[Federal Register: January 24, 2006 (Volume 71, Number
15)]
[Notices]
[Page 3848-3849]
From the Federal Register
Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24ja06-66]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
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.
DATES: Effective Date: Date of publication, unless an office
administering a program using the guidelines specifies a different
effective date for that particular program.
ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), Washington, DC 20201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the
guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program,
contact the Federal, state, or local office that is responsible for
that program. Contact information for two frequently requested
programs is given below:
For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services
Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals
and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria
involving the poverty guidelines), contact the Office of the Director,
Division of Facilities Compliance and Recovery, Health Resources and
Services Administration, HHS, Room 10-105, Parklawn Building, 5600
Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. To speak to a person, call
(301) 443-5656. To receive a Hill-Burton information package, call
1-800-638-0742 (for callers outside Maryland) or 1-800-492-0359 (for
callers in Maryland). You may also visit http://www.hrsa.gov/osp/dfcr/.
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.
For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864,
Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services at 1-800-375-5283 or visit http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/affsupp.htm.
For information about the number of people in poverty or about the
Census Bureau poverty thresholds, visit the Poverty section of the
Census Bureau's Web site at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.htmlor
contact the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Information
Staff at (301) 763-3242.
For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves,
contact Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services, Washington, DC 20201--telephone: (202) 690-7507--or
visit http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of
1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services to update, at least annually, the poverty
guidelines, which shall be used as an eligibility criterion for the
Community Services Block Grant program. The poverty guidelines also
are used as an eligibility criterion by a number of other Federal
programs. The poverty guidelines issued here are a simplified version
of the poverty thresholds that the Census Bureau uses to prepare its
estimates of the number of individuals and families in poverty.
As required by law, this update is accomplished by increasing the
latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the relevant
percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
(CPI-U). The guidelines in this 2006 notice reflect the 3.4 percent
price increase between calendar years 2004 and 2005. After this
inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to
standardize the differences between family sizes. The same calculation
procedure was used this year as in previous years. (Note that these
2006 guidelines are roughly equal to the poverty thresholds for
calendar year 2005 which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final
form in August 2006.)
2006 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the
District of Columbia
(SEE PDF VERSION FOR TABLE)
2006 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
(SEE PDF VERSION FOR TABLE)
2006 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
(SEE PDF VERSION FOR TABLE)
[[Page 3849]]
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 version of the poverty measure used for statistical
purposes--have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii). The
poverty guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico or other outlying
jurisdictions. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty
guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office that
administers the program is responsible for deciding whether to use the
contiguous-states-and-DC guidelines for those jurisdictions or to
follow some other procedure.
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. The poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as ``the
poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42
U.S.C. 9902(2).''
Some programs use a percentage multiple of the guidelines (for
example, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines), as noted in
relevant authorizing legislation or program regulations. Non-Federal
organizations that use the poverty guidelines under their own
authority in non-Federally-funded activities can choose to use a
percentage multiple of the guidelines such as 125 percent or 185
percent.
The poverty guidelines do not make a distinction between farm and
non-farm families or between aged and non-aged units. (Only the Census
Bureau poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged
one-person and two-person units).
Note that this notice does not provide definitions of such terms as
``income'' or ``family.'' This is because there is considerable
variation in how different programs that use the guidelines define
these terms, traceable to the different laws and regulations that
govern the various programs. Therefore, questions about how a
particular program applies the poverty guidelines (e.g., Is income
before or after taxes? Should a particular type of income be counted?
Should a particular person be counted in the family or household
unit?) should be directed to the organization that administers the
program.
Dated: January 18, 2006.
Michael O.
Leavitt,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 06-624
Filed 1-20-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4151-05-P
