Opinion

To improve health care disparities, close the digital divide

Technicians installing broadband pipes

Technicians installing broadband pipes Mika Baumeister

The COVID pandemic has been a double whammy for the most vulnerable and disconnected. Those without the broadband internet at home struggled with distance education, telehealth, telework, and staying connected with family and friends. Now, many are unable to sign up online for the vaccines.

Roughly 30% to 35% of Black and Hispanic households aren’t connected to broadband, compared to 20% of whites; vaccination rates in these communities also lag. Currently, only 32% of Black and 35% of Hispanic Philadelphians are vaccinated, compared with 50% of whites.

Closing the digital divide will help us solve a lot of problems. Public health is one of the most important.

In Philadelphia, like most other cities, world-class broadband networks reach 99% of doorsteps, and 95% have a choice of providers. Yet, only 70% are actually connected at home.

We need a massive push to educate on the importance of broadband adoption and to teach digital literacy skills. If the federal government plays it smart, the infrastructure bill can make a major dent with a surgically targeted subsidy plan we know will work.

In Washington, both parties seem to be nearing bipartisan consensus on a massive $65 billion broadband plan. But most of that will be directed to rural areas that don’t yet have broadband pipes. This historic opportunity needs to also address the urban divide.

The urban adoption divide is wholly different from the rural access divide. Both are solvable. For years, Comcast and other broadband providers have offered $10-a-month plans to low-income groups. 

It’s been the most successful digital divide initiative ever, moving 14 million Americans online. Efforts by progressive mayors in Philadelphia and Atlanta to cover the broadband subscription costs for school children during COVID also moved huge numbers online for remote education.

These efforts may sound like small-ball compared to a trillion dollar-plus infrastructure bill. But these smart, targeted adoption initiatives offer huge bang for the buck. And coupled with digital literacy training, these programs work.

This is where the feds can step in to help scale up solutions. Last December, Congress passed a temporary Emergency Broadband Benefit giving a $50 per month broadband stipend to low-income families. More than 1 million households signed up in the program’s first week.

Civil rights leaders are calling on Congress and the Biden administration to make this subsidy program permanent. A Permanent Broadband Benefit (PBB), modeled on the SNAP program for groceries and the Lifeline program for home phone service, would cost somewhere between $8-12 billion per year.

Surprisingly, the Biden administration has been slow to get on board. Instead, it’s flirting with a more convoluted approach pushed by tech-left activists: Doling out massive taxpayer funding to local governments to build and operate their own broadband networks – even in cities that already have ultra-fast networks.

But municipal broadband networks have a rich history of failure. 

They are expensive to build: One recent study projected it would cost as much as $300 billion to build duplicative government networks nationwide. And they have a bad win-loss record of red ink. Here in Philly, the infamous wireless Philadelphia municipal WiFi debacle never even managed to get off the ground, much less live up to the hype. 

Further, recent research suggests that just building additional networks does little to increase broadband adoption. 

So why spend $300 billion on a strategy that has often failed when we can instead spend $8 billion on an approach we’ve already seen work?

Part of the answer is that there is a special interest constituency behind the building of these dubious municipal networks. Part of it is because in the age of social media, some local elected officials want a grand project to help build their “brand.” Either way, it’s a circuitous and fraught route in place of a highly effective one.

The infrastructure bill is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix a lot of things, including the digital divide. But Congress and the White House need to stay focused on ideas that will work, and stiff-arm the special interests and idealogues intent on stealing defeat from the jaws of victory. 

We can solve the vaccination gap and both the rural and digital divides if we just stay focused on what works.

Dr. Sanul Corrielus is the president and CEO of Philadelphia Premier Cardiovascular Consultants LLC and the founder of Community Cardiovascular Initiative, a non-profit organization that focuses on providing integrated cardiovascular health and wellness education to underserved communities.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.