Many of you doubtless have doubts and misgivings about the \u201cLifeline\u201d program \u2013 the Federally subsidized program to provide basic phone service to the \u201cpoor\u201d.\u00a0 I for one certainly do.<\/p>\n
The program is sometimes derisively referred to as the \u201cObama phone\u201d program.\u00a0 That\u2019s a misnomer.\u00a0 The program dates to 1985, during the Reagan administration.\u00a0 It was begun as a way to subsidize emergency phone service for the poorest of the poor.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funded from the \u201cuniversal service fee\u201d \u2013 one of those incomprehensible mandatory fees tacked onto the phone bills of paying customers.\u00a0 (IMO those fees are intentionally<\/em> incomprehensible to hide what they’re being used to fund, but that’s another story . . . . )<\/p>\n Originally the Lifeline program was landline-only.\u00a0 But in 2005, the Bush administration opened the program to cell phones.<\/p>\n \u201cReally<\/em> bad idea, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n From there, soon things began to go off the rails – badly.\u00a0 During the last few years, program costs have skyrocketed.\u00a0 Costs went from around $800 million in 2008 to roughly $2.2 billion in 2012.<\/p>\n The expansion of the program to cell phone service was not only a bad idea from square one.\u00a0 It was also, well, monumentally stupidly<\/span> run.\u00a0 Applicants were allowed to self-certify that they met program requirements.\u00a0 No documentation was required to back up their self-certification.\u00a0 No periodic re-certification was required.\u00a0 And there were also no effective checks to ensure the \u201cone family, one phone\u201d rule was followed.\u00a0 With cell phones and undocumented self-certification, that’s virtually impossible to do.<\/p>\n That all changed last year, when annual cross-checking and re-certification were first required.\u00a0 The changes produced results that demonstrated just why the program costs had nearly tripled in 4 years \u2013 along with showing how rife with fraud the program truly was.<\/p>\n You can probably guess the results.\u00a0 And you\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n There appear to have been roughly18 million Lifeline program participants in 2012.\u00a0 I say \u201cappear to have been\u201d because the exact number of subscribers wasn\u2019t released.\u00a0 It seems some carriers wanted the FCC to keep their individual numbers confidential.\u00a0 However, it was revealed that 6 million subscribers constitute 34% of the program\u2019s subscribers \u2013 or about 1\/3.\u00a0 And last time I checked, 3 x 6 million = 18 million.<\/p>\n