Poverty line to be redefined, By Rita Price, May 6, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “Millions of livelihoods and billions of dollars – including school-lunch programs, Medicaid and subsidized housing – depend on the income calculation known as the poverty line. Yet the government knows, and has known for decades, that it uses a seriously flawed formula for determining who is poor in America. ‘I think there’s almost universal agreement, on the right and on the left, that the current measure is really bad,’ said Ron Haskins, co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution in Washington. That’s why federal officials are experimenting with a new measure, one that will be unveiled to the public as a ‘supplemental poverty measure’ when the Census Bureau releases its annual poverty report next year…”
Day: May 7, 2010
State Children’s Health Insurance Program – Texas
Children’s insurance program rebounds, but more cuts feared, By Robert T. Garrett, May 7, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Seven years ago, state leaders working to close a $9.9 billion budget gap took a hatchet to government health insurance for children of the working poor. Thousands of children paid the price when officials tightened eligibility rules and whacked dental, vision and mental health benefits. Gradually, benefits were restored to the Children’s Health Insurance Program and, this month, enrollment reached roughly the same level as in 2003. But CHIP proponents fear the program could be on the block again as lawmakers face an even bigger shortfall – maybe $15 billion – as they write the next two-year budget in their upcoming session. The new federal health care law has limited the state’s ability to cut too deeply into CHIP…”
U.S. Unemployment Rate
Economy gains impetus as U.S. adds 290,000 jobs, By Motoko Rich, May 7, 2010, New York Times: “At a time of extreme uncertainty in the financial markets, the American economy is showing signs of a sustained recovery, adding an unexpectedly high number of jobs last month. With concerns about the spreading debt crisis in Europe and a rise in the long-term unemployed, economists cautiously welcomed on Friday the Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of the job market, which showed that employers added 290,000 jobs to the economy, the largest gain in four years. After revisions, it was the fourth consecutive month of job gains. The unemployment rate, however, crept up to 9.9 percent in April from 9.7 percent in March, mostly the government said, because about 805,000 people joined the labor force either working or looking for work…”