http://www.washingtontimes.com...riddled-fraud-audit/

from a GAO report dated May 2017

Lifeline = obamaphone

Lifeline participation: 12.3 million households

Though the program is administered by the federal government, funding comes from cellphone carriers, who pass the costs on to customers through the universal service fee charge that many see on their monthly bills.

Lifeline providers receive a subsidy of $9.25 per month for every nontribal Lifeline customer

23 states offer additional funding for subscribers

For example, Lifeline providers in California receive $13.75 per month in addition to the $9.25 federal subsidy. As a result, some CA Lifeline providers are able to provide subscribers w unlimited voice minutes and unlimited text messages.

1. Regular phone customers pay the Universal Service Fund fee to carriers.

2. Carriers pay USF money collected to USAC

3. USAC deposits USF funds in a private bank account. USAC funds Lifeline providers based on how many Lifeline subscribers they have. USAC's private bank account has $9 Billion in assets.

isn't this something ? A lot of people get rich off the govt welfare programs



More than 5,500 people were found to be enrolled for two phones, while the program was paying for nearly 6,400 phones for persons the government has listed as having died.


Samples from the report:

Percentage of Lifeline beneficiaries claiming eligibility via participation in Medicaid and SNAP that GAO could not confirm as appropriate:

Michigan 46% (Medicaid) and 67% (SNAP)

Georgia 47% (Medicaid) and 48% (SNAP)

6,378 individuals reported as deceased were enrolled. These numbers likely understate the number people reported dead who are enrolled

GAO tried to enroll 19 subscribers w fictitious data that did not support eligibility. 12 of the 19 were approved.

GAO was unable to confirm eligibility in 36% of
3.5 million enrollees it examined.


note: some of the numbers may differ from the article. In those cases I used numbers straight from the GAO report

GAO report:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/684974.pdf

Shut it ALL down.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Shut it ALL down.

Stop it. Right. Now.

If somebody truly needs a "lifeline" phone, make it a lifeline and nothing more. A simple, dumb phone. No camera, no "app" capability, no internet, nothing except 911 connectivity and maybe a very limited amount of talk time.

No text except maybe for hearing impaired.

You want a smart phone? Get a job and pay for it yourself. Like the rest of us do.

The 0bama administration had Acorn affiliated groups out increasing the number of subscribers. It was as ethically run as their voter registration programs and loan/grant programs. I saw some undercover videos showing the groups advising people to lie and cheat in order to get one or two.

I hope Trump has somebody on this to eliminate it. Al Capone was more ethical than magical Erkel. The size of the bullet we dodged with Trump grows every day.

quote:

6,378 individuals reported as deceased were enrolled. These numbers likely understate the number people reported dead who are enrolled

Apparently 6,378 deceased individuals can indeed contact family from the grave!

I'm sure y'all remember this back in 2012.....

I'm shocked.

What was next, an ObamaPorsche

My elderly parents decided to take them up on the offer. They can't even be bothered to charge the damn thing, let alone be patient and technical enough to use all those zaney buttons... Useless waste. Insanity

Can you hear me now? I damn sure can.
Insanity.

Tip of the iceberg.

like many of the things the federal govt does, this becomes a money maker for the "providers" of the service. They want more and more to sign up for obamaphones. It expands their customer base.

********************

Way OT but:

# of mobile phones by country

China 1,321,930,000
India 1,170,178,305
U.S. 327,577,529
Brazil 284,200,000
Russia 256,116,000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...mobile_phones_in_use

This list ranks the countries of the world by the number of mobile phones in use. Note that it is not the number of phone devices that are being given here, but the number of phone numbers in a country. While this difference may not affect the figures of the developed countries given below, many people in many developing countries have dual-SIM mobile phones with 2 SIM cards installed

lifeline=landline

No one "needs" a cell phone.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Shut it ALL down.

Yup, ALL of it.

Don't forget about the free wi-fi