Analyzing the Impact of Potential Changes to the ACP Eligibility Criteria

Congress is discussing a number of different scenarios to continue funding the Affordable Connectivity Program once the remaining funds are depleted, which is projected to happen in the first half of 2024. Several of the scenarios being considered involve changes to the current eligibility criteria. Here we examine the potential impact of lowering the household income eligibility threshold, currently set at 200 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL). What would happen if this threshold were lowered to 135 percent of the FPL? How would this affect household eligibility across states and counties, and for disadvantaged populations? Nationwide about 7.4 million households that currently qualify to receive ACP benefits would become ineligible. This represents a decrease of 13.6% from the current number of eligible households (about 54.1M). However, the impact varies widely across states. In Kansas, Utah and North Dakota, this change would exclude over 20 percent of currently eligible households. In contrast, in Massachusetts, New York and California, the relative impact would be smaller with fewer than 10 percent of households losing eligibility. In addition, the relative impact of lowering the income threshold would be larger in states with Republican senators, even though the ACP program is benefitting red and blue states almost equally. The impact will also be unevenly distributed across populations, and affect veterans and older adults significantly more than other historically disadvantaged groups.