Jamie Baxley
In September 2023, Sara Nichols went to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the continuation of a federal program that has provided payments to more than 900,000 low-income North Carolina residents Right to help with internet costs.
The Affordable Connectivity Program, created through the comprehensive infrastructure package approved by Congress in 2021, provides virtually free high-speed internet to households with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level ($51,640 for a family of three) or those who are enrolled in participating health care Government assistance programs such as Medicaid and SNAP. Nichols has seen the program’s impact firsthand as senior planner for the Sky Country Regional Council, a government development organization serving rural communities in western North Carolina.
Her district, a mountainous group that includes Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties, has experienced a population surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing congressional leaders, she said the sudden population growth was “driving up the cost of living for long-term residents.” It also “exacerbates the significance of our broadband connectivity challenges.”
“While the pandemic has exacerbated challenges, WNC communities have painfully realized that broadband is critical to participating in the 21st century economy and society,” she told Congress. “We work, learn, connect with friends and family, and access health care and The way government serves.”
Affordable connectivity plans have been a lifeline for tens of thousands of families in economically disadvantaged areas. It allows participants to “find jobs, take classes, gain skills and seek health care remotely,” Nichols said.
“This is a project we can’t afford to lose,” she said.
In the months since Nichols testified, the program’s prospects for survival have grown increasingly bleak. ACP funding is set to run out at the end of April, forcing more than 23 million beneficiaries across the country to either disconnect or find ways to pay the full cost of internet service.
There’s still time for Congress to act, but Nichols said she’s not holding her breath.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence that there will be a solution when this funding runs out,” she said in a recent interview. “I’m more confident that we’ll see another solution at some point, maybe After the election.”
April is the last month for the Affordable Connectivity Program, but the FCC said there is enough money left to provide reduced subsidies to participants in May. On April 9, the agency announced that next month the maximum reimbursement rate would drop from $30 to $14 for families not on tribal lands. Benefits for tribal families will drop from $75 to $35.
damaging effects
A disruption to the program, no matter how brief, could have serious consequences for the health of North Carolinians. With 8.6% of households participating, the state ranks ninth in the country in terms of the proportion of insured people to the total population.
Nichols said losing subsidies would be particularly harmful to her rural district, which is part of the state’s 11th Congressional District. The ACP covers more than 44,660 households in the area, accounting for nearly 11% of the estimated 407,945 housing units.
Nichols said many of the region’s rural residents lack transportation and rely on the internet to connect remotely with health care providers.
“In general, many health care appointments are routine enough that they can be managed via telemedicine,” she said. “In particular, mental health is well suited to telemedicine because there may not be as much touching, weighing and measuring required [patients]”.
Nichols believes that without ACP, the region’s rural communities will “continue to struggle in terms of their ability to manage their health care and the time they spend doing it.”
“They are less likely to come to their routine appointments,” she said. “It’s unlikely they’ll find an expert.”
A feasibility study conducted by the N.C. Broadband and Digital Equity Division, part of the state’s Department of Information Technology, found that a “significant number” of people in Western North Carolina’s Appalachian region “live without access to basic health care services.” and lack of access to specialists such as cardiologists due to long distances and limited health care providers.” The study also found that “access to health care has improved” in some areas where broadband and telemedicine services exist, and ” Patients are more aware of their conditions and equipped with self-management technology that can alert healthcare professionals when something goes wrong.”
The end of the ACP could have other damaging effects. Nichols worries that people who cannot afford to pay for internet service without subsidies will be saddled with debt if they fail to cancel service before the program ends.
“What I don’t want to see is a situation where we sign someone up for the program and they don’t know how to close the program because they don’t really fully understand all the ins and outs,” she said. “Then they’re sent to collections, but they don’t pay the bill because they never had a bill before they were sent to collections.”
Take action “past time”
President Joe Biden has been urging Congress since October to approve the $6 billion needed to extend the program through 2024, but Republican lawmakers have largely failed to act.
Stephen Benjamin, the president’s senior adviser for public engagement, addressed the looming deadline on a conference call with reporters last week. High-speed internet, he said, “is necessary for Americans to go to school, work, get health care and stay connected with loved ones.”
“Yet millions of Americans cannot afford a monthly internet connection even if they have access,” Benjamin said. “These disparities disproportionately impact communities of color, veterans and military families, rural communities and older Americans.”
The ACP was formed to “bridge this divide,” he said. The program currently reaches one in six families in the United States, with military families accounting for nearly half of all enrollment.
“If congressional Republicans don’t act, 23 million Americans, including many of their own constituents, will lose access to affordable high-speed internet and may be denied the benefits it brings, such as access to education, telemedicine, employment opportunities Wait,” Benjamin said. “Congressional Republicans should stand up now to prevent Internet costs for their constituents from increasing in the coming weeks.”
There does appear to be some bipartisan support for ACP in North Carolina and among elected leaders from North Carolina.
Last June, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis signed a letter asking the White House to use unspent COVID-19 relief funds for the program. The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners also came out in support of ACP.
“Some Republican and Democratic federal representatives and state legislators see value in affordable connectivity plans,” said Emily Gangi, policy director for the Broadband and Digital Equity Division at the North Carolina Rural Center in Raleigh last month. stated at a summit.
She added that the success of a $2.5 billion plan to improve the state’s broadband infrastructure depends on residents being able to afford internet service.
“[Lawmakers] “We need to recognize that spending $2 billion on infrastructure is not going to do any good if so many families in our state can’t afford it,” Gangi said.
listen: Reporter Jaymie Baxley discusses the fate of ACP on WFAE’s “Morning Edition.”
