The Federal Communications Commission last week announced the suspension of service cancellations in an effort to maintain internet service for the growing number of Americans whom the pandemic is forcing to work and learn at home. State regulators had previously questioned whether changes to the program, called Lifeline, that are intended to crack down on fraud would kick subscribers off of it in error.
Approximately 50,300 people in Minnesota used Lifeline, according to the most recent Public Utilities Commission data from 2018.
Among the changes to the program is one that elevates the role of the Universal Service Administration Company, which oversees Lifeline on behalf of the federal government. Lifeline subscribers had long been able to deal directly with companies that offer the service when applying for and renewing it.
That is changing now that the Trump administration has directed USAC to manage customer service. As part of the new arrangement, the organization has been rolling out a new nationwide to re-verify subscriber eligibility.
Beneficiaries of social programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, are automatically eligible to receive the Lifeline discount — about $9.25 a month. USAC can use databases of those programs to automatically re-verify Lifeline subscriptions, and thus continue to apply the the discounts it offers.
The catch is the organization has been slow to connect with state social program databases. USAC and some of the companies that offer Lifeline discounts have been notifying subscribers that aren't picked up in initial background checks by mail about how to re-verify themselves.
Subscribers who don't re-verify within 60 days of receiving their notices can be removed from the program, though it is still possible for them to re-enroll. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission officials in February expressed concern over the re-verification process's potential to cause confusion and even disrupt service.
USAC lacks name recognition, they said at the time, and letters from it might simply be disregarded as junk mail. To dismiss those letters might lead to accidental de-enrollment.
Given the social and economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the FCC last week told the USAC to not enforce "any rules which require Lifeline providers to de-enroll any Lifeline subscriber for whom the provider has a reasonable basis to believe is no longer eligible for the program."
"Consumers in Minnesota are eligible for the waiver relief that the FCC granted on March 30 that waives several rules that could result in involuntary de-enrollment," USAC spokesperson Jaymie Gustafson said in an email.
The waiver extends the re-verification deadlines to May 29. USAC could not immediately say how many subscribers had been re-verified as eligible for Lifeline in Minnesota so far.
In a phone call Friday, Minnesota Telecom Alliance president Brent Christensen said the FCC's decision called to mind the recent actions of utility companies, many of which have pledged to not shutoff power and water to their customers for the duration of the pandemic.
"I think that’s right the thing to do," he said.
Christensen said the service and other low-cost options like it could come in handy for poorer households that lack internet service. Some broadband companies in Minnesota have already partnered with local school districts to provide cheaper internet options for families whose children are taking online classes due to the public school shutdown, he said.
Changes to Lifeline may not affect telecom companies that carry it simply because so few people subscribe to it. They make up only a small part of Blue Earth-based Bevcomm, according to CEO Bill Eckles, whose company isn't shutting off service for late payments in the 26 southern Minnesota and Wisconsin municipalities it serves.
"This is sort of one of those situations here everyone has got to step up and pitch in," he said.
The Minnesota Department of Health, meanwhile, confirmed that 94 new cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, had been identified in the state. That brought the state's total caseload to 1,336.
And while 732 patients have been cleared to end self-isolation, 57 have died. More than 140 remain in the hospital.
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April 11, 2020 at 05:00AM
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Federal regulators move to maintain phone assistance program in Minnesota, nation - INFORUM
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