COBRA After Leaving a Job: Cost, Timing and the Alternatives
COBRA keeps your exact plan and your exact doctors. It also hands you the whole premium your employer used to share.
At a glance
Figures checked 1 Sep 2026
What to take away
- You have 60 days to elect COBRA, and it backdates to the day coverage ended.
- Losing job-based coverage triggers a special enrolment period on the Marketplace.
- Compare both before electing — subsidised Marketplace coverage is often much cheaper.
COBRA lets you stay on the group plan for a limited period, usually 18 months, after employment ends. The coverage is identical. The price is not: you now pay the employer’s share as well as your own, plus an administration fee.
The 60-day window is a real option
Because election is retroactive, you can decline COBRA, stay uninsured for a few weeks, and still elect it within 60 days if something happens. It is an unusual piece of free optionality, and worth knowing about during a gap between jobs.
When COBRA is the right call
- You are mid-course through treatment and switching plans would disrupt it.
- You have already met most of the deductible this year.
- The gap is short and a new employer plan starts soon.
Losing employer coverage opens a special enrolment period. Price a Marketplace plan with any premium tax credit you qualify for before you elect COBRA — the difference is frequently several hundred dollars a month.
Common questions
Yes, dependants already on the plan can continue, and in some circumstances they have independent election rights.
Coverage terminates and generally cannot be reinstated. The grace periods are short and strictly applied.