Dear Sars,

I love the Vine and have been a Tomato Nation fan since the days when it was on a site with CyberSleaze…

Just a quick note to about the woman whose mother will be losing insurance coverage due to an upcoming divorce.She may not be aware of this, but in the case of a divorce she probably CAN continue to be covered under his employer sponsored insurance plan by using COBRA (Continuation of Benefits).Here’s an excerpt:

If you are the spouse of an employee covered by the Plan, you have the right to elect continuation coverage if you lose coverage under the Plan because of any of the following four “qualifying events”:

The death of your spouse.

A termination of your spouse’s employment (for reasons other than gross misconduct) or reduction in your spouse’s hours of employment with [Employer’s Name].

Divorce or legal separation from your spouse.(Also, if an employee eliminates coverage for his or her spouse in anticipation of a divorce or legal separation, and a divorce or legal separation later occurs, then the later date of divorce or legal separation will be considered a qualifying event even though the ex-spouse lost coverage earlier.If the ex-spouse notifies the administrator within 60 days of the later date of divorce or legal separation and can establish that the coverage was eliminated earlier in anticipation of the divorce or legal separation, then COBRA coverage may be available for the period after the date of divorce or legal separation.)

Your spouse becomes entitled to Medicare benefits.

I’m not an expert on this, but she should definitely contact the employer’s human resource department.She would be responsible for the premium payments, but they would sure be less than the cost of the meds.She could be eligible for up to 36 months on his plan, but there are rules, and she needs to get in touch with his employer NOW.Especially since, if there’s a break in the insurance coverage, she might need to requalify, and she doesn’t want that since she has a pre-existing condition.She also should be able to transfer to another plan without problems as long as there is no break in coverage.

She should contact his HR department first and definitely talk to an insurance agent.There shouldn’t be any reason that she (and the dependent daughter) would have to lose coverage.

Krista

Dear Sarah,

So I have this great friend. We’ve known each other for almost exactly eight years now, and we are strong friends. He came from a family that was pretty “materially aware,” I guess, but it had never been much of an issue. He’s gone to Europe now to try and get a job in his particular field, which is ridiculously competitive here, but much easier to break into in the UK and Europe.

He spent most of 2000 in a college for this particular career, in a course with four or five other people who were significantly older than him, and I suspect this might have something to do with the problem, which is this: every email I get from him these days comes across as serious point-scoring about the fact that he’s in Europe, about to (theoretically) find a job, and I’m still stuck at college, or that “tomorrow I’m off to [place] which I don’t know if you know is the ritziest place to ski in the whole world.” He’d always been the one in our group of school friends to insist on eating at the most expensive restaurant, ordering the most expensive wine, and so on, but now it’s either getting worse, or getting more noticeable.

My question: how do I get him to stop making me so acutely aware of the fact that he can splash his parents’ money around? I’m a student here, trying to pay my bills, and while I really value his friendship, I just wish he’d shut the hell up about money, and what he’s spending on this time, or where he’s going on holiday, and so on.

Is there a way to broach the issue, do you think, or do I just have to filter out those bits of his emails and resist the urge to put my fist through whatever hard surface presents itself?

Thanks!
Middle Classy