There are also suggestions that parents might not want their children to feel stigmatised by being identified as coming from a low-income family.

BBC: Families miss free school meals

Joyce is an immigrant from a low-income family with big dreams of pursuing a PhD after graduating in 2010 with a degree in genetics.

WHITEHOUSE: Engage and Connect

For instance, if paper towels were only sold in bulk packages large enough to last a family a decade, low-income families would be priced out of this market as well.

FORBES: Why Market Based Immigration is America's Best Bet

For example, family credit, a benefit for low-income working parents, is being replaced by the working-families tax credit, a tax relief.

ECONOMIST: Public spending

Median family net worth has hit a two-decade low, median household income has declined, more than 30% of borrowers are underwater on their mortgage, 23 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, and half of college graduates this year come out of school unemployed or underemployed.

CNN: Obama's message of divide and blame

But that young, healthy, low-income family that buys their own coverage and used to be able to add a child to their policy for a song?

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