One out of every 10 Florida households has an “Obama phone”

The “Obama phone” isn’t dead in Florida, but the number of households receiving a discount or a free cell phone through the Florida Lifeline program decreased to 833,162 customers from 957,792 a year ago. That means that one out of every 10 Florida households received either a $9.95 discount on their monthly phone bill or a free Lifeline cell phone with 250 free monthly minutes as of June 30, a Florida Public Service Commission report shows. That amounted to $100 million in discounts and free phones for the 12 months ended June 30.

The program was not started by President Barack Obama, and actually dates back to 1985. The 13 percent decrease in the number of participants from 2013-14 is attributed to subscribers failing to respond to re-certification efforts, the success of fighting fraud waste and abuse in the program, and the initiation of the National Lifeline Accountability Database.