Disabled Action Committee

Join Us on November 15th to
Support the Restoration of the
Americans with Disabilities Act
and Welcome Back the Road To Freedom Bus
Yearlong, 50-State Disability Rights Bus Tour and Traveling Exhibit Returns to Washington, DC

(Washington, DC) The Road To Freedom: Keeping the Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a yearlong, cross-country bus tour and traveling exhibit promoting the civil rights of people with disabilities and advocating for passage of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. This legislation will restore the vital civil rights protections under the ADA that have been weakened in the courts in recent years. A U.S. Senate hearing on the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 has been scheduled to coincide with the return of the Road To Freedom bus to Washington, DC on November 15, 2007.

With Yoshiko Dart, widow of the late disability rights leader Justin Dart onboard for the first leg of the journey, the Road To Freedom bus tour launched from Washington on November 15th of 2006 and has traveled to all 50 states, driving more than 25,000 miles to more than 100 bus stop events. Road To Freedom events have included disability leaders and U.S. Senators, Members of Congress, Governors and other policymakers at sites such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, National Civil Rights Museum, Brown v. Board of Education Historic Site, Clinton Presidential Library, as well as statehouses, city halls, museums, churches, colleges, and schools throughout the country.

Join us to welcome the Road To Freedom Bus back to Washington, show your support for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and attend the Senate Hearing on the ADA Restoration Act of 2007.

What:
Support the ADA at the Road To Freedom Bus Stop at the U.S. Capitol and attend the Senate hearing on the ADA Restoration Act

When:
November 15, 2007
11:00 AM – 1:00 Speakers including national and DC leaders, Bus and Exhibit of Disability Rights History. Senator Tom Harkin is scheduled to greet the bus at 11:00 AM.
2:00 PM – Senate Hearing on the ADA Restoration Act of 2007

Where:
U.S. Capitol and National Mall at 3rd Street, NW

The Road To Freedom is a project of ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR), an alliance of hundreds of national, state and local disability, civil rights, and social justice organizations united to defend and promote the civil rights of children and adults with physical, mental, cognitive, sensory and developmental disabilities.

For more information go to: www.roadtofreedom.org and for tour photos, go to: http://adawatch.smugmug.com/gallery/2925333

FINALLY
FAST FACT
According to a recent study published by Health Affairs, per capita health care spending on Americans over 85 has decreased from 6.9 percent of total health care spending in 1987 to 5.7 percent in 2004. Health Affairs attributed the decline to a wider use of home health care and community-based settings in place of nursing homes for long-term care ("U.S. Health Spending By Age, Selected Years Through 2004," Health Affairs, November 6, 2007).


Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

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1. MIDs - LIFELONG LEARNER - EFFECTIVE IEPs
2. WHO IS MEDICARE FOR?
3. DEAR MARCI - SHOULD I SIGN UP FOR THE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT?
4. FLORIDA DJJ - FATHER SAYS SON WAS ABUSED AND IS INNOCENT
5. WHEN DOES A LATER WILL REVOKE AN EARLIER WILL?
6. CVS CAREMARK - DOJ SIGN DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
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MIDs - LIFELONG LEARNER - EFFECTIVE IEPs
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Another Acronym: MIDs
Mild Intellectual Development means that the intellectual development will be slow, however, MID students have the potential to learn within the regular classroom given appropriate modifications and/or accommodations. Some MID...read more

Life Long Learner?
I've always believed that educators are committed to life-long learning. I see more and more educators getting a Master's Degree and some moving forward to obtaining a Doctorate. There's no...read more

Effective IEPs
Special educators are famous for using jargon and acronyms. However, never hesitate to ask for the actual term or meaning. IEPs are Individual Educational Plans/Programs. A child who is struggling...read more
(thax about.com)

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WHO IS MEDICARE FOR?
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Who Is Medicare For?

November 1, 2007 • Volume 7, Issue 43

Last month, Humana, the second largest sponsor of Medicare private health plans, reported record profits of $302 million from July through September, largely on the strength of its Medicare business. Around the same time, Humana put $6.8 million in the retirement account of Mike McCallister, its CEO, on top of the nearly $7 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation he earned last year.

Further down the economic ladder, a person with Medicare getting by on just over $1,170 per month are considered too wealthy to receive financial assistance paying their Medicare Part B premium. That monthly premium will rise to $96.40 next year. A retirement nest egg of $12,000 disqualifies an individual—no matter how low their income—for financial help getting through the doughnut hole—the coverage gap built into the Part D drug benefit.

All of which raises the question: Who is the Medicare program for?

Is it for older adults and people with disabilities struggling to cope with ever rising health care costs? Or is it for the executives and shareholders of insurance companies?

Medicare is a major profit center for health insurance companies because Medicare private health plans are overpaid. It costs taxpayers on average 12 percent more—some plans cost much more—per person to provide coverage through a private insurance company than it would cost under Original Medicare.

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives took steps to right this imbalance. It passed legislation to put payments to Medicare private health plans on par with costs under Original Medicare and expand eligibility for programs that help low-income older adults and people with disabilities pay the out-of-pocket costs of Medicare, which are rising three times faster than incomes for people with Medicare, according to a recent study. Specifically, people with Medicare earning up to $1,296 per month ($1,731 for a couple) could qualify for help paying their Part B premium. People with Medicare with incomes below that threshold could have up to $17,000 in savings ($34,000 for a couple) and still qualify for help with both their Part B premium and their drug expenses, including coverage through the doughnut hole.

Now it is up to the Senate to act. Most observers do not expect that the Senate will equalize payments between Medicare private plans and Original Medicare. But there is hope that the Senate will take steps to help older adults and people with disabilities struggling to afford health care on low, fixed incomes.

The steps taken in the House to help low-income people with Medicare cost $41 billion over 10 years. The Senate could pay for that simply by holding payment ceilings, or benchmarks, for Medicare private health plans to 20 percent above the comparable cost of care under Original Medicare. That still pays Medicare private health plans a lot more than they are worth, but it takes an important step toward again making the health care of people with Medicare the top priority of the Medicare program.

Please write to urge your senator to put low-income older adults and people with disabilities first.
(thax medicarerights)

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DEAR MARCI - SHOULD I SIGN UP FOR THE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT?
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Dear Marci,
I didn't sign up for the Medicare drug benefit (Part D) when it started in 2006 because I did not take any medications at the time. My doctor now wants to put me on blood pressure medication, and I wonder if I should consider signing up now. Should I?
Kevin (Jackson, MS)
----------------------
Dear Kevin,
It is good to think about this now because the annual enrollment period for Part D runs from November 15 to December 31. Whether or not you should take Part D depends on your current situation: do you currently have drug coverage, how much do you earn, and how much do you currently spend on drugs?

If you have drug coverage now that is at least as good as or better than Medicare's basic drug benefit ("creditable"), and you like it, you probably should keep it. You can join a Medicare private drug plan later without penalty if you need it (as long as you are not without creditable coverage for more than 63 days when you get Part D). The company that provides your drug benefits such as an insurance company, employer or state program should send you a written notice once a year telling you whether or not your coverage is creditable. If you are not notified, call and ask for the answer in writing.

If you have no drug coverage, or have drug coverage that is not as good as Medicare's, you need to think about whether the Medicare drug benefit will help you.

To decide if the Medicare drug benefit will help you, here are some things to consider.

Read the full article to decide if the Medicare drug benefit is for you.
http://medicareinteractive.org/page2.php?topic=counselor&page=script&slide_id=451

Marci
(thax medicarerights)

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FLORIDA DJJ - FATHER SAYS SON WAS ABUSED AND IS INNOCENT
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Father says his son was abused and is innocent

TRIAL: Wednesday, November 7, 2007
CHARGE: Battery on detention staff

Justin Caldwell has been incarcerated in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) system since he was 13. He's almost 19. His original sentence was 12-18 months in a residential treatment facility. He's been in the system nearly six years.

Last February Justin was beaten by guards twice in one day at Dozier School for Boys, a Florida DJJ program. He was allegedly thrown to the ground and his head was beaten against the floor repeatedly. The beating sent him to the hospital and was caught on video.

This wasn't the first time. According to his father, Mark Caldwell, "During Justin's nearly six-year stint at two Florida DJJ facilities, my son suffered a broken nose, a broken arm, back problems, staples in his forehead, and bruising. Some of the abuse was caught on video."

Three days after Justin was beaten in February the guard involved in the first incident filed charges against him, sending him into the adult justice system. He has since been sitting in a jail cell awaiting his trial scheduled to begin today, Wednesday, November 7th.

His father believes his son is innocent and that the charge filed against him - battery on a detention staff - is false.

He wants his son home for Thanksgiving. Mark said, "My son has spent every birthday, Christmas, every holiday behind those walls for the past six years. I want him home. I love my son."

Press Release: http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200711/1194420729.html
(thax CAICA)

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WHEN DOES A LATER WILL REVOKE AN EARLIER WILL?
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This is the November 5, 2007, issue of Elder Law FAX, a free newsletter published by the Elder Law Practice of Timothy L. Takacs

When Does a Later Will Revoke an Earlier Will?

Apparently, the later Will can't do anything if it is never produced in court, or so the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled in a recent dispute between relatives over the validity of the two Wills.

William Joe Powell died in 2006. On June 20, his son, Joseph Brently Powell, filed a petition in the probate court of Meigs County, Tennessee, asking to be appointed administrator of his father's estate. In his petition, Joseph Powell asserted that his father died "intestate" - that is, without having executed a valid Will.

The following month, Sharon Parks, William Joe Powell's sister, filed a petition to probate a will that was executed by Mr. Powell in 2001. This document contained numerous handwritten provisions, markings, and the like on it.

Joseph Powell filed a motion to dismiss the petition, alleging that it had been "legally revoked by the Deceased by the numerous changes made to the original document."

Alice Powell, William Joe Powell's sister-in-law, testified that after his death she found Mr. Powell's 2001 Will in a kitchen drawer and gave it to Sharon Parks.

Sharon Parks testified that William Joe Powell gave her the 2004 Will that she put in her bank box. Later, Mr. Powell called Sharon Parks and asked her to return the 2004 Will. After his death, a search was made for the 2004 Will but it was never found. She did not know of the existence of the 2001 Will until Alice Powell gave it to her.

After hearing the testimony, the probate court dismissed the petition, stating that the 2001 Will was revoked at least partially by the markings on it and revoked entirely by the Will executed by Mr. Powell in 2004.

There are several ways to revoke a Will, said the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

One way is the existence of a later Will that revokes it explicitly or due to inconsistency with the earlier Will. A second way is a document of revocation that is executed with all of the formalities of a Will. A third way by being burned, torn, canceled, obliterated or destroyed, with the intent and for the purpose of revoking it by the testator or by another person in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction.

What did the appeals court do?

Reversing the probate court, Justice Sharon Lee, writing for the three-person court, stated that there was no proof before the probate court of the contents of the 2004 Will, let alone that it contained a clause revoking any earlier Wills.

In fact, the proof was that Sharon Parks returned the 2004 Will to William Joe Powell. Under these circumstances, wrote Justice Lee, "we are compelled to conclude that the 2004 will was revoked by the Decedent, it being the presumption under the common law of this state that if a will is traced into the hands of the testator and not found after his death, the testator canceled it."

Does this mean that the 2001 Will may be admitted to probate? The issue, not reached by the probate court, was whether by revoking the 2004 Will William Joe Powell intended to revive the 2001 Will.

Consequently, the appeals court sent the case back to the Meigs County Probate Court for determination of that issue. Did William Joe Powell intend to revive the 2001 Will? What is the legal effect, if any, of the marking on that Will? What proof, if any, is there that those markings were made by the hand of William Joe Powell or at his direction and reflect his intent to revoke the 2001 Will?

Estate of William Joe Powell, October 24, 2007.

Elder Law Practice of Timothy L. Takacs
201 Walton Ferry Road, Hendersonville, TN 37075 · (615) 824-2571
1680 S. Jefferson, Suite A-B, Cookeville, TN 38506 · (931) 526-3828
http://www.tn-elderlaw.com

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CVS CAREMARK - DOJ SIGN DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
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CVS Caremark and Dept. of Labor Sign Disability Employment Agreement
From Providence Business News:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy and CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) have established a two-year nationwide alliance to promote the employment of people with disabilities. The effort will include technical assistance, training and education, outreach and communication.

"This alliance will mutually benefit CVS Caremark, the company's work force and customers, the Labor Department's Office of Disability Employment Policy and the general public," the ODEP's Karen M. Czarnecki, acting assistant secretary of labor, said in a statement yesterday evening.

"Hiring, retaining and advancing employees with disabilities is just good business," she said. "ODEP and CVS Caremark will share information, guidance and resources that will help to develop model programs for other employers, particularly in the retail and pharmacy services industries."

Read the rest of the article.
http://www.aapd.com/News/empissues/071106pbn.htm
(thax jfa)