Paralyzed SRP employee faces losing disability benefits

• A SRP worker paralyzed in 1979 is asking to remain on the health plan
• The SRP disability plan as well as Medicare has allowed Joe Escobar to access quadriplegic care

A former Salt River Project employee paralyzed 35 years ago is asking the municipal utility to allow him to stay on the SRP disability plan, which requires he transfer to public assistance because he is now 65.

The utility says it can’t make exceptions to the health plan for any individual.

Paralyzed in car accident

Joe Escobar worked as a SRP zanjero in the 1970s, working on the water delivery system in the Chandler area. Eventually, he was transferred to St. John’s to open a coal-fired power plant there. He worked more than 7 1/2 years for the company, he said.

But one day in 1979, driving home to Show Low after work, he was involved in a car accident that broke his neck and paralyzed his limbs.

After the accident, he was deemed too unstable to return to any type of work with the utility, he said, although now he said he wishes he had attempted to land a job working the phones for the utility. At the time he feared he would be terminated if he was not able to perform his duties as well as his peers and lose his disability benefits.

Asking for an exception

For the past 35 years, he has paid the monthly premium to remain on the disability plan, which supplements Medicare, he said. The payments are $427 a month now for the supplemental insurance, which helps him access nursing services that help him into and out of bed each day.

Now that he is 65, Escobar is being forced onto public health assistance, as is required of all beneficiaries of the SRP disability plan.

Living in Florence with the help of caregivers, Escobar says he does not want to go on the state’s long-term disability assistance because it will require placing a lien on his property.

He has been asking the SRP human resources department and now, board of directors, to make an exception for him and allow him to remain on the company’s health plan.

“I’m trying to get them to make an exception,” he said.

“Usually quads (quadriplegics) only last about 10 years,” he said. “I’ve lasted more than 30 because I’ve had good insurance and a good company that supported me.”

Company declines to bend rules

Scott Harelson, SRP spokesman, declined to discuss Escobar’s specifics, citing privacy concerns.

He said employees who suffer permanent disabilities are entitled to benefits until they reach normal retirement age under Social Security. Such workers are administratively terminated after a year of disability and then receive benefits as a terminated disabled employee.

“SRP does not make exceptions to its plans for any specific employee,” he said.

Escobar said he is thankful that he remains on the plan. He said he plans to attend additional board meetings — he has attended two already — to make his request of the utility’s elected officials.