Is America making progress against poverty? The short answer is, “No.” The slightly longer answer is, “Yes, sort of.” In many measures (poverty rates, income inequality, wages, etc.) there has been no appreciable change in the finances of poorer Americans. There has been a change, however, in health care through the Affordable Care Act.
“The percentage of people without health insurance coverage for the entire 2014 calendar year was 10.4 percent, down from 13.3 percent in 2013. The number of people without health insurance declined to 33.0 million from 41.8 million over the period.” – US Census
(Click here for the US Census report.)
Unfortunately, even with health care, patients have out-of-pocket expenses; therefore, poorer people still can find themselves drawn into deeper poverty just to meet their portion of the medical bills.
(Click on the photo for The Guardian’s commentary.)
“Census Data Shows Obamacare And Welfare Kept Millions Out Of Poverty” – The Guardian
Pretending Not To Panic 
Unfortunately, in some states, like Alabama where I live, the governors opted out of the medicaid expansion piece of the ACA, denying many of our citizens care. And our governor is a medical doctor 😦
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