NARUC Draft Resolution Seeks Lifeline National Verifier Tweaks

National Verifier so that eligible low-income consumers can reasonably and efficiently sign up for the federal Lifeline program without undue burdens or delays,” said Tuesday's draft by Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Crystal Rhoades (D), a NARUC Telecom Committee member. The FCC should continue to allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid cards as proof of enrollment to show Lifeline eligibility, streamline Lifeline paper applications, ensure states that launched the national verifier can access SNAP, Medicaid and other critical state and federal databases used for eligibility, and let Lifeline providers provide proof generated by managed care organizations to Medicaid recipients if requested. A SNAP card may be a Lifeline applicant's only document to show participation, but USAC wants to invalidate them because the cards don’t show issued or expiration dates, it noted. USAC hasn’t established a “single, complete database to determine eligibility for Lifeline, as directed by the FCC,” and has hard launched some states without access to any major state and federal databases, it said. Without that, it “will not be able to perform automated, near-real time eligibility verification” and instead must rely on a costlier and more error-prone manual process, it said. Paper applications are confusing, leading to rejections, the draft said. Applicants must initial “nine separate boxes to signify their assent” to nine statements, but “many applicants incorrectly interpret the boxes as checkboxes, check-marking each statement rather than initialing it.” NARUC plans to consider the resolution at its Feb. 10-13 meeting in Washington. The FCC declined comment.