Then comes the letter offering to keep your workplace health plan through COBRA, along with a price tag that can make your eyes water.
For many households, that single number is now one of the biggest bills they will ever face outside a mortgage or rent.
COBRA lets you stay on your former employer's health plan for a limited time, usually up to 18 months.
The catch is that you now pay the full premium yourself, including the share your employer used to cover.
Add a small administrative fee, and the total can run several times what came out of your paycheck before.
According to data tracked by KFF, the average annual premium for a family plan through an employer is roughly $25,000, with workers typically covering only about a quarter of it.
On COBRA, you can be on the hook for nearly the entire amount, which works out to more than $2,000 a month for many families.
That figure lands right when your income has stopped.
Unemployment benefits replace only a fraction of lost wages in most states, and the weekly checks rarely keep pace with rent, groceries, and a COBRA bill combined.
Credit cards often absorb the gap, and balances grow fast at today's elevated interest rates.
Health premiums themselves keep climbing.
Insurers have been raising rates as medical costs, prescription prices, and hospital charges rise, and those increases flow straight into what you pay.
A plan that felt expensive two years ago can look like a bargain now.
You generally have 60 days from the date of your COBRA notice to enroll, and coverage can be backdated to the day your job-based plan ended.
That gives you time to compare options instead of panic-signing.
Before you commit, price out the alternatives.
A marketplace plan under the Affordable Care Act may cost far less, especially if your income dropped, because subsidies are based on your projected earnings for the year.
Losing job-based coverage qualifies you for a special enrollment period, so you do not have to wait for open enrollment.
Also check whether you qualify for Medicaid, which has no premium in most states, and look at short-term plans only with real caution.
Those policies can exclude pre-existing conditions and cap what they pay, so a cheap sticker price can hide steep gaps.
If you do enroll in COBRA, track the end date carefully.
When coverage stops, you get another special enrollment window to move to a marketplace plan, but missing it can leave you uninsured.
Set a calendar reminder at least a month before your COBRA runs out.
One more thing: some employers offer a severance package that covers part of the premium for a few months.
Ask HR, in writing, exactly how long that subsidy lasts and what happens the day it ends.
That date matters as much as the monthly bill.
Our take: COBRA is valuable when you need to keep a specific doctor, an ongoing treatment, or a network you trust.
Final Thoughts
For everyone else, it is often the most expensive option on the table, and comparing marketplace and Medicaid coverage first can save a household thousands of dollars during an already painful stretch.