Gap widens for haves, have-nots

Suburban paychecks edged higher during the past year, yet this could not stem the growing ranks of poor, uninsured residents.

A striking contrast of haves and have-nots persists across the Chicago region and the nation itself and shows little sign of narrowing, experts said of census reports released Tuesday.

"It is surprising we can be so rich and so poor at the same time," said Amy Rynell, director of the Mid-America Institute on Poverty with the Heartland Alliance.

The poverty rate worsened or held steady in Illinois and all but two of the suburban counties covered by the Daily Herald, according to the 2006 American Community Survey. This counters a national poverty rate that dropped for the first time this decade.

At 12.3 percent, Illinois mirrored the average number of people nationwide living in poverty. Federal officials define "poor" as a family of four subsisting on $20,614 yearly.

People living without health insurance in Illinois climbed to 13.9 percent, up from 13.4 percent in 2005 and 13.7 percent in 2004.

The number of Americans without health insurance increased for the sixth straight year in 2006, to 47 million people. It was 44.8 million in 2005.

Among the wealthiest -- households with incomes of $75,000 or more -- the number without insurance grew by 1.4 million, to about 9.3 million. Among the poorest -- households making less than $25,000 -- the number without insurance declined by about a half million.

"With foreclosures, we know anecdotally that often the last straw is some sort of illness that isn't covered by health insurance," said Carol Sonnenschein of Chicago Metropolis 2020. "Sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story."

Consider the region's rising incomes.

Illinois residents out-earned others across the country, with a median household income -- where half of state residents make more and half make less -- of $52,006 compared with $48,200 nationwide. Suburban households pulled in some of the state's largest paychecks, figures show.

The region's top-earners fared well, lifting median incomes with their success, experts said. Those on the middle and lower rungs stagnated. At the same time, numbers of uninsured swelled, and poverty rates showed few signs of ebbing.

"It's all around us and it's not getting any better," said John Bouman, president of the Chicago-based Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Some of the state's strongest gains occurred locally.

Naperville reported one of the lowest poverty rates in the nation -- 3.1 percent -- among cities with at least 65,000 residents. Arlington Heights, and Schaumburg reported poverty rates of 4.5 and 4.8 respectively.

Naperville also set the curve with a median household income of $97,077 last year, up from $93,338 in 2005. DuPage County incomes climbed in lockstep with the county's largest town to $73,677. The increase did little to diminish the county's 4.9 percent poverty rate.

In Lake County, the ranks of poor dropped to a five-year low at 5.6 percent. A year after poverty rates, income levels and unemployment all worsened, Lake County's median household income edged higher to $75,170 and unemployment rates dropped to 4.2 percent.

Waukegan reflects the county's turnaround.

In 2005, 11,018 city residents lived in poverty. The number dropped to 8,502 last year, a 30 percent decline.

McHenry County offered less cause for optimism.

There, household earnings declined by $1,288 from one year to the next and poverty rates swelled by 5.8 percent, figures show.

Suzanne Hoban confronts the consequences every day.

McHenry County's Family Health Partnership Clinic will serve an estimated 3,500 uninsured patients this year, up from 3,000 a year ago. The waiting list grows, said Hoban, the clinic's executive director. She estimates they serve just 10 percent of the county's uninsured population.

"You can still be working 80 hours a week and not have a health insurance because you are working a series of part-time jobs," Hoban said. "These are not what one typically thinks of as why you're uninsured."

The Northern Illinois Food Bank gauges need by how many people walk through their doors. In 2006, they fed 37,400 people weekly across the region's 13 counties, up 78 percent from five years earlier.

"We see a lot of new faces," spokeswoman Amber Wood, "people who have never asked for help before."