The short answer: there are three ways to bridge the years until Medicare at 65: COBRA, a private plan, or a Marketplace plan. COBRA keeps the plan you had. Private plans enroll any month and, for a healthy applicant who gets little or no subsidy, can be the more affordable choice. The Marketplace opens a Special Enrollment Period when job coverage ends. Compare all three before your last day, not after.
Your three bridges
- COBRA. Keeps the plan you had at work, so your doctors, network and benefits stay the same. It does not compare itself to anything else. Your COBRA notice states the monthly cost: put that number next to the other two options.
- A private plan. Enrolls any month, with no Open Enrollment window. Many are nationwide PPOs that travel with you when you move to another state, and some lock the rate for 12 months or longer at enrollment. Private plans ask health questions, and approval is the carrier's decision.
- A Marketplace (ACA) plan. Losing job coverage opens a Special Enrollment Period. If your household income qualifies, income-based savings lower the premium, and pre-existing conditions are covered with no underwriting.
Why the date you leave matters
Losing job coverage is a qualifying life event. You generally have about 60 days from the event to enroll in a Marketplace plan, so tell us the date it happens. For most private plans on our site, applications submitted by the 23rd of the month start on the 1st of the next month. Either way, the plan that starts the day after your work plan ends is the one you pick before you leave.
Picture it
Your retirement party is on a Friday. The COBRA paperwork arrives a few weeks later, and you sign it because it is the plan you already know. Every month the premium comes out of the savings you planned to travel on, and nobody ever showed you what else was available.
Now picture the other version. A month before your last day, you send us the date, your ZIP, your doctors and your medications. We put the price from your COBRA notice next to private plans and the Marketplace, with your doctors checked by name. Maybe COBRA still wins because you are mid-treatment with a doctor you will not give up. Maybe a private plan does. Either way, you pick with the numbers in front of you, and the new plan starts the day the old one ends.
Which bridge fits
- Look at private plans when you are generally healthy, get no subsidy or only a small one, want a broader network, or want to enroll and start quickly.
- Choose the Marketplace when your income qualifies for a large subsidy, or a health condition means a private plan will not accept you. Have a health condition? Tell us first: depending on the condition, a private plan may still be an option.
- Keep COBRA when keeping exactly the same plan and network matters more to you than the price.
Retiring usually changes your household income, and every carrier prices by age, so the answer you got five years ago may not be the answer now. Many households compare both paths and pick the one that fits this year, then re-check at renewal.
Three things to line up before your last day
- No gap. Do not cancel anything until the new plan is approved and you have its start date. We confirm the exact effective date before you sign, and never backdate. How to switch without a gap.
- The deductible reset. Leaving in the fall? A calendar-year deductible resets every January 1, which can mean two deductibles in your first twelve months. When does my deductible reset?
- Dental and vision. If yours came through work, put them in the comparison too. They are inexpensive to add on their own and easy to enroll in. See dental and vision plans.
More on the choice: COBRA is not the only choice, ACA and private plans side by side, and what private plan health questions ask.
This is general education, not tax advice and not a guarantee of coverage or savings. Plans, pricing, networks, eligibility and enrollment windows depend on the carrier, your state, your location and underwriting.