Poverty and lack of health insurance coverage have worsened in Michigan and the average household income is down. The troubled economy is a terrific strain for low-income people, said Kurt Metzger, research director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University. The census report \"points out that their situation isn\'t improving even if the economy is getting better,\" he said. \"We\'ve not really appreciated or understood how bad things have gotten for them over the last few years.\"