Yes, people on Medicaid can retain phone benefits when ACP ends

UPDATE (4/30/24): The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that households with ACP discounts may still see partial discounts in May 2024 if they keep their internet service and their internet company decides to offer a partial discount. Households will no longer see any ACP benefit at all after the end of May unless Congress provides the program additional funding. The story below remains as previously written.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has helped many Americans with low incomes get discounts on internet and cell service. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) runs the ACP, which provides discounts for broadband internet and devices to people with low incomes. Funding for the ACP runs out at the end of April.

Jackie texted VERIFY to ask us if people on Medicaid will retain their phone benefits through Safelink, a low-cost cell carrier, after the ACP ends.

THE QUESTION

Will people on Medicaid retain their phone benefits when the ACP ends?

THE SOURCES

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)
• Safelink Wireless
• AARP

THE ANSWER

Yes, people on Medicaid can retain their phone benefits when the ACP ends, but they will have to apply for a separate program called Lifeline to do so if they aren’t already on it.

WHAT WE FOUND

While people on Medicaid will lose any discounts on internet or phone services they received through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) after April, they will remain eligible for Lifeline, a separate program which provides a smaller discount on phone and internet services.

The ACP began as the Emergency Broadband Benefit to help families struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic before morphing into today’s ACP in 2022. It offers low-income households a discount of up to $30 per month toward wireless broadband internet service and up to $75 per month for eligible households on Tribal lands, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says. It also offers discounts for purchasing devices like laptops.

The FCC includes “fixed and mobile wireless providers” in its definition of “wireless broadband internet access service” providers for the ACP. That means internet and phone plans are covered by the ACP.

A different program dating back to 1985, Lifeline, provides low-income households a discount of $9.25 a month, or $34.25 a month for those on Tribal lands, for internet and/or phone service. Lifeline’s discount can only apply to one subscription, but that subscription can be one that bundles internet and cell service together, the FCC says.

The ACP and Lifeline are two separate programs, and the FCC says the same person could be enrolled in both at the same time. A person could apply the two discounts to the same or to different services.

Congress did not give the ACP permanent funding, making April 2024 the last fully funded month of the program, according to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which administers it for the FCC. USAC says your internet provider will let you know when the discount on your monthly bill ends.

Lifeline, on the other hand, is a long-term assistance program offered by the federal government, the FCC says. It has no end date and it receives funding through the annual federal budget.

So Lifeline will remain available to those on Medicaid even when the ACP goes away.

Safelink Wireless, a Lifeline-supported phone carrier, explains that customers already on Lifeline will not have to take any action to continue receiving their Lifeline discount. However, customers who aren’t on Lifeline will have to apply for it to keep their service and benefits. Anybody on Medicaid is eligible to apply.

Fewer internet service providers offer plans supporting Lifeline than the ACP, so if you were benefitting from the ACP and not Lifeline, you may have to switch providers to find one that supports Lifeline, suggests the AARP.

There might also be other programs available to you offering benefits for phone or internet service. For example, the AARP says that Comcast offers an internet plan called Internet Essentials at $9.95 a month for people on Medicaid and other government programs. 

Some people may still receive a discount for a few months after the ACP ends, depending on their provider. For example, Metro by T-Mobile says that subscribers who keep their current ACP line active will receive a $15 discount on their monthly bills from June to August.