[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 13 (Thursday, January 20, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3637-3638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-1237]
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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 Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar
year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
DATES: Effective Date: Date of publication, 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, Washington, DC 20201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the
guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program,
contact the Federal, State, or local office that is responsible for
that program. For information about poverty figures for immigration
forms, the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program, and the number
of people in poverty, use the specific telephone numbers and addresses
given below.
For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves,
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) 690-7507--or
visit http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.
For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864,
Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
at 1-800-375-5283.
For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services
Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals
and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria involving
the poverty guidelines), contact the Office of the Director, Division
of Facilities Compliance and Recovery, Health Resources and Services
Administration, HHS, Room 10-105, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, Maryland 20857. To speak to a staff member, please 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). You also may visit http://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/affordable/hillburton/.
For information about the number of people in poverty, visit the
Poverty section of the Census Bureau's Web site at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census
Bureau's Customer Service Center at 1-800-923-8282 (toll-free) or visit
http://ask.census.gov for further information.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of
1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services to update the poverty guidelines at least
annually, adjusting them on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for
All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The poverty guidelines are used as an
eligibility criterion by the Community Services Block Grant program and
a number of other Federal programs. The poverty guidelines issued here
are a simplified version of the poverty thresholds that the Census
Bureau uses to prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and
families in poverty.
As required by law, this update is accomplished by increasing the
latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the relevant
percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
(CPI-U). The guidelines in this 2011 notice reflect the 1.6 percent
price increase between calendar years 2009 and 2010. After this
inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to
standardize the differences between family sizes. The same calculation
procedure was used this year as in previous years (except for 2010, as
discussed below).
Last year's poverty guidelines--the 2010 guidelines--were issued at
an atypical time (August 3, 2010, rather than late January 2010)
because legislation enacted in late 2009 (Pub. L. 111-118) and early
2010 (Pub. L. 111-144 and 111-157) ultimately prohibited publication of
2010 poverty guidelines before May 31, 2010. The details of the
calculation of the 2010 guidelines were adjusted to take into account
the period for which their publication was delayed, as described at 75
FR 45628. However, the level of the 2011 poverty guidelines presented
here is not affected by the way in which the 2010 poverty guidelines
were calculated because, in following the usual process for updating
the poverty guidelines, the starting point for calculating the 2011
poverty guidelines is the 2009 Census Bureau poverty thresholds, and
not the 2010 poverty guidelines.
The following guideline figures represent annual income.
[[Page 3638]]
2011 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
Columbia
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Poverty
Persons in family guideline
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1........................................................... $10,890
2........................................................... 14,710
3........................................................... 18,530
4........................................................... 22,350
5........................................................... 26,170
6........................................................... 29,990
7........................................................... 33,810
8........................................................... 37,630
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For families with more than 8 persons, add $3,820 for each
additional person.
2011 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
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Poverty
Persons in family guideline
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1........................................................... $13,600
2........................................................... 18,380
3........................................................... 23,160
4........................................................... 27,940
5........................................................... 32,720
6........................................................... 37,500
7........................................................... 42,280
8........................................................... 47,060
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For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,780 for each
additional person.
2011 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
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Poverty
Persons in family guideline
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1........................................................... $12,540
2........................................................... 16,930
3........................................................... 21,320
4........................................................... 25,710
5........................................................... 30,100
6........................................................... 34,490
7........................................................... 38,880
8........................................................... 43,270
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For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,390 for each
additional person.
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
version of the poverty measure used for statistical purposes--have
never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.) The poverty
guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico or other outlying
jurisdictions. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty
guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office that
administers the program is generally responsible for deciding whether
to use the contiguous-States-and-DC guidelines for those jurisdictions
or to follow some other procedure.
Due to confusing legislative language dating back to 1972, the
poverty guidelines sometimes have 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. 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).''
Some Federal programs use a percentage multiple of the guidelines
(for example, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines), as noted
in relevant authorizing legislation or program regulations. Non-Federal
organizations that use the poverty guidelines under their own authority
in non-Federally-funded activities may also choose to use a percentage
multiple of the guidelines.
The poverty guidelines do not make a distinction between farm and
non-farm families, or between aged and non-aged units. (Only the Census
Bureau poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged
one-person and two-person units.)
Note that this notice does not provide definitions of such terms as
``income'' or ``family,'' because there is considerable variation in
defining these terms among the different programs that use the
guidelines. These variations are traceable to the different laws and
regulations that govern the various programs. Therefore, questions
about how a particular program applies the poverty guidelines (for
example, Is income counted before or after taxes? Should a particular
type of income be counted? Should a particular person be counted in the
family or household unit?) should be directed to the entity that
administers or funds the program; that entity has the responsibility
for defining such terms as ``income'' or ``family,'' to the extent that
these terms are not already defined for the program in legislation or
regulations.
Dated: January 14, 2011.
Kathleen Sebelius,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2011-1237 Filed 1-18-11; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4151-05-P