At the same time, the gap between people benefiting from the economic boom and people struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder continues to widen. However, the nation is still far from where it needs to be. An unfortunate byproduct of the good economy is a housing crisis, particularly in the rental area. There is not a single place in the country where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford to pay fair market rent. Severe housing problems are a reality across the country.
Prescription medications are the fastest-rising part of the nation's health care expenditures.
Rising health care costs now out distance what wages and family income can reasonably accommodate. Approximately 43 million people in this country have no health insurance, and that figure is projected to increase significantly by 2005. Medicare, which provides health care coverage to 39 million seniors, and Medicaid, which covers almost 41 million people who have disabilities or are poor, represent the only stable health care coverage programs in the nation. In the US today, more than 32 million people live in poverty, while the nation as a whole has enjoyed unparalleled economic prosperity. A high percentage of people dropped from welfare rolls now subsist on minimum wage jobs without benefits.