Photo: Responding to numerous complaints from local senior citizens over unexpected phone bill increases and difficulties recertifying with the Lifeline discount phone service program, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D – Howard Beach) called on the FCC to reform the program. Courtesy of Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder’s office.
Responding to numerous complaints from local senior citizens over unexpected phone bill increases from recertifying with the Lifeline discount phone service program, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D – Howard Beach) called on the Federal Communications Commission to reform the program’s broken recertification process. Goldfeder also urged the agency to work with the New York State Public Service Commission to improve coordination between the federal government and utilities providing the service in the state.
The Lifeline program provides discounts on phone service to qualifying low-income consumers. Since 2005, the program has provided recipients with discounts to pre-paid wireless service plans in addition to traditional landline service. To participate in the program, consumers must either have an income that is at or below 135% of the federal Poverty Guidelines; or participate in assistance programs, such as Medicaid, Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income, and Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, among others.
“In southern Queens and Rockaway we have one of the largest senior populations in the entire city. Providing our seniors with affordable reliable phone service can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency,” said Goldfeder. “That’s why I’m calling on the FCC to fix the broken Lifeline program and ensure it lives up to its name for our families.”
In a letter to FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, Goldfeder called on the Commission to simplify the recertification program and improve efforts to notify applicants of their current status. According to the letter, many senior citizens enrolled in the program have seen their phone bills increase dramatically after being de-certified without warning. Goldfeder also requested application instructions and recertification notices be made available in multiple languages, citing large Russian and Italian-speaking populations in southern Queens and Rockaway.
According to multiple senior centers contacted by Goldfeder’s office, seniors and their social workers must apply several times for their clients. Many applicants are often not properly notified when applications are submitted incomplete, leaving seniors to find they have been de-certified only after their monthly phone bills have increased, the centers contend. This has caused considerable hardship for many local seniors on fixed incomes.
By Forum Staff
