In anticipation of the August 28 release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage” report, AEI scholars Joseph Antos, Douglas J. Besharov, and Karlyn Bowman will host a briefing to discuss this important report card on key U.S. social and economic indicators.

How should this year’s Census Bureau numbers be interpreted? Are they accurate? What do they tell us--and not tell us--about trends in income, poverty, and health-care coverage? And what are their political implications? A number of presidential candidates, for example, have made poverty alleviation a major element of their campaigns. Almost all candidates want to do something about health-care coverage. Do the new data provide a greater justification for federal action? Have incomes risen or fallen? Is there more or less poverty? What about income inequality? And has the share of Americans covered by health insurance risen or fallen? Speakers will discuss these and other questions.

Joseph Antos will discuss health insurance coverage and the uninsured; Douglas J. Besharov will discuss the income and poverty data, its likely direction, and its accuracy. He will also describe the implications of the Census Bureau’s new approach to measuring income, which provides separate poverty counts for "money income," "market income," "post-social insurance income," and "disposable income"; and Karlyn Bowman will discuss key poll data concerning public attitudes toward poverty, income inequality, and health insurance coverage. Speakers will also address the possible political implications of these data.