Well, at the very least the ones who die from exposure in the winter because they don't have a place to live, the ones who die because they can't afford medical care, and so on have a clue what real hardship is.

"In the United States: 6,660 people died from hypothermia or exposure to cold from 2006 to 2010, an average of 1,320 deaths a year." [1]

It isn't split up along poverty vs. accident lines, but this is not a major cause of death in the US.

[1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr076.pdf

The deaths amongst the homeless are underrepresented in the statistics for obvious reasons. But ignoring that...

> this is not a major cause of death in the US.

Wait, so people dying due to poverty isn't something that deserves attention just because it isn't common enough?

This discussion is if the United States has an issue with poverty, and the answer is: no it does not.

A tiny fraction of people dying from cold is not an indication that the US has a poverty issue.

Sure help them, no one is disputing that, but that's also not what's being discussed here.

Yes, that's why the life expectancy of the US, the richest empire in history, is ranked 51 out of all countries, just below Cuba and above Albania.