated individuals. 15,895,000 Americans live in poverty in homes headed by a female with no husband present.

The Term “American”, for this piece, includes non-citizens living in the United States. There will be a later report on that topic. For now, they’re included and the media is making the same assumption.

Numbers of Americans living in poverty 1981-2010. Click on chart for a larger version.

Percentage of Americans living in poverty 1961 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger version.

Percentage of Americans living in poverty 1981 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Americans living in a family group, in poverty, make up 71% of all those in poverty. 34% of all those living in poverty live in families with a female head of household and no husband present. that also is 48% of all those family members living in poverty.

Americans in families living in poverty 1960 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger view.

Americans in families living in poverty 1981 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larget image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by race, by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.