Jack,
Poverty does indeed play a role in the overall health of the United States population. This
is what I wrote about in my seminar brief as well. My research into the topic however led me to find
a few interesting facts. Spector (2017) reported that the poverty rate reported in the United States
was 14.8% in. 2014. The biggest problem with the reported poverty rates was the fact that the
government researchers who report these statistics only factor in pre-tax income and do
factor into their calculations the government subsidies, unemployment benefits, workers
compensation benefits, and untaxed cash earnings (Meyer et al., 2021). It seems like these
unfactored earnings and benefits are often under-reported to survey takers and this is not taken
into account when calculating poverty rates. Meyer et al. (2021) reported that the poverty rate,
when accounting for these other factors, is actually closer to 0.24% among households and 0.11%
among individuals, with 90% of the remaining extreme poor households made up of
single individuals.
It seems to me that the data that is reported in these surveys are often times reflective of
the political idealizations of the regime in power. Spector reported the poverty rate from 2014
that showed it was around 15%. The Meyer et al. (2021) study reported that there were a
multitude of errors when calculating the poverty rates from 2009-2016 and the actual poverty
rate was drastically lower. Spector used a figure that was reported by President Barak Obama’s
Democratic party ruled administration while the Meyer et al. study was funded by President
Trump’s Republican party ruled administration. The studies are polar opposites of each other
just like the respective backing agencies. Examining thoughts like this makes me wonder what
the true poverty level actually is.
References
Meyer, B. D., Wu, D., Mooers, V., & Medalia, C. (2021). The use and misuse of income data and
extreme poverty in the United States. Journal of Labor Economics, 39(S1).
https://doi.org/10.1086/711227
Spector, R. E. (2017). Cultural diversity in health and illness (9th ed.). Pearson.
