Laid off: COBRA or the ACA Marketplace?
Two clocks, running at once, from the same date. One of them lets you act before your coverage ends, which is usually the cheaper move.
Last checked against primary sources: 2026-08-09
COBRA: at least 60 days to elect, counted from the later of your coverage end date or the date the notice reaches you. Up to 18 months of coverage, at up to 102 percent of the full premium.
Marketplace: 60 days before and 60 days after coverage ends. The "before" half is the part almost every guide omits, and it is usually the cheaper path.
COBRA, quoted
| Rule | What the statute says | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Time to elect | The election period "is of at least 60 days' duration" and "ends not earlier than 60 days after the later of" the date coverage terminates or the date you receive the notice. If your notice arrives after your coverage ends, your 60 days runs from the notice. | 29 U.S.C. 1165(a)(1) |
| How long it lasts | For termination of employment, up to "the date which is 18 months after the date of the qualifying event." | 29 U.S.C. 1162(2)(A)(i) |
| What it costs | The premium "shall not exceed 102 percent of the applicable premium for such period." | 29 U.S.C. 1162(3)(A) |
| First payment due | A plan may not require payment before "the day which is 45 days after the day on which the qualified beneficiary made the initial election." | 29 U.S.C. 1162(3) |
| Whether your employer is covered | Federal COBRA "shall not apply to any group health plan for any calendar year if all employers maintaining such plan normally employed fewer than 20 employees on a typical business day during the preceding calendar year." | 29 U.S.C. 1161(b) |
Why the COBRA quote is so much higher than you expect
While employed, your employer paid most of the premium and you saw only your share on your payslip. COBRA is the whole premium plus up to 2 percent administration. It is the same coverage at what it actually costs. Nothing has gone wrong when the number looks impossible; that is the mechanism working as designed.
The Marketplace clock, and the half people miss
"A qualified individual or their dependent who is described in paragraph (d)(1) ... has 60 days before and ... 60 days after the triggering event to select a QHP."45 C.F.R. section 155.420(c)(2)
The triggering event at (d)(1) is that the individual "Loses minimum essential coverage", and the regulation specifies that "The date of the loss of coverage is the last day the consumer would have coverage under his or her previous plan or coverage."
Sixty days before, as well as after. If you know the date your coverage ends, you can select a Marketplace plan in advance and have it start when the old one stops. No gap, and no month spent uninsured while you decide.
How to actually compare them
The comparison is not "which is cheaper per month" in the abstract. Four things decide it:
- Premium after subsidy. Marketplace premium tax credits are based on household income for the coverage year, which after a job loss may be far lower than last year's. COBRA has no equivalent subsidy. This is usually the largest term, and the one people estimate from stale income.
- Deductible already met. If you are partway through a plan year and have paid down a large deductible or out-of-pocket maximum, switching resets it to zero. This can outweigh a large premium difference, and it is the strongest argument for COBRA.
- Whether your doctors are in network. COBRA keeps exactly the plan you have. Marketplace networks are frequently narrower.
- Prescriptions. Formularies differ between plans.
If your employer had fewer than 20 employees, federal COBRA may not apply at all. Many states have their own continuation rules for smaller employers, with their own thresholds. Your state insurance department is the right place to ask.
Electing COBRA does not pause the Marketplace clock. Do the comparison once, before either deadline, rather than defaulting to COBRA and revisiting it. Defaulting is the expensive path precisely because it feels like the safe one.
All four clocks, in one place
These pages each answer one question. The runbook puts all of them in the order the decisions actually arrive, with the state comparison table, worksheets for counting your own dates, and a section on which situations are worth an hour of an employment attorney.
32 pages. Five states covered in detail. Every legal and numeric claim cited to the statute, regulation or agency it came from, with the date it was retrieved.
Get the runbook, $49Instant PDF download. The gaps we could not verify before publication are listed inside the product rather than papered over.