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

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?

FORBES: Military Families Get A $2,400 Bill From ObamaCare

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

The city is using Katrina as an excuse to get rid of public housing complexes and push out low-income people, says Sam Jackson, who has lived with his family for more than 15 years in one of the buildings to be demolished.

NPR: New Orleans to Bulldoze Public Housing

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

The cost for low income families of sending a child to a four year public institution in the United States has risen from 13% of family income in 1980 - this is the one year cost, average cost for low income families of sending a child to a four year public institution has risen from 13% of family income in 1980 to more than 25% today.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Higher education 'market' warning

"The stark reality is that many people from low-income backgrounds are now faced with the unenviable choice of deciding whether to heat their homes or provide for their family, " he added.

BBC: NEWS | Business | Fuel poverty 'claims 1.7m extra'