New Brattle Study Finds the Affordable Connectivity Program Pays for Itself

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a new report released today, experts from The Brattle Group provide an economic analysis of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) – which offered monthly broadband service subsidies to low-income households – and find that the economic benefits generated by the program far outweigh its costs.

The ACP helped connect more than 23 million households to internet service. However, the program expired in May 2024 due to a lack of funding. In the report, the Brattle coauthors show that reinstating the ACP could lead to significant savings and benefits for the U.S. in healthcare, education, and the labor market. The total quantified benefits in these areas are significantly larger than the program’s modest annual cost of $7.3 billion; in fact, the overall healthcare savings alone are quadruple the ACP’s annual funding and could more than offset the costs of the entire program if it were reinstated.

Key highlights of the report include:

• By improving access to telehealth alone, the ACP generates an estimated $28.9–$29.5 billion in annual healthcare cost savings. Increased access to virtual care reduces the need for in-person medical visits while generating better health outcomes.
• A switch from one physical visit to telehealth for one single Medicaid recipient could save enough money to fund 3.5 years of ACP support for one Medicaid recipient.
• Over 80% of the annual costs of the ACP could be offset solely from $6.0 billion in Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scorable telehealth-induced cost savings under Medicaid.
• Reinstating the ACP would improve students’ academic performance and benefit their future earnings by over $3.7 billion per year, starting approximately 10 years after high school.
• $2.1–$4.3 billion in annual wage gains from expanded labor force participation could be generated if the program were reinstated.

“The ACP played a critical role in addressing broadband affordability in the United States over the past several years, and our analysis found that the annual return on investment for the ACP exceeds the expense of the program,” said Dr. Paroma Sanyal, Principal at The Brattle Group and one of the coauthors of the report. “The continuation of the ACP is not just a fiscal necessity to save taxpayer dollars but a strategic investment in America’s economic competitiveness. Without the ACP, the country would lose billions of dollars in cost savings and economic gains.”

TruConnect, the fastest-growing premium low-cost wireless service provider in the US, commissioned the study.

“Paying for Itself: How the Affordable Connectivity Program Delivers More Than It Costs” was coauthored by Dr. Sanyal, Principal Dr. Coleman Bazelon, and Senior Associate Dr. Yong Paek.

The full report is available on Brattle’s website: https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/.

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