[Federal Register: February 14, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 31)]
[Notices]
[Page 6931-6933]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14fe02-79]
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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 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), Washington, DC 20201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the poverty
guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program,
contact the Federal (or other) office which is responsible for that
program.
For general questions about the poverty guidelines (but NOT for
questions about a particular program--such as the Hill-Burton
Uncompensated Services Program--that uses the poverty guidelines),
contact Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services, Washington, DC 20201--telephone: (202) 690-5880;
persons with Internet access may visit the poverty guidelines Internet
site at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/poverty.htm>.
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, Health Resources and Services
Administration, HHS, Room 10C-16, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, Maryland 20857. To speak to a person, call (301) 443-5656.
To receive a Hill-Burton information package, call 1-800-638-0742 (for
callers outside Maryland) or 1-800-492-0359 (for callers in Maryland),
and leave your name and address on the Hotline recording. Persons with
Internet access may visit the Division of Facilities Compliance and
Recovery Internet home page site at http://www.hrsa.gov/osp/dfcr>. 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.
For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as INS Form I-864,
Affidavit of Support,
[[Page 6932]]
contact the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. To obtain
information on the most recent applicable poverty guidelines from the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, call 1-800-375-5283. Persons
with Internet access may obtain the information from the Immigration
and Naturalization Service Internet site at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/
graphics/howdoi/affsupp.htm>.
For information about the Department of Labor's Lower Living
Standard Income Level (an alternative eligibility criterion with the
poverty guidelines for certain programs under the Workforce Investment
Act of 1998), contact John Beverly, Employment and Training
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor--telephone: (202) 693-3502--
e-mail: jbeverly@doleta.gov>; persons with Internet access may visit
the Employment and Training Administration's Lower Living Standard
Income Level Internet site at http://wdsc.doleta.gov/llsil>.
For information about the number of people in poverty since 1959 or
about the Census Bureau statistical poverty thresholds, contact the
HHES Division, Room G251, Federal Office Building #3, U.S. Census
Bureau, Washington, D.C. 20233-8500--telephone: (301) 457-3242--or send
e-mail to hhes-info@census.gov>; persons with Internet access may visit
the Poverty section of the Census Bureau's Internet site at http://
www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html>.
2002 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
Columbia
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................... $8,860
2.......................................................... 11,940
3.......................................................... 15,020
4.......................................................... 18,100
5.......................................................... 21,180
6.......................................................... 24,260
7.......................................................... 27,340
8.......................................................... 30,420
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,080 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes
also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
2002 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................... $11,080
2.......................................................... 14,930
3.......................................................... 18,780
4.......................................................... 22,630
5.......................................................... 26,480
6.......................................................... 30,330
7.......................................................... 34,180
8.......................................................... 38,030
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,850 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes
also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
2002 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................... $10,200
2.......................................................... 13,740
3.......................................................... 17,280
4.......................................................... 20,820
5.......................................................... 24,360
6.......................................................... 27,900
7.......................................................... 31,440
8.......................................................... 34,980
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,540 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes
also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
(Separate poverty guideline figures for Alaska and Hawaii reflect
Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the
1966-1970 period. Note that the Census Bureau poverty thresholds--the
primary version of the poverty measure--have never had separate figures
for Alaska and Hawaii. The poverty guidelines are not defined for
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the
Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau. In cases
in which a Federal program using the poverty guidelines serves any of
those jurisdictions, the Federal office which administers the program
is responsible for deciding whether to use the contiguous-states-and-
D.C. guidelines for those jurisdictions or to follow some other
procedure.)
The preceding figures are the 2002 update of the poverty guidelines
required by section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
(OBRA) of 1981 (Pub.L. 97-35--reauthorized by Pub.L. 105-285, Section
201 (1998)). 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
these poverty guidelines as an eligibility criterion for the Community
Services Block Grant program. The poverty guidelines are also used as
an eligibility criterion by a number of other Federal programs (both
HHS and non-HHS). 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 periodically in the
Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).''
The poverty guidelines are a simplified version of the Federal
Government's statistical poverty thresholds used by the Census Bureau
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 2002 guidelines--
reflect price changes through calendar year 2001, they are
approximately equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar year 2001
which the Census Bureau expects to issue in September or October 2002.
(A preliminary version of the 2001 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, 125 percent or 185 percent of the
guidelines). Non-Federal organizations which use the poverty guidelines
under their own authority in non-Federally-funded activities also have
the option of choosing to use a
[[Page 6933]]
percentage multiple of the guidelines such as 125 percent or 185
percent.
While many programs use the guidelines to classify persons or
families as either eligible or ineligible, some other programs use the
guidelines 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
non-farm 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 ``family,''
``family unit,'' or ``household'' that is valid for all programs that
use the poverty guidelines. Federal programs in some cases 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 its 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, please 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 P60-185 and earlier reports in the same series) are
made available for illustrative purposes only; in other words, these
statistical definitions are not binding for administrative purposes.
(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 Census Bureau 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. Census Bureau 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.
Note that this notice no longer provides a definition of
``income.'' This is for two reasons. First, there is no universal
administrative definition of ``income'' that is valid for all programs
that use the poverty guidelines. Second, in the past there has been
confusion regarding important differences between the statistical
definition of income and various administrative definitions of
``income'' or ``countable income.'' The precise definition of
``income'' for a particular program is very sensitive to the specific
needs and purposes of that program. To determine, for example, whether
or not taxes, college scholarships, or other particular types of income
should be counted as ``income'' in determining eligibility for a
specific program, one must consult the office or organization
administering the program in question; that office or organization has
the responsibility for making decisions about the definition of
``income'' used by the program (to the extent that the definition is
not already contained in legislation or regulations).
Dated: February 6, 2002.
Tommy G. Thompson,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 02-3627 Filed 2-13-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-05-P
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