[mancerayder]

The article attempts to refute/shed doubt on the poverty statistic by listing a string of stats that show that most poor people in America have DVD players, air conditioning and so forth, and something like 40 pct own their homes.

How convenient to cherry pick away from the biggest of the worst: health care, completely unmentioned.

[anoncoward111]

Disclaimer: I'm an insurance broker. I currently have really terrible coverage through my employer ($5,000 deductible, nearest in-network hospital over 1.5 hrs away)

Ironically, for the truly poor (sub 16,000 in income per year), you can get health insurance in many states for $40 a month with expanded Medicaid coverage. The copays may be high, but it will protect you from catastrophic expenses. If you qualify for Medicare as a senior, then for $200 a month you can get 100% expenses covered.

It is the people making 35k - 60k per year, like myself, who either have to pay in full for terrible medical coverage, or get a job in a high cost of living area. This is why I was saving more money living rurally on low income than I was living suburbanly on moderate income-- the rent and lack of federal subsidies leave me with very little takehome pay.

Now, to say that a poor person isn't poor just because they have a DVD player is disgustingly absurd. And these days, a phone is incredibly useful and realistically only costs about $120 upfront and maybe $20 a month ongoing for prepaid service.

The biggest expense will always be rent or a mortgage. It is disgusting how much these things cost for how little quality they are.

For this we can only blame the town governments that restrict building supply, and the financing companies that force people into over leveraging themselves to buy a house of questionable value.

[Gibbon1]

> Now, to say that a poor person isn't poor just because they have a DVD player is disgustingly absurd. And these days, a phone is incredibly useful and realistically only costs about $120 upfront and maybe $20 a month ongoing for prepaid service.

The key thing is you need services and tools like cars and cell phones in a developed country.

I have some personal experience with healthcare due to having a chronic condition. There has never been any way for me to get private coverage. And while the drug I need to stay healthy very cheap out side the US, inside the US it costs $500/month. This due to the US's patent and relicensing system. In my case the patent on my medication expired in 2010. And in 2009 the company changed the dose and repatented it for another 20 years. There was a competitor that was going to introduce a generic but the drug company offered them a cross licensing agreement. Which they accepted.

[anoncoward111]

So do you get the drug for a rational price through your insurance company, or do you import it from abroad?

You are falling victim to corporate cronyism. I truly feel sorry for you :(

[microwavecamera]

> The copays may be high, but it will protect you from catastrophic expenses. If you qualify for Medicare as a senior, then for $200 a month you can get 100% expenses covered.

That sounds like a sweet deal to a middle class income earner but the average income from Social Security for seniors is about $1400 a month.

http://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-retirement-be...

[anoncoward111]

$1400 a month for a senior (who may even have a paid off house) is pretty excellent considering most fast food workers are taking home $1400 a month and don't qualify for Medicare.

[Gibbon1]

This bog post by Branko Milanović touches on this. (A development and inequality specialist)

https://glineq.blogspot.com/2018/06/bob-allens-new-poverty-m...

I when I carefully read it the claim was poverty in the developed world is underestimated. As is poverty in the developing world.