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On September 10, the Census Bureau will release its official statistics on poverty, income, and health insurance coverage in 2018. Three points are worth nothing in advance.
- Progress on Health Coverage May Have Started to Erode
This reversal in progress would likely reflect, at least in part, the growing impact of ongoing Trump Administration efforts to weaken health coverage under the ACA, with the greatest threat being the Administration’s continued effort to repeal the ACA, whether through litigation or legislation.
- Progress on Income and Poverty Likely Continued
Rising employment and wages in 2018 make it likely that the improvements seen in 2015, 2016, and 2017 – years in which media household income rose at a healthy pace and the official poverty rate fell significantly – continued last year.
- Supplemental Census Data Will Show Impact of Anti-Poverty Programs
The President’s 2020 budget proposes deep cuts in a number of low-income assistance programs. While extremely unlikely to be enacted this year or next, the proposals reflect where the President would take the country in the years ahead if given the opportunity to do so. These and other proposals in the budget would increase poverty, widen income and racial disparities, and sharply increase the number of uninsured.
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