A new report from the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of the Inspector General revealed that California, Texas, and Oregon obtained $5 million in reimbursements for the Lifeline program for 116,000 dead people.
“Most troubling, at least 16,774 of the deceased Lifeline individuals were first claimed by a Lifeline provider after they died,” the OIG wrote. “Providers claimed more than $500,000 in Lifeline subsidies for purported service to these subscribers.”
California alone provided phone and internet service to more than 94,000 dead people.
“The FCC’s federal Lifeline program, which spends nearly $1 billion every year, does not have adequate checks in place to ensure that only lawful beneficiaries obtain those subsidies,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr wrote on X. “There has been a recent rise in non-citizens fraudulently obtaining social security numbers. And the current verification process does not do a good enough job at preventing duplicative subscriptions and similar abuse.”
The FCC’s Lifeline program makes communications services affordable for low-income consumers. It includes phone, internet, or bundled services.
The monthly discount is $9.25.
The three states are “opt-out” states, which means they manage their own “eligibility verification and duplicate checking for the federal Lifeline program.”
That means the states are not subjected to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) death checks.
However, Carr revoked California’s opt-out status in November after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation “that makes it effectively impossible for California to comply with federal program integrity obligations.” The moves included prohibiting the state from collecting social security numbers and sharing data with the federal government.
- Between December 2020 and September 2025, Lifeline providers sought and received approximately $5 million in program subsidies from FCC on behalf of nearly 117,000 deceased opt-out state subscribers.
- At least 16,774 (and potentially as many as 39,362) deceased individuals were first enrolled and claimed by a provider after they died (i.e. they were deceased at the time of enrollment).
- In September 2025 alone, providers sought and received Lifeline support for more than 11,000 deceased opt-out state subscribers, totaling approximately $100,000 in improper payments.
Carr has proposed reforms to the FCC’s Lifeline program, which the Commission will vote on next month. A few steps the FCC would like comments on:
• Ensuring that Lifeline support is used to benefit only legal, living, and eligible Americans consistent with section 254 of the Act, through enhanced requirements to ensure that program participants are truly eligible for Lifeline discounts;• Improving program integrity and efficiency, including reforms applicable to the states that have been permitted to opt out of using the NLAD;• Promoting more principled service provider conduct and ensuring that service providers that participate in the Lifeline program comply with all rules; and• Streamlining Lifeline program rules and mimimizing [sic] stakeholder confusion.
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