Lifeline Program is the Obama Phone

Lifeline Program is the "Obama Phone"

This CNN Money video shows the real story about the so-called “free obama phone” from "the government."

What’s the real deal behind the “free” “Obama Phone”? Think you know? Look again!

“17-million Americans get subsidized phone service through the Lifeline program and the world’s richest man is benefiting.” – CNN money

Almost $2 billion a year now goes from taxpayers to offer “free obama phones?” 17 million phones are now subsidized by tax payers? 4 million Trackphone subscribers are gathered for the benefit of a private company? 100′s of “free phones a day from other cell phone companies are paying private cell phone companies? Don't know that this was a Reagan program - not an “obama phone” program? “Lifeline Program” is a tax-payer funded program that runs through surcharges on people's telephone service bills  - it comes from the wallets of paying phone customers without calling it a tax, it's a "surcharge."  But is this a tax?

Have you gotten your "free" Obama phone? (Or did you just buy one for somebody else…?)


Have you watched the famous “obama phone lady” viral video? Don’t miss this one! – CLICK HERE TO WATCH HER NOW! 

The Federal Lifeline program goes back to 1996 and Ronald Reagan - NOT Obama.

It was included in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Act did several things, including helping to provide internet service to rural hospital doctors, patients and hospitals. It is subsidizing internet and phone coverage for schools and libraries. It is helping with aid for free or subsidized coverage for people who can’t afford phone service so they can reach emergency services. The Act was not really taxpayer funded through federal taxes directly — the Act “mandated the creation of the universal service fund (USF) into which all telecommunications providers are required to contribute a percentage of their interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues.” This is why you will entries on your phone bill labeled “USF” That’s what you’re paying for. Supposedly, this act was not intended to force people to participate with payment of it in the form of a “tax”, per se. But in fact, the phone companies pass their obligation to pay that by charging their customers with those USF fees. Ever tried to get that removed from your bill?

Somebody is trying to stop the misuse of the original purpose for the Lifeline Program:

There is a bill to stop this practice, now that it has expanded to millions of cell phones which earns millions of dollars for certain private cell phone companies, as the video above describes. The “stop taxpayer funded cell phone act” is an effort to curb this program which some people believe is being used as a tax and which is not being used in the way it was originally intended. The act attempts to stop cell phone providers from promoting and reaping benefits from this program. The act wants to” “Prohibits a provider of commercial mobile communications service from receiving universal service support under specified provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 for the provision of such service through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline program (a program that provides discounts on monthly telephone service to qualifying low-income consumers).”

OBAMA PHONE: FCC Reforms, Modernizes Lifeline Program for Low-Income Americans

OBAMA PHONE: FCC Reforms, Modernizes Lifeline Program for Low-Income Americans

"Obama Phone" is the popular, unofficial term that refers to free communications phones provided by the "Lifeline Program" to eligible Americans.

Related to the Obama Phone and the Lifeline Program, the press release below from the FCC website describes recent news about providing phone and broadband access to low-income Americans:
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 Click here to find out how to get a free Obama Phone

NEWS (*see source)
Federal Communications Commission, News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
445 12th Street, S.W.; Internet: http://www.fcc.gov; Washington, D. C. 20554; TTY: 1-888-835-5322; This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: January 31, 2012
Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253 Email: mark.wigfield@fcc.gov

FCC REFORMS, MODERNIZES LIFELINE TO KEEP LOW-INCOME AMERICANS

CONNECTED TO JOBS, FAMILY, 911 SERVICES

Changes to Eliminate Waste, Fraud and Abuse and Improve Effectiveness

Washington, D.C. – Acting to reform and modernize a program vital to ensuring affordable
communications for low-income consumers, the Federal Communications Commission today approved a comprehensive overhaul of its Lifeline program. As a universal service program that fulfills Congress’s mandate to ensure the availability of communications to all Americans, Lifeline for the past 25 years has helped tens of millions of low-income Americans afford basic phone service. Access to telephone service is essential for finding a job,connecting with family, or getting help in an emergency, and the percentage of low-income households with phone service has increased from 80% in 1985, when Lifeline began, to nearly 92% last year. But the program faces real challenges, including rules that have failed to keep pace as consumers increasingly choose wireless phone service, and that create perverse incentives for some carriers. The FCC’s Lifeline reforms address these and other challenges, including through:


Changes to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, saving up to $2 billion over 3 years
·
Setting a savings target of $200 million for 2012, and putting the Commission in a position to adopt an appropriate budget for the program in early 2013 after review of a six-month report and one-year report on the effects of the Order.

· Creation of a National Lifeline Accountability Database to prevent multiple carriers from receiving support for the same subscriber. The database will build on FCC efforts in 2011 that eliminated nearly 270,000 duplicate subscriptions in 12 states following review of over 3.6 million subscriber records, saving $33 million.

· Creation of eligibility databases from governmental data sources, enabling fully automated verification of consumers’ initial and ongoing Lifeline eligibility. This would reduce the potential for fraud while cutting red tape for consumers and providers. A database based on the three most common federal benefit programs through which consumers qualify for Lifeline will be created no later than the end of 2013.

· Establishing a one-per-household rule applicable to all providers in the program, defining household as an “economic unit” so that separate low-income families living at the same address can get connected.

· Establishing clear goals and metrics to measure program performance and effectiveness.
 ·
Phasing out support for services such as Toll Limitation – subsidies to carriers for blocking or restricting long-distance service—and ending Link Up – subsidies to carriers for initial connection charges. Link Up will continue in Tribal lands.
·
Reducing burdens on carriers by establishing a uniform, interim flat rate of reimbursement, allowing carriers to obtain a subscriber’s signature electronically, and streamlining enrollment through uniform, nationwide eligibility criteria.

Modernizing Lifeline
·
Adopting an express goal for the program of ensuring availability of broadband for all low-
income Americans.
·
Establish a Broadband Adoption Pilot Program using up to $25 million in savings from other reforms to test and determine how Lifeline can best be used to increase broadband adoption among Lifeline-eligible consumers. Starting this year, the program will solicit applicationsfrom broadband providers and will select a number of projects to fund. Lifeline will helpreduce the monthly cost of broadband service, but applicants will be expected to help address other challenges to broadband adoption, including the cost of devices and digital literacy.
·
Proposes increasing digital literacy training at libraries and schools. A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on using savings from other Universal Service Fund reforms to increase digital literacy training at libraries and schools, a key step in increasing broadband adoption.
·
Build on FCC efforts to close the broadband adoption gap and address digital literacy, including the Connect-to-Compete initiative, which enlists government, non-profit, and private sector leaders to address broadband adoption barriers through digital literacy training and low-cost broadband availability.
·
Allow Lifeline support for bundled services plans combining voice and broadband or packages including optional calling features.

Lifeline reforms continue the FCC’s comprehensive overhaul of all universal service programs, consistent with recommendations in the National Broadband Plan.
Action by the Commission, January 31, 2012, by Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 12-11). Chairman Genachowski approved; Commissioner McDowell approved, concurrred, and dissented in part; and Commissioner Clyburn approved and concurred in part. Separate statements issued by Chairman Genachowski, Commissioners McDowell and Clyburn. Wireline Competition Bureau Staff Contact: Kimberly Scardino at 202-418-1442 -FCC-

*Source: News about the Federal Communications Commission can also be found
on the Commission’s web site www.fcc.gov