Georgetown Researcher Discusses Lifeline Program Evaluation Using Existing National Datasets

On Sept 16, Olga Ukhaneva, a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgetown Center for Businesses and Public Policy met with Jay Schwartz, Acting Deputy Division Chief of Telecommunications, Access Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau to discuss how the Federal Communications Commission could incorporate evaluation of the Lifeline program.

Dr Ukhaneva proposed that the FCC could use existing datasets, such as the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) administered by the Centers for Disease Control, to identify eligible criteria that are effective at targeting consumers who need financial assistance to get and maintain access to telecommunications services. The FCC could also use the NHIS to evaluate program efficiency and estimate number of households who gained access to telephone/broadband because of the subsidy.