$100,000 a year: the new poor?

Jim Geraghty has this little jaw-dropper (bold emphasis added):

The Department of Health and Human Services announced today in the Federal Register its calculation of the poverty level for 2009. In 49 states and the District of Columbia, for a family of one, HHS puts the poverty level at an income of $10,830 or below.

2 persons: $14,570
3 persons: $18,310
4 persons: $22,050
5 persons: $25,790

For Alaska, it is a few thousand dollars more at each level. The rest of the chart can be found here.

I mention this because the House of Representatives has passed  legislation allowing states to offer government-funded health insurance to children who live in families that have incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. The Senate is expected to pass this legislation, and President Obama is expected to sign it.

In other words, barring the unforeseen, the President and Congress will allow state governments use your tax dollars to pay for the health insurance of households making $100,000 a year ($103,160 for a family of five, to be precise).  Given the experience we’ve had in Virginia, odds are most, if not all, of the states will sign up as many beneficiaries as they can, taking credit for it before the next election only to raise our taxes to pay the bill for it all after the next election.

Meanwhile, $100,000 – long the tripwire salary of “the rich” is now the new poor.  Who knew?