The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published in the Jan. 23 Federal Register its annual update to the federal poverty guidelines.
The update is accomplished by increasing the latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the relevant percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The 2008 guidelines reflect the 2.8 percent price increase between CY06 and CY07. After the inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to standardize the differences between family sizes. The 2008 guidelines are roughly equal to the poverty thresholds for CY07, which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final form in August 2008. Read the Federal Register notice.
