How to Get the Government to Cover Your Cell Phone Bill(s)

Time Magazine ^ | February 8, 2012 | Brad Tuttle |

[ConservativeStatement]

Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don’t qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight

Of course it does. Any gargantuan government program is going to suffer from some measure of inefficiency, waste and fraud - there's no way to eliminate it without changing basic human nature. That's one reason vast government programs should be a last resort instead of the first thing every Washington politician thinks of when a problem arises.

[KittyKares]

Coincidentally, a person who came to where I work this very day showed me his cell phone and said he got it for free. I asked him how, and he said he got it through a government program. So whether that article is old or not, there are other programs like it out there. And people know just where to find them.