End of Pandemic Internet Subsidies Threatens a Health Care Lifeline for Rural America – KFF Health News

FORT HALL RESERVATION, Idaho — Myrna Bronco realized this when she broke her leg.

In the autumn of 2021, the 69-year-old woman climbed a ladder to the top of a shed in her pasture. The roof protecting the horses and cows needed fixing. So, drill in hand, she pushed down.

Then she slipped.

Bronco said that when she fell, her foot got caught between two rungs of the ladder, “and my bone stuck out, and the only thing holding it up was my sock.”

Bronco crawled back into her home to get her phone. She hadn’t thought to take it with her because, she said, “I never dealt with a phone.”

Bronco required nine surgeries and months of rehabilitation. His hospital was over two hours away in Salt Lake City and his home internet connection was vital for him to keep track of records and appointments, as well as communicate with his medical staff.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal lawmakers launched the Affordable Connectivity Program with the goal of connecting more people to their jobs, schools, and doctors. More than 23 million low-income households, including Broncho’s, eventually signed up. The program provided a $30 monthly subsidy for internet bills, or a $75 discount in tribal or high-cost areas like Broncho’s.

Now, ACP has run out of money.

In early May, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) challenged efforts to fund the program and said during a Commerce Committee hearing that the program needs reform.

“As currently designed, the ACP does a poor job of providing assistance to those who truly need it,” Thun said, adding that many people who already had internet access used the subsidy.

There’s been a lot of activity on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers previously tried and failed to fund a mandatory reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. After that, Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) traveled to his home state and told voters in tiny White River Junction that Congress was still working toward a solution.

As funding for the program dwindled, both Democrats and Republicans pressed for new legislative action with proposals to address the concerns raised by Thune.

On May 31, when the program ended, President Joe Biden’s administration continued to call on Congress to take action. Meanwhile, the administration announced that more than a dozen companies, including AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, would offer low-cost plans to ACP enrollees, and the administration said these plans could affect more than 10 million families.

According to a survey More than two-thirds of households had no internet connection or had one before enrolling in the program, according to participant reports released by the Federal Communications Commission.

Bronco had an internet connection before the subsidy, but in the rural area of ​​southeastern Idaho where she lives, about 40% of the 200 families enrolled in the program did not have an internet connection before the subsidy.

John Horrigan, a national expert on technology adoption and senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said about 67% of non-urban residents across the country reported having a broadband connection at home, compared with about 80% of urban residents. Horrigan reviewed data collected by a website. 2022 census survey,

The FCC said on May 31 that the program’s end would affect about 3.4 million rural and more than 300,000 tribal households.

The end of federal subsidies for internet bills will mean “a lot of families will have to make the tough choice of not having internet anymore,” said Amber Hastings, an AmeriCorps member who serves the Shoshone-Bannock tribes on the reservation. Some of the families Hastings enrolled had to agree on a plan to pay past-due bills before joining the program. “So they were already in a tough spot,” Hastings said.

Matthew Rantanen, technology director for the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, said the ACP is “extremely valuable.”

“Society has moved everything online. You can’t function in this society, as a social member, without a broadband connection,” Rantanen said. He said not having a broadband connection puts indigenous communities and “people like Myrna at a disadvantage.”

Rantanen, who advises tribes across the country on building broadband infrastructure on their lands, said ACP’s subsidies had a dual benefit: They helped individuals get connected and encouraged providers to build infrastructure.

“You can guarantee a return on investment,” he said, adding that subsidies ensure that customers can pay for Internet service.

Since Bronco enrolled in the program last year, his internet bill has been paid in full by the discount.

Bronco used the money he had already earmarked for his internet bill to pay off his credit card debt and pay for a loan he took out for his mother’s and brother’s graves.

Because ACP’s funds were low, the program only distributed partial subsidies. So, in May, Bronco received a bill for $46.70. In June, she was expected to pay the full cost.

When asked if she would continue her internet connection without the subsidy, Bronco said, “I’ll try.” Then she added, “I have to do it” even if it means getting less service.

Bronco said she uses the Internet for shopping, watching shows, banking and health care.

Bronco said the Internet is “a necessity.”