Premium for the period
Monthly premium × months compared
COBRA and Marketplace premiums may begin on different dates. Confirm both effective dates and stop the comparison at the earlier plan-year renewal or cost-sharing reset.
Free, private coverage worksheet
Compare COBRA and ACA Coverage After Losing a Job
A job loss can create two different clocks and two very different cost structures. Compare one COBRA offer with one ACA Marketplace plan using the actual notices and plan documents in front of you.
Official sources checked July 25, 2026Your figures and dates stay in this browser.
After-job-loss decision workspace
Compare COBRA and an ACA Marketplace plan
Enter figures from your COBRA notice and an official Marketplace quote. This workspace organizes cost, continuity, and deadline tradeoffs. It does not determine eligibility or tell you which coverage to choose.
Transparent cost method
Compare the same single-plan-year period without counting the deductible twice
Planning total
Period premium + estimated covered-care spending
Your estimate may include deductible payments, copays, and coinsurance. The tool does not add the deductible separately because that could count the same dollars twice.
High-use planning boundary
Period premium + remaining in-network out-of-pocket maximum
The worksheet rejects a period that crosses either reset date you enter. This single-plan-year boundary is not a guaranteed maximum: non-covered care, out-of-network charges, premiums, and other excluded spending may sit outside it.
What should you verify in the COBRA notice?
Federal COBRA generally applies to private-sector and state or local government group health plans sponsored by employers with at least 20 employees. Other continuation laws may apply when federal COBRA does not. The Department of Labor says a qualified person generally receives at least 60 days to elect, measured from the later of the election notice or the date coverage would otherwise end. The plan’s notice controls your actual instructions and dates.
- Whether you and each family member have separate election rights.
- The full premium, any temporary employer contribution, and when that contribution ends.
- How prior deductible and out-of-pocket spending will be credited for the continuing plan year.
- The election method, initial payment due date, future payment schedule, and coverage end conditions.
What should you verify with the Marketplace?
HealthCare.gov says losing job-based coverage can qualify a person for a Special Enrollment Period. The Marketplace—not this website—determines eligibility, documents, savings, plan start dates, and enrollment deadlines. Apply promptly and keep proof of the former coverage and its end date.
- The last day of job-based coverage and the Marketplace plan’s confirmed effective date.
- Household members included, projected annual household income, and any requested proof.
- Net premium after confirmed savings and the possibility of tax-credit reconciliation when income changes.
- The exact provider network, covered prescriptions, pharmacy network, deductible, and out-of-pocket limit.
Official sources used for this workspace
Rules and dates can depend on the employer, plan, state, event, household, and application. These sources were checked on July 25, 2026; official notices and agency decisions remain controlling.
Use the result to ask better questions
A useful comparison identifies what is still unknown. Confirm the dates first, then resolve network and prescription questions before treating either cost estimate as complete.
The 60-day clock, and why it decides most of this
Losing job-based coverage opens a Special Enrollment Period on the Marketplace. That window generally covers the 60 days before and the 60 days after the loss, which means you can often enroll in advance and avoid any gap at all.
COBRA runs on a separate clock: you generally have 60 days from the later of your coverage end date or the date you receive your election notice to elect continuation coverage. The two clocks run in parallel, which is what makes this a decision rather than a default.
The trap is that electing COBRA and later changing your mind does not reopen the Marketplace window. Voluntarily dropping COBRA is not a qualifying event. Exhausting it — reaching the end of the continuation period — is. So the practical rule is to make the comparison inside the first 60 days, because after that the flexible option is gone.
Comparing them honestly
COBRA keeps exactly the plan you had: the same network, the same deductible progress, the same formulary, the same doctors. What changes is price. You pay the full premium, including the portion your employer had been paying, plus an administrative charge — which is why COBRA often costs several times what was deducted from your paycheck.
A Marketplace plan is a different plan, which means a different network and formulary, and a deductible that generally starts over. But your household income after a job loss is often much lower than it was, and premium tax credits are based on expected income for the coverage year, not on what you were earning. That combination frequently produces a Marketplace premium far below COBRA.
COBRA tends to win when you are mid-treatment, have met most of your deductible, or have a provider relationship that no available Marketplace plan includes. The Marketplace tends to win on cost, often decisively, for a household whose income dropped.
Details that change the answer
Deductible credit is the most commonly overlooked factor. If you are in November and have already met a $5,000 deductible, starting over on a new plan for the last weeks of the year may cost more than COBRA's premium for those weeks — even though COBRA looks more expensive monthly.
A severance agreement that subsidizes COBRA for a period changes the math for that period, but not after it ends. Note that the end of an employer subsidy is not itself a qualifying event; the relevant window was the one that opened when coverage was originally lost.
If your household income has dropped enough, check Medicaid eligibility before either option. Medicaid has no enrollment window, and in expansion states it covers adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level — which after a job loss is a threshold more households meet than expect to.