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Lifeline Phone Fraud Essay

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In 1985 the Reagan administration launched the Lifeline Phone program to ensure low income households, disabled veterans, senior citizens, and various other individuals receiving any form of government assistance had access to a phone to easily contact emergency services, current and/or potential employers, and stay connected with family (FCC, 2016). Subsequently, the government began charging wire-line and wireless phone companies a fee to fund the Lifeline program and qualified citizens were allowed to activate one government subsidized/discounted wire-line phone per household (Koebler, 2012). In 2008, the Bush administration expanded the program to include basic cell phones as an acknowledgement of advances in technology, the evolution of how citizens utilized telecommunication devices, and statistically residency for Americans that live below the poverty line tends to be more transitory (Malter, 2012 & Tumulty, 2013). As a result of the inclusion of cell phones along with the onset of the Great Recession in …show more content…

As a result of the fraud elimination measures implemented by USAC, the Lifeline program saved $214 million in 2012 and $400 million in 2013 (Tumulty, 2013). However, despite the improved fraud prevention measures, critics have continued to express concerns about the program’s escalating costs since it has no cap for the number of users that can be in the program and its impact on the competitive market since other cell phone providers selling pre-paid cell phones cannot compete with Tracfone’s government subsidized free phone offer (Malter,

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