Lifeline National Verifier Plugs Into Medicaid After Wait
The Lifeline national verifier now connects with the national Medicaid database to test eligibility, the FCC said Wednesday: Eligibility of about 60 percent of the population can be confirmed automatically. It’s “a major step in the implementation of the Verifier,”…
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said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The NV also connects with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and 12 states, the commission said. State officials, Congress members and Lifeline providers ask why the NV rollout had continued without such access (see 1908280013). Connecting the NV with federal Medicaid is a big step, but verifying up to 60 percent of the Lifeline population isn't enough, emailed John Heitmann, counsel for the National Lifeline Association: It should be at least 85 percent. That's happening in Pennsylvania where there's access to the state Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases, he said. Manual processes don't reasonably serve needs of the eligible, and the NV shouldn't hard launch "until it has electronic access to both Medicaid and SNAP databases or before service providers have access" to an application programming interface "that allows them to help consumers navigate the verification and enrollment process, including the ability to transmit documentation via the API," Heitmann said. CTIA Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Matt Gerst applauded that "eligible low-income consumers will be able to get support for [their] mobile wireless services."