Pallone Seeks USAC Reports on Audits of USF High-Cost, Rural Healthcare Programs
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., asked the Universal Service Administrative Co. Thursday to send him copies of the reports on audits it did over the past three fiscal years of the USF High-Cost and Rural Health Care…
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programs over ongoing concerns about waste, fraud and abuse in both programs. Pallone began reviewing possible abuses of the High-Cost program last year and successfully got the GAO to begin an investigation of the program. “I am concerned that the FCC is failing to adequately address waste, fraud and abuse in the legacy portion of the High-Cost Program and is instead directing its resources solely to smaller programs” like Rural Health Care, Pallone said in a letter to USAC CEO Radha Sekar. Pallone and other House Democrats sought a GAO review earlier this week of FCC work to deploy its national verifier program to determine consumer eligibility for Lifeline funds. The commission said in early December it was delaying the launch of the national verifier program until early this year amid security issues (see 1712010042). USAC didn't comment.