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Disability Advocate Schwebel

It would be inaccurate saying 64-year-old Carolyn Schwebel is a one-woman army advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. That's because she has a great deal of help, including her friend, Carmena, and husband, John.
But Schwebel, who reads this column in the Atlantic Highlands Herald (New Jersey), did begin declaring war of sorts in 1994 on non-compliant governments and business owners in her area of New Jersey. Her weapons have been various federal laws, including the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. The group Schwebel co-founded, The Equalizers, currently has about fifteen different accessibility lawsuits in New Jersey progressing simultaneously.
"I have cerebral palsy, and it affects my walking," said Schwebel in a telephone interview. Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder, usually acquired at birth or before, permanently affecting body movement and muscle coordination.
She added, "I had some falls at work (in the '90s), so I began using a cane, and now I use a wheelchair when a lot of walking is involved." She described her walking as an awkward rocking side to side motion, with one leg shorter than the other. The cerebral palsy does not affect her speech.
Raised in Vermont, Schwebel attended the University of Illinois, which, in the early 1960s, had a special program for students with disabilities. Graduating with an English teaching degree, she interviewed with a Chicago city schools recruiter, who said she couldn't work there as a teacher because she wouldn't be able to lead fire drills. After she earned master's and doctorate degrees, she and her husband eventually ended up in New Jersey.
In 1994, when working as a school psychologist, she fell down numerous times while trying to navigate inaccessible school buildings. From the falls, she badly injured her knee, and had to use a cane. In the process, she filed an accessibility complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Education, and from it became a disability advocate.
Advising potential advocates, she said, "You have to be prepared for people who are mean and will hate you. The main thing you need is persistence, even stubbornness."
Finally, she said, you have to be able to take the heat. Some people have cussed at her. Others have accused her of being a disability advocate for the money, even though she plows back any negligible financial benefits received from settlements to use for further advocacy.
Contact danieljvance.com. [Blue Valley Sod and Palmer Bus Service grants make this column possible.]

Medicare part D prescription drug sign-up ends December 31

Medicare beneficiaries have from November 15 until December 31 to select their Part D prescription drug plan for 2008.  These plans provide varying Medicare coverage of prescription drugs.
Q.: How can I compare plans? A.: To compare plans, you should make a list of all your current medications including name, dose size, dosage frequency, and monthly cost.  The list of drugs a plan covers can be obtained by calling the plan, visiting the plan's Web site, or visiting www.medicare.gov.  You can also call the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP) at 1-800-686-1578 for free, personalized health insurance counseling.  If you have your Medicare card, a list of drugs used, and the name of your pharmacy, you may call Medicare directly at 1-800-633-4227. The information that OSHIIP or Medicare has occasionally differs from the plan's actual benefits, costs, and covered prescriptions. Therefore, beneficiaries should confirm the information from OSHIIP or Medicare with the plan itself and then enroll directly with the plan.
Q.: What if I get on a plan and then want to change it? A.: Most people cannot change plans after the annual enrollment period.  You may change your plan if you enter a nursing home or move to a location not covered by your plan.  People eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and people enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program may change plans monthly.  Otherwise, you must wait until the 2009 enrollment period from November 15 through December 31, 2008.
Q.: What must I pay for my drug plan? A.: In 2008, for drugs covered by your plan, you must pay a monthly premium that varies from plan to plan, as well as the first $275 for prescriptions. The monthly premiums and the cost of medications not covered by the plan do not count toward the $275 yearly deductible. In 2008, you pay the $275 deductible and then 25 percent ($558.75) of the next $2,235 cost of drugs. You then pay 100 percent of the next $3,216.25 cost of drugs. After you reach this $4,050 catastrophic limit on out-of-pocket expenses ($275 + $558.75 + $3,216.25 = $4,050), you pay $2.25 for generic prescriptions and $5.60 for brand-name prescriptions.
Q.: Do I have to have a Medicare drug plan? A.: No. Whether to join a Medicare drug plan is your choice. For most people, joining as soon as they are eligible means they will pay the lowest possible monthly premium.  However, if you already have prescription drug coverage, your or your spouse's former or current employer or union must send information about how your current coverage compares to the Medicare standard prescription drug coverage. If the employer or union determines that the coverage is at least as good as Medicare's standard prescription drug coverage, you can keep it as long as the employer or union offers it.  Assuming you wish to receive Medicare drug coverage, you must enroll in a Part D plan during the month in which you become eligible or you will incur a penalty. If you wait to enroll, your monthly premium cost will go up at least one percent per month for every month that you waited to join. For example, if you do not enroll for 20 months after you become eligible, your monthly premium will be 20 percent more than if you had enrolled when you first became eligible. This penalty continues to rise at the rate of at least one percent per month until you do enroll. For example, if you wait ten years to enroll, you will pay a surcharge of approximately 120 percent.
Q.: My father is now in a nursing home. Must he pay for Part D coverage? A.: No. Institutionalized individuals eligible for Medicare and Medicaid pay nothing for Part D coverage. Non-institutionalized individuals eligible for Medicare and Medicaid pay $1.05 for generic prescriptions and $3.10 for brand-name prescriptions. If your father's Medicare deductibles and co-payments are paid by Medicaid, he would pay $2.25 for generic prescriptions and $5.60 for brand name prescriptions, provided his countable resources are less than $6,120 (or $9,190 if he is married). If his countable resources are less than $10,210 (or $21,410 if he is married), he would pay a 15 percent co-payment for his prescription drugs after paying a $56 yearly deductible.   
Law You Can Use is a weekly consumer legal information column provided by the Ohio State Bar Association. This article was prepared by Gregory S. French, a certified elder law attorney in Cincinnati. Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.

Yesterday was moving day. We've spent the past week packing things and cleaning out closets and cupboards. How does one accumulate so much junk? We've only lived there for four months!
I've decided that now that we've moved everything, I'm going to hide all the scissors and scotch tape. It's possible that those two things were responsible for aiding and abetting my kids in their attempts to destroy their bedrooms. For some reason, they take great pleasure in cutting up random bits of paper and taping them on everything from their mirror to the clothes in their closet. So I've spent a great deal of time and suffered many injuries to my fingernails from peeling off those bits of paper.
Cleaning out cupboards is kind of exciting. You know, those cupboards that no one ever opens because you've stored the things you never use in there? Well, it's exciting to be reunited with those things you forgot you had. Maybe you'll never use them, but you've got them… just in case. Things like those wine bottles your husband is saving in case he ever makes some wine. Things like Grandma's gravy bowl that you can't use because it's too old and doesn't match your other dishes. Things like a stash of butterscotch candy that you hid from the kids five years ago and forgot it was there.
"So that's where they got off to!"
Sometimes, however, cleaning out a cupboard is scary. Like when you discover that a colony of some unidentifiable insect has taken up residence in a box of Potato Buds that's been in there for at least a decade.
I realized, while I was packing, that we would be a lot wealthier if we could just remember where we put things. For example, when we finally organized things, we found that we owned five tubes of Triple Antibiotic ointment, four cans of assorted air fresheners, 12 bottles of half-used shampoo, and 6 spray bottles of 409 in 5 assorted scents. Nobody needs more than one flavor of 409 at a time.
It's interesting to note the difference between my style of packing and my husband's. I will generally wrap things and place them gently into a box, making sure to leave no spaces where things could shift and break in transit. Then I carefully label all four sides and the top of the box with a description of the contents or at least what room it's from and whether it is fragile or not. This saves times when I unpack them.
My husband prefers saving time while packing. He will hold a box up to the edge of a countertop, make one swipe across the top with his expansive arm, dumping everything haphazardly into the box. Then he'll slap some tape on it and label it "STUFF". Obviously, I handle the china cabinet.
We rented a U-Haul to complete the move. I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say that U-Haul got its start in a northern state. If a southerner had started U-Haul, they would have called it Ya'all-Haul.
If your move required you to call in all your favors for the past five years to get some friends to help you, then you would need a bigger truck. That kind of truck would have been found at All-Ya'all-Haul.
You can reach Laura at lsnyder@lauraonlife.com Or visit her website www.lauraonlife.com for more columns and info about her new book.