The national poverty level is determined by the federal poverty level (FPL), which is a measure of income issued every year by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) . The FPL is used to determine eligibility for certain programs and benefits, including savings on Marketplace health insurance, Medicaid, and CHIP coverage. The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the “federal poverty level” (FPL), but that phrase is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations where precision is important. The poverty guidelines are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes. The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure and are updated each year by the Census Bureau. The poverty guidelines are used to determine whether an individual is eligible for federal safety net programs. The 2023 federal poverty level (FPL) income numbers are used to calculate eligibility for Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) . The 2023 poverty guidelines are calculated by taking the 2021 Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds and adjusting them for price. The 2023 HHS Poverty Guidelines for a family of 8 is $50,560.