The austere US safety net for poor, non-elderly adults who are not raising children and do not receive disability benefits

The austere US safety net for poor, non-elderly adults who are not raising children and do not receive disability benefits Robert Greenstein The Hamilton Project and The Brookings Institution April 2024 Abstract Over the past half-century, the U. [...] In other words, two of every three non- In 2017, the safety net lifted out of deep poverty— elderly childless adults who were not receiving dis- i.e., from below the poverty line to between 50 and 100 ability benefits and who were in deep poverty before percent of the poverty line or out of poverty altogeth- accounting for government benefits remained in deep er—76 percent of people of all ages wh. [...] Over the past five decades or so, the to 4.1 percent in 2017, with the safety net in 1970 antipoverty impact of government programs strength- lifting out of deep poverty 74 percent of oth- ened substantially for various groups, but not for non- erwise–deeply poor elderly adults, and in 2017 elderly childless adults who do not receive disability lifting out of deep poverty 90 percent of other- bene. [...] Basic federal cash assistance for poor non-elderly In most of these states, the state EITC for eligible childless adults who do not receive disability bene- workers equals a specified percentage of the worker’s fits—including adults who do not have earnings—lacks federal EITC—usually 40 percent or less; because the political support and is hard to envision in the foresee- federal EITC for childles. [...] The safety net lifts Medicaid enrollees in the state for the first two years out of poverty a much smaller share of otherwise-poor the expansion is in effect.