Why we can’t win the war on poverty « HealthThinkShop

Not all American’s are created equal but their status under the constitution is.  That is the most important part of the American promise and perhaps of the social contract that makes our democratic polity possible.

What is at stake here is who we are as a nation and how the rest of the world community sees us.  After our heroic role in WWII, we have enjoyed a special place in the new world order that manifested itself as east and west–Russians, their allies, and the rest of us free peoples.  But today the international community and our internal polity have become much more complex.  And we are having a difficult time moving forward.

America’s social, economic and ethnic diversity is becoming an increasing challenge to discussing, understanding and agreeing to a conception of:

what is an American,

what America stands for, and

who is eligible to partake in her bounty.

via ASPE – The Office of The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation: Facts and figures about America’s Poverty Problem – Why we can’t win the war on poverty « HealthThinkShop.

Filed under: Blogosphere, Children and Poverty, Immigration, News, waging war, WeSeeReason, poverty, Welfare Reform

Suburbs and the New Geography of Poverty | Demos

Decades after Michael Harrington’s work on poverty, the issue of what causes poverty and what can be done about it continues to be a controversial and confused one.

The work poverty has come to mean many things to many people and in important ways it has changed for people who do not look nor live like traditionally poor people lived and looked…

“Concentrated poverty has a new address, and this time it’s not in the inner city. For many Americans, moving to a house in the …”via Suburbs and the New Geography of Poverty | Demos.

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The Economist explains: How did the global poverty rate halve in 20 years? | The Economist

As the world’s multiplicity of good and bad personal experiences are seen, quantified and popularized through viral networks and instant messaging, poverty will need to be put into perspective and understood.  Not only what it is but how different it is to many different people in extremely different places.  What ever you think about poverty, understanding the complexities in understanding it and putting it into appropriate perspective is a good place to start… The London Economist is trying to help us with this task…

“POVERTY is easy to spot but hard to define. America sets its poverty line at $11,490 of income per year for a one-person household, or just over $30 a day. Any income below that amount is judged inadequate for the provision of fundamental wants. Other rich countries set their poverty lines in relative terms, so an increase in the incomes of top earners results in more poverty if everything else is held constant. The threshold for dire poverty in developing countries is set much lower, at $1.25 a day of consumption (rather than income). This figure is arrived at by …”

via The Economist explains: How did the global poverty rate halve in 20 years? | The Economist.

Filed under: Blogosphere, Children and Poverty, Culture Think, Feminization of Poverty, diversity and poverty, Global Poverty, poverty

In America’s cities, demographics must drive policy

The baby boom generation continues to dominate numerically.  Even as they slow down and even retire, their sheer numbers continue to drive American social needs and wants.  As corporations increase their global reach and their local dominance, simple demographic currents may rule the day as millions of boomers smother marketing strategies and trends with a simple “That’s not what I want.”

“As many boomers choose to “age in place,” that is, to retire and continue living in their homes and/or neighborhoods as opposed to in retirement homes, they will demand accessible transportation, services, walkability, and access to health care in their communities. These demands also characterize today’s young, educated, millennial generation.

Will cities and neighborhoods be able to cope with these interrelated demands? There are several key reasons for concern and also several important opportunities.

Areas for concern

• Urban Institute models project that between 2010 and 2030 there will be a 70 percent increase in senior homeowners and a 100 percent increase in senior renters.
• As many seniors choose to “age in place” by staying in their homes and communities, their cities and neighborhoods may not be equipped to provide the transportation, services, and health care they increasingly demand.
• Affordable housing is limited, but retirees on fixed incomes and millennials facing an unprecedented wealth gap will increasingly demand affordable housing in walkable urban areas.

Reasons for optimism according to panelists

• Health care will increasingly comprise the largest share of living expenses for seniors, but in-home care and other in-home services can reduce health care costs, and those cost savings can be reinvested in the services that generate them.
• Social Impact Bonds and other public-private partnerships may be well-placed to make the initial investments in the many services that will be needed, increasing economic efficiency and generating profits.
• Technology will allow many seniors to receive health care monitoring and service delivery in their homes, while millennials will use it to interact with and replace many neighborhood amenities.”

via In America’s cities, demographics must drive policy.

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States’ Policies on Health Care Exclude Poorest – NYTimes.com

It is dumbfounding!   It paralyzes the brain, the heart and almost all hope–without need for audacity.

Ph.D.s, advocates, health professionals, and good old moms and dads come to the agreement that healthcare needs changing and that sick people should get help–especially those who have difficulty getting it.  Presumably, it is logical and reasonable to think that many of these people are what we, all of us for hundreds of years, have called “the poor.”

Yet for as long as there have been those with and those without, those with often have the efficacy to get more and those without, perhaps by definition, get even less–always…

So here we are well into healthcare reform and the NYT is sounding the whistle on the haves once again–millions have been spent and the poor are somehow invisible once again when it comes to targeting the needs of those who are hurting and are having a difficult time getting good, reliable, continuos, patient centered, medical home care!  Go figure… or better yet, go read the New York times…

“The refusal by about half the states to expand Medicaid will leave millions of poor people ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance under President Obama’s health care law even as many others with higher incomes receive federal subsidies to …”

More via States’ Policies on Health Care Exclude Poorest – NYTimes.com.

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Unauthorized Immigrants: How Pew Research Counts Them and What We Know About Them | Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center provides us with the facts and figures on the immigrant issue… Visit Pew by reading the article below and tell us what you think …

“What we can tell from our data that, to a degree is not widely appreciated, the unauthorized immigrant population is made up of young working families. The majority of unauthorized immigrant adults are here with family members — spouses and children. Our estimates are that unauthorized immigrants have between 4.5 million and 5 million children under 18 who are U.S. citizens because they were born here. Those children are affected by this proposed legislation because their parents have the potential of being able to remain here legally and not be subject to deportation.

In addition, the unauthorized families include roughly three-quarters of a million adults who are either immigrants here legally or U.S. citizens who are family members of these unauthorized immigrants. Some may be spouses, some of them are children who are older than 18. So that means that the total number of people who might be affected by the proposals is much larger, probably between 16 million and 17 million people. This demographic dynamic is not well-known or widely-appreciated. It’s often a big surprise to people.”

via Unauthorized Immigrants: How Pew Research Counts Them and What We Know About Them | Pew Research Center.

Filed under: Blogosphere, Children and Poverty, Civic Engagement, consumers, Demographic Change, Immigration, News, Parenting, Congress and immigration legislation, Immigration, immigration debate

Social policies: Time to scrap affirmative action | The Economist

Affirmative action rears its ugly head once again as the usually intellectually rigorous London Economist magazine publishes an article (link below) making an argument on the deleterious effects of affirmative action policies for beneficiaries, institutions and societies in general.

The main problem with the article is that it sees people of color (or ethnic minorities) as both the “weak classes” and the beneficiaries of these policies.  The article writer fails to understand that a good number of people belonging to the so called “majority” or “white” as the article calls them, are also tremendously disadvantaged and cyclically in poverty by region and sometimes by religious group or region of the country (Catholics compared to Episcopalians and people from the Appalachia region compared to New Yorkers).

The overwhelming majority of people in America are so called “White.”   Poverty is not simply a skin color problem.  Affirmative action is not perfect and plenty of examples can be found of cases in which it is abused or inappropriately taken advantage of.  This does not mean that there’s no need to address historical differences between groups that have experienced circumstances which precluded their development in the educational and business fields, for example.

When  society invests in the children of the poor to ensure that future generations can continue to prosper and contribute to society in greater ways we all benefit.

When specific groups have been locked out for so long that lack of education, sophistication or opportunity defines their relationship to society, then society has a responsibility to address that condition.  Whether we see that “responsibility” as a moral or as a self interested proposition, does not really matter.  The fact is that when societies invest in their citizens they benefit all of society and improve their lot vis a vis other societies who experience the drag and social dislocation caused by an underclass.  The following article in the Economist fails to understand this simple logic.  Read it and tell us what you think?

“ABOVE the entrance to America’s Supreme Court four words are carved: “Equal justice under law”. The court is pondering whether affirmative action breaks that promise. The justices recently accepted a case concerning a vote in Michigan that banned it, and will …”

via Social policies: Time to scrap affirmative action | The Economist.

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Ensuring the Health Care Needs of Women: A Checklist for Health Exchanges – Kaiser Family Foundation

Latina women lead all groups in the number of babies born, yet are disconnected from a regular provider, health insurance and quality continuos care.  The current healthcare reform may leave many families outside the CAC safety net because they may not qualify for services due to their immigrant status.  Learn more about women’s health at the Kaiser Family Foundation website below…

“To inform the development of the state health insurance Exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, this checklist identifies key coverage, affordability and access issues that are important for women. Based on lessons learned from women’s health research and the Massachusetts experience, the checklist considers essential health benefits, implementation of no-cost preventive services including contraception, provider networks and affordability, outreach and enrollment efforts, and the importance of including gender and other demographic characteristics in data collection and reporting standards. It was jointly authored by policy experts at the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at The George Washington University.”

More via Ensuring the Health Care Needs of Women: A Checklist for Health Exchanges – Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Mapping the Effects of the ACA’s Health Insurance Coverage Expansions – Kaiser Health Reform

The Affordable Care Act includes several provisions that allow many individuals across the U.S. to be eligible for Medicaid or for federal tax credits to subsidize the cost of insurance. The analysis below and zip code tool estimate the share of the population in geographic areas across the U.S. who had family income up to four times the poverty level in 2010 and were either uninsured or buying coverage on their own.

via Mapping the Effects of the ACA’s Health Insurance Coverage Expansions – Kaiser Health Reform.

Filed under: Blogosphere, Children and Poverty, Civic Engagement, consumers, Health Literacy, Health Policy, Healthcare Reform, Latinos, News, Public Health, Public Policy, ACA implementation, health reform, health reform; health insurance reform; medical care; affordable healthcare; healthcare costs; health policy; healthcare politics;, The Affordable Care Act

Pew Hispanic Center – Chronicling Latinos Diverse Experiences in a Changing America

Healthcare reform and Immigrant reform are both on the policy table.  We all need to be at that table supporting a reasonable and fair solution to the important issues of the day:

Who gets to come to America and what quality of life they will have when they get here.

At the Policy ThinkShop we will be blogging resources and information to keep you on top of these important public policy topics.  Stay tuned…

“Nearly two-thirds of the 5.4 million legal immigrants from Mexico who are eligible to become citizens of the United States have not yet taken that step. Their naturalization rate—36%—is only half that of legal immigrants from all other countries combined, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of federal government data. A nationwide survey of Hispanic immigrants by the Center finds that nearly all (93%) who have not yet naturalized say they would if they could. But barriers such as a lack of English proficiency and the financial cost of naturalization are identified as reasons why many legal immigrants have not yet done so.”

Related:

Report: A Nation of Immigrants

Data: Statistical Portrait of the Foreign Born, 2011

Report: Unauthorized Immigrants: 11.1 Million in 2011

Report: Net Migration from Mexico Falls to Zero

via Pew Hispanic Center – Chronicling Latinos Diverse Experiences in a Changing America.

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Report Faults India Government Over Child Sex Abuse – NYTimes.com

India’s troubles continue beyond its economic slump into its social fabric.  The immense country is home to a huge portion of the world children and it’s laws do not seem up to the task of nurturing and protecting them.  India is a society of hierarchy and class leaving many poor children at the mercy of those with privilege and power…

“Sexual abuse of children is “disturbingly common” in India, and the government’s response to it has fallen short, both in protecting children and in treating victims, Human Rights Watch said in a report released…”

via Report Faults India Government Over Child Sex Abuse – NYTimes.com.

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Insecure and Unequal: Poverty and Income Among Women and Families, 2000-2011 | National Women’s Law Center

The recovery from the worst recession in memory has hurt the vulnerable in ways that could set families back for a decade…

 

Download the report at:

http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/nwlc_2012_povertyreport.pdf

 

“This report provides a gender analysis of national Census data for 2011, released by the Census Bureau in September 2012. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) supplies this analysis, as it has for several …”

via Insecure and Unequal: Poverty and Income Among Women and Families, 2000-2011 | National Women’s Law Center.

Filed under: Economic Recession, Blogosphere, Family Policy, Children and Poverty, Feminization of Poverty, access to education, Economic Recovery