Medical expenses drive many Black and Hispanic seniors into poverty: Poverty rates by age, race, and ethnicity, with and without medical expenses, 2021
Poverty with or without medical expenses | Poverty only with medical expenses | Total poverty rate | |
---|---|---|---|
White | 5.4% | 1.7% | 0 |
Black | 11.5% | 1.6% | 0 |
Hispanic | 11.3% | 2.4% | 0 |
White | 5.0% | 2.4% | 0 |
Black | 12.1% | 3.2% | 0 |
Hispanic | 13.9% | 3.5% | 0 |
Notes: “Poverty only with medical expenses” is the share whose medical expenses push them into poverty (who would not otherwise be in poverty). “Poverty with or without medical expenses” is the share who are in poverty regardless of their medical expenses. Medical expenses are based on estimates of health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket health costs used to estimate the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The SPM is an alternative poverty measure published by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2010.
Notes: “Poverty only with medical expenses” is the share whose medical expenses push them into poverty (who would not otherwise be in poverty). “Poverty with or without medical expenses” is the share who are in poverty regardless of their medical expenses. Medical expenses are based on estimates of health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket health costs used to estimate the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The SPM is an alternative poverty measure published by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2010.
In contrast to the Census Bureau’s “official” poverty threshold, which is benchmarked to three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963, the SPM takes into account the current cost of food, clothing, utilities, and shelter, as well as tax, work, medical, and child support expenses. The SPM also uses a broader resource measure that includes income and noncash benefits from both market sources and government programs (Fox and Burns 2021).
Source: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA) analysis of IPUMS Current Population Survey data (Flood et al. 2021).