You have a home phone and pay for it ...
You have a cell phone and pay for it ...
but you are also paying for the HOME phones and CELL phones for people who can't afford it ...
the UNIVERSAL ACCESS FEE on your phone bills was meant to pay for basic service in every home so that no home would be without 911 service - every home was supposed to have one working phone outlet and one basic phone which, even without phone service, would allow for 911 calls only.
if the person in the home wanted to receive or make calls they would then need to have a "contract" with the phone service
several years ago they snuck this fee onto cell phone bills as well and began to pay for full basic cell phone use ...
this means people can not only make 911 calls on these cell phones but regular calls as well ....
and there appears to be no limit as to how many of these free cell phones they can get ...
The program called "Lifeline" will now also pay for 1/2 of the bill for people who "qualify" for basic phone service {no longer just for 911 service}
$488Million = cost in 2000
$1.8BILLION = cost in 2011
Congressman Tim Griffin (R-Ark) says some people have as many as 30 of these free cell phones and the government doesn't seem to be monitoring it
now the report Ive seen did not say what they get on those cells - although the congressman claims they are getting iPhones, blackberries, and the like ...
Tim Griffin does have more information on this on
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