When you lose a job, the letter offering continued health coverage through COBRA can feel like a lifeline.
For a family, premiums now regularly run $1,800 to $2,300 a month, because you're paying the full sticker price your employer used to split with you.
The math behind that number is simple and brutal.
Your boss typically covered 70% to 80% of the premium while you worked.
Once you're gone, you owe both halves, plus a 2% administrative fee.
So a plan that cost you $180 per paycheck can suddenly demand $700 or more monthly.
Inflation made this worse in a way most people miss.
Health care costs don't move like grocery prices — they compound quietly every year regardless of what eggs cost.
Insurers raised premiums for 2025 across most of the individual and family market, and COBRA rides along with those increases because it's tied to your old group plan's rates.
Here's the cruelest part: COBRA can cost more than a marketplace plan with similar coverage.
An ACA silver plan often comes with subsidies based on your new, lower income after a job loss.
Many families discover this only after paying for months of coverage they could have gotten cheaper elsewhere.
You generally have 60 days to elect COBRA, and it can be retroactive.
That means if you skip it and then have an emergency in week five, you can still sign up and have the bills covered.
Don't pay for coverage you may not need until you actually need it.
If you do elect it, check whether your former employer offers a severance subsidy.
Some companies quietly cover COBRA costs for 3 to 6 months as part of a layoff package — and workers rarely ask.
Read your separation paperwork line by line before assuming you're on the hook for everything.
Also compare against a spouse's plan, a marketplace plan, and short-term coverage.
Short-term plans are cheaper but can exclude pre-existing conditions and skip essential benefits, so read the fine print carefully.
For anyone with ongoing prescriptions or a chronic condition, a marketplace plan with subsidies is usually the safer bet.
One more thing: COBRA is not your only legal right.
Losing job-based coverage triggers a special enrollment period on Healthcare.gov, usually lasting 60 days from the coverage loss.
Miss that window and you may be locked out until open enrollment in November.
COBRA was designed decades ago for a world where job-based insurance was the only real option.
Today it's often the most expensive door in a hallway full of them.
Final Thoughts
Shop the alternatives before you sign the form — the savings can be hundreds of dollars a month, and that money matters more than ever.