[StBernard] Free Cell Phones for Welfare Recipients

[Westley Annis]

Blame Reagan:

http://www.fcc.gov/lifeline

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/05/congressmans-slippery-cell-phone-claim/

from snopes:

***The Lifeline program originated in 1984, during the administration 
              of Ronald Reagan***; it was expanded in 1996, during the 
              administration of Bill Clinton; and its first cellular
provider 
              service (SafeLink Wireless) was launched by TracFone in 2008, 
              during the administration of George W. Bush. All of these 
              milestones were passed prior to the advent of the Obama 
              administration.
              The Lifeline program only covers monthly discounts on landline
or 
              wireless telephone service for eligible consumers. It does not
pay 
              cellular companies to provide free cell phones to consumers, 
              although some cellular service providers choose to offer that 
              benefit to their Lifeline customers.
              Lifeline discounts are not available only to "welfare
recipients" 
              - these programs are implemented at both the state and federal

              levels, so qualification criteria can vary from state to
state, 
              but in general participants must have an income that is at or 
              below 135% of the federal Poverty Guidelines, or take part in
at 
              least one of the following federal assistance programs: 

                Medicaid; 
                Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps or
SNAP);
                Supplemental Security Income (SSI);
                Federal Public Housing Assistance (Section 8);
                Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP);
                Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF);
                National School Lunch Program's Free Lunch Program;
                Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance;
                Tribally-Administered Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families 
                (TTANF);
                Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR);
                Head Start (if income eligibility criteria are met); or
                State assistance programs (if applicable).


              The Lifeline program is not directly subsidized by taxpayer 
              monies. It is paid for out of the federal Universal Service
Fund 
              (USF) through a fee assessed against telecommunications
service 
              providers, who may or may not pass those costs along to their 
              customers: All telecommunications service providers and
certain 
              other providers of telecommunications must contribute to the 
              federal USF based on a percentage of their interstate and 
              international end-user telecommunications revenues. These 
              companies include wireline phone companies, wireless phone 
              companies, paging service companies and certain Voice over 
              Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers. 

              Some consumers may notice a "Universal Service" line item on
their 
              telephone bills. This line item appears when a company chooses
to 
              recover its USF contributions directly from its customers by 
              billing them this charge. The FCC does not require this charge
to 
              be passed on to customers. Each company makes a business
decision 
              about whether and how to assess charges to recover its
Universal 
              Service costs. These charges usually appear as a percentage of
the 
              consumer's phone bill. Companies that choose to collect
Universal 
              Service fees from their customers cannot collect an amount
that 
              exceeds their contribution to the USF. They also cannot
collect 
              any fees from a Lifeline program participant. 
            The costs of administering the Lifeline program have increased 
            greatly with the move towards cellular telephone services,
leading 
            the FCC to approve a comprehensive overhaul of the program in 
            January 2012 intended to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. 

            A number of web sites touting Lifeline benefits and imitating
the 
            look of government web sites have sprung up on the Internet, but

            those sites are privately operated ones created to promote the
sales 
            of cellular services and have no official connection to the
federal 
            government or the current presidential administration: By 2010, 
            Virgin Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, i-Wireless, Head Start, Consumer

            Cellular, Midwestern Telecom, Allied Wireless, and others had
free 
            phone plans. That's why you can find all these "free cell phone"

            websites that look kind of shady, like Obamaphone.net or 
            FreeGovernmentCellPhones.net. In 2011, the FCC said that these 
            carriers were "fiercely competing for the business of low-income

            consumers by marketing 'free' phones." TracFone spokesman Jose 
            Fuentes [said], "We've had a lot of fly-by-night companies come
in." 
            Fuentes estimated that more than 1,700 wireless companies were
part 
            of Lifeline. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of people with 
            Lifeline phones grew from 7.1 million to 12.5 million. These 
            companies may be fly-by-night at providing cell phone service,
but 
            they are pretty good at marketing, and as the rush of
merchandise 
            tied to his inauguration showed, Obama's name seems to move
product.