Numbers Of Poor, Uninsured Projected To Rise - 38.8 Million Believed To Be In Poverty

Numbers Of Poor, Uninsured Projected To Rise
38.8 Million Believed To Be In Poverty
HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

POSTED: 11:40 am PDT August 19, 2009

WASHINGTON --
The numbers of poor and uninsured Americans are likely rising -- with more than 38.8 million believed to be in poverty.

Rebecca Blank, the Commerce Department's undersecretary of economic affairs, spoke to The Associated Press in advance of next month's closely watched release of 2008 census data. Noting the figures are not yet final, Blank said the numbers will likely show a "statistically significant" increase in the poverty rate, to at least 12.7 percent. That would represent a jump of more than 1.5 million poor people last year.

"There's no question that 2008 economically was a much worse year than 2007," she said Wednesday. "The question is how much and how bad."

The number of uninsured is also expected to notably increase due largely to rising unemployment and the erosion of private coverage paid for by employers and individuals, but Blank declined to say by how much. In 2007, the number of uninsured fell by more than 1 million mostly because government programs such as Medicaid for the poor picked up the slack.

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http://www.kcra.com/money/20464361/detail.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=631932

Can't find the original article, but with all the jobs lost and foreclosures, etc. 38.8 million seems so low.