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116 The High Cost of Being Poor
A common tactic in the vegan movement is to talk about how affordable veganism is. But that doesn’t hold true for many people. To illustrate this point, the princesses tackle how expensive it is to have no money.
In This Episode
This week we cover several aspects of being poor, reviewing the realities around housing, food, banking, jobs, medical costs, bail.
To kick off this topic, we started with some important stats:
Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
A measure of income issued every year by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal poverty levels are used to determine your eligibility for certain programs and benefits, including savings on Marketplace health insurance, and Medicaid and CHIP coverage.
The 2017 federal poverty level (FPL) income numbers below are used to calculate eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 2016 numbers are slightly lower, and are used to calculate savings on Marketplace insurance plans for 2017.
* $12,060 for individuals
* $16,240 for a family of 2
* $20,420 for a family of 3
* $24,600 for a family of 4
* $28,780 for a family of 5
* $32,960 for a family of 6
* $37,140 for a family of 7
* $41,320 for a family of 8
Children & Poverty
Children are the most likely to be poor – nearly one in five children live in poverty.
Households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (17%), especially households with children headed by single women (30%) or single men (22%), Black non-Hispanic households (22%) and Hispanic households (19%).
Nearly 101 million Americans – just under one-third of the population – are trying to get by with
incomes this low (twice poverty level)
In 2015:
43.1 million people (13.5 percent) were in poverty. 42.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children.
Joke in the Middle
How do dinosaurs pay their bills?
Links and Information
News
* Arkansas Governor Signs “Ag-Gag” Into Law (Mercy for Animals)
* Brazilian Meat Producers Caught in Global Scandal (VegNews)
* Harvard Hosts Vegan Conference (VegNews)
Recommended Vegan Organizations that Help Food Insecure People
* Food Not Bombs
* Chili on Wheels
* RADDISH
Resources Used in this Episode
* Federal Poverty Level (HealthCare.gov)
* Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics (Feeding America)
* The High Cost of Being Poor (CBS)
*
View all episodes
A common tactic in the vegan movement is to talk about how affordable veganism is. But that doesn’t hold true for many people. To illustrate this point, the princesses tackle how expensive it is to have no money.
In This Episode
This week we cover several aspects of being poor, reviewing the realities around housing, food, banking, jobs, medical costs, bail.
To kick off this topic, we started with some important stats:
Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
A measure of income issued every year by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal poverty levels are used to determine your eligibility for certain programs and benefits, including savings on Marketplace health insurance, and Medicaid and CHIP coverage.
The 2017 federal poverty level (FPL) income numbers below are used to calculate eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 2016 numbers are slightly lower, and are used to calculate savings on Marketplace insurance plans for 2017.
* $12,060 for individuals
* $16,240 for a family of 2
* $20,420 for a family of 3
* $24,600 for a family of 4
* $28,780 for a family of 5
* $32,960 for a family of 6
* $37,140 for a family of 7
* $41,320 for a family of 8
Children & Poverty
Children are the most likely to be poor – nearly one in five children live in poverty.
Households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (17%), especially households with children headed by single women (30%) or single men (22%), Black non-Hispanic households (22%) and Hispanic households (19%).
Nearly 101 million Americans – just under one-third of the population – are trying to get by with
incomes this low (twice poverty level)
In 2015:
43.1 million people (13.5 percent) were in poverty. 42.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children.
Joke in the Middle
How do dinosaurs pay their bills?
Links and Information
News
* Arkansas Governor Signs “Ag-Gag” Into Law (Mercy for Animals)
* Brazilian Meat Producers Caught in Global Scandal (VegNews)
* Harvard Hosts Vegan Conference (VegNews)
Recommended Vegan Organizations that Help Food Insecure People
* Food Not Bombs
* Chili on Wheels
* RADDISH
Resources Used in this Episode
* Federal Poverty Level (HealthCare.gov)
* Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics (Feeding America)
* The High Cost of Being Poor (CBS)
*