[Federal Register: February 15, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 31)]
[Notices]
[Page 7555-7557]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15fe00-83]
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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.)
ADDRESS: 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 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 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, HRSA, HHS, Room 10C-16, 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); 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, 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 (a self-sufficiency criterion with the poverty
guidelines for certain Workforce Investment Act employment and training
programs), contact Ronald E. Putz, U.S. Department of Labor--
telephone: (202) 219-7694, extension 142--e-mail: rputz@doleta.gov>.
For information about the number of people in poverty (since 1959)
or about the Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds, contact
the HHES Division, Room 1472, Federal Office Building #3, U.S. Bureau
of the Census, Washington, DC 20233--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 World Wide Web site at
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html>.
2000 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
Columbia
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Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
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1........................................................... $ 8,350
2........................................................... 11,250
3........................................................... 14,150
4........................................................... 17,050
5........................................................... 19,950
6........................................................... 22,850
7........................................................... 25,750
8........................................................... 28,650
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $2,900 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes
also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
[[Page 7556]]
2000 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
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Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
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1........................................................... $10,430
2........................................................... 14,060
3........................................................... 17,690
4........................................................... 21,320
5........................................................... 24,950
6........................................................... 28,580
7........................................................... 32,210
8........................................................... 35,840
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For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,630 for each
additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes
also, as can be seen in the figures above.)
2000 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
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Poverty
Size of family unit guideline
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1..................................................... $ 9,590
2..................................................... 12,930
3..................................................... 16,270
4..................................................... 19,610
5..................................................... 22,950
6..................................................... 26,290
7..................................................... 29,630
8..................................................... 32,970
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,340 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-DC guidelines for those
jurisdictions or to follow some other procedure.)
The preceding figures are the 2000 update of the poverty guidelines
required by section 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. 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 annually in the Federal
Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under
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 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
2000 guidelines--reflect price changes through calendar year 1999, they
are approximately equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar year
1999 which the Census Bureau expects to issue in September or October
2000. (A preliminary version of the 1999 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 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 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 P60-185 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
[[Page 7557]]
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.
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 9, 2000.
Donna E. Shalala,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 00-3478 Filed 2-10-00; 2:30 pm]
BILLING CODE 4154-05-P