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.

[Federal Register: March 10, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 46)]

[Notices]               

[Page 10856-10859]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr10mr97-78]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


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 March 10, 1997 

(unless an office administering a program using the guidelines 

specifies a different effective date for that particular program).



[[Page 10857]]



ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 

Evaluation, Room 438F, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and 

Human Services (HHS), Washington, D.C. 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 how they are used in a particular program), contact 

Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 

Evaluation, Room 438F, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and 

Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201--telephone: (202) 690-6141.

    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 7-47, 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). 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.

    Under an amendment to the Older Americans Act, the figures in this 

notice are the figures that state and area agencies on aging should use 

to determine ``greatest economic need'' for Older Americans Act 

programs. For information about Older Americans Act programs, contact 

Carol Crecy, Administration on Aging, HHS--telephone: (202) 619-0011.

    For information about the Department of Labor's Lower Living 

Standard Income Level (an alternative eligibility criterion with the 

poverty guidelines for certain Job Training Partnership Act programs), 

contact Theodore W. Mastroianni, Administrator, Office of Job Training 

Programs, U.S. Department of Labor--telephone: (202) 219-6236.

    For information about the number of persons in poverty or about the 

Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds, contact the Income, 

Poverty, and Labor Force Information Staff, HHES Division, Room 416, 

Iverson Mall, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C. 20233--

telephone: (301) 763-8578.


1997 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of

                                Columbia                                

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                Poverty 

                     Size of family unit                       guideline

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1............................................................     $7,890

2............................................................     10,610

3............................................................     13,330

4............................................................     16,050

5............................................................     18,770

6............................................................     21,490

7............................................................     24,210

8............................................................     26,930

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    For family units with more than 8 members, add $2,720 for each 

additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes 

also, as can be seen in the figures above.)


                   1997 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska                   

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                Poverty 

                     Size of family unit                       guideline

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1............................................................     $9,870

2............................................................     13,270

3............................................................     16,670

4............................................................     20,070

5............................................................     23,470

6............................................................     26,870

7............................................................     30,270

8............................................................     33,670

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,400 for each 

additional member. (The same increment applies to smaller family sizes 

also, as can be seen in the figures above.)


                   1997 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii                   

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                Poverty 

                     Size of family unit                       guideline

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1............................................................     $9,070

2............................................................     12,200

3............................................................     15,330

4............................................................     18,460

5............................................................     21,590

6............................................................     24,720

7............................................................     27,850

8............................................................     30,980

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    For family units with more than 8 members, add $3,130 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 1997 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 section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 

1981.''

    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,


[[Page 10858]]


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 1997 guidelines--reflect price 

changes through calendar year 1996, they are approximately equal to the 

poverty thresholds for calendar year 1996 which the Census Bureau will 

issue in late summer or autumn 1997. (A preliminary version of the 1996 

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.

    Some programs, while not using the guidelines to exclude non-lower-

income persons as ineligible, use them 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 

nonfarm 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 ``income,'' 

``family,'' ``family unit,'' or ``household'' that is valid for all 

programs that use the poverty guidelines. Federal programs may 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 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.

    (e) Income. Programs which use the poverty guidelines in 

determining eligibility may use administrative definitions of 

``income'' (or ``countable income'') which differ from the statistical 

definition given below. Note that for administrative purposes, in many 

cases, income data for a part of a year may be annualized in order to 

determine eligibility--for instance, by multiplying by four the amount 

of income received during the most recent three months.

    For statistical purposes--to determine official income and poverty 

statistics--the Bureau of the Census defines income to include total 

annual cash receipts before taxes from all sources, with the exceptions 

noted below. Income includes money wages and salaries before any 

deductions; net receipts from nonfarm self-employment (receipts from a 

person's own unincorporated business, professional enterprise, or 

partnership, after deductions for business expenses); net receipts from 

farm self-employment (receipts from a farm which one operates as an 

owner, renter, or sharecropper, after deductions for farm operating 

expenses); regular payments from social security, railroad retirement, 

unemployment compensation, strike benefits from union funds, workers' 

compensation, veterans' payments, public assistance (including Aid to 

Families with Dependent Children or Temporary Assistance for Needy 

Families, Supplemental Security Income, and non-Federally-funded 

General Assistance or General Relief money payments), and training 

stipends; alimony, child support, and military family allotments or 

other regular support from an absent family member or someone not 

living in the household; private pensions, government employee pensions 

(including military retirement pay), and regular insurance or annuity 

payments; college or university scholarships, grants, fellowships, and 

assistantships; and dividends, interest, net rental income, net 

royalties, periodic receipts from estates or trusts, and net gambling 

or lottery winnings.

    For official statistical purposes, income does not include the 

following types of money received: capital gains; any assets drawn down 

as withdrawals


[[Page 10859]]


from a bank, the sale of property, a house, or a car; or tax refunds, 

gifts, loans, lump-sum inheritances, one-time insurance payments, or 

compensation for injury. Also excluded are noncash benefits, such as 

the employer-paid or union-paid portion of health insurance or other 

employee fringe benefits, food or housing received in lieu of wages, 

the value of food and fuel produced and consumed on farms, the imputed 

value of rent from owner-occupied nonfarm or farm housing, and such 

Federal noncash benefit programs as Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, 

school lunches, and housing assistance.


    Dated: February 28, 1997.

Donna E. Shalala,

Secretary of Health and Human Services.

[FR Doc. 97-5731 Filed 3-7-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4110-60-P