[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 46 (Monday, March 10, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10856-10859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-5731]


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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