Responses to additional comments received by OMB

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 8:10 AM
To: Harris-Kojetin, Brian A.
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Fw: ASEC questions


Brian,

Having replied to your other requests from your 12/23/2009 memo, below are the remaining responses to the two public comments received, in reaction to the ASEC OMB clearance package.   Please insert the responses into the record; let us know if you have any questions on these.

On the NYC letter, there are no comments at all on the proposed changes to the ASEC. The only comments are that we should add questions to the ACS that facilitate an improved poverty measure. There is a separate process for ACS stakeholders to request additions and modifications to ACS content and questions. That process is described in the URL below:

   http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/dm1_ch05.pdf

AARP's letter makes some very valid points. They note the technical issues associated with adjusted thresholds and resources to account for the impact of homeownership on poverty, which we certainly appreciate and acknowledge. They have a suggestion expanding the wording on the Medical expenditures question. Unfortunately, we were under very tight time constraints with regard to the addition of these questions, and there was no opportunity to pre-test new questions. We used existing questions, which were taken from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), and these questions did not include wording on long-term care costs. As time and resources permit, we will attempt to fashion test a more inclusive set of out-of-pocket medical expense questions.