For owners who just went independent and got hit with COBRA
You did not lose your benefits. You lost access to a group. As an owner, you can get group terms back.
What made your old coverage affordable was the group your employer put you in. A rate set by the pool, not your age, and paid before tax. COBRA let you keep the plan but not the deal, so now you pay the whole premium yourself, after tax, plus a fee, often well over $1,500 a month. You started a business. That is your way back into a real big-company group plan, on better terms, paid through your own payroll, even as a company of one. See your own 2026 number first, free, before you tell us anything.
You earn too much for a subsidy, so the marketplace feels like the only road left. It is not. There is a third option no one pointed you to. See your number before you give us a thing.
No name, no email, no phone to see your result. No salesperson, no one calling you.
We only make money when the math actually leaves you better off. If COBRA or a spouse's plan is your cheaper move, the number says so, and so do we.
Flat fee per person · Month to month · You see your number before we see you
COBRA is not a plan you chose. It is the first honest price you have ever seen.
COBRA is your old company plan, continued, at the full price your employer was hiding from you. The shock is not that the price went up. The price was always this. Your employer paid most of it, your share came out before tax, and the full number never reached you. On most plans the employer covered around 80 percent, so the number more than doubles.
The raise you never saw was your employer covering your coverage.
COBRA runs through your old employer, a plan administrator, and a carrier, none of whom work for you now. Election notices arrive late, payments cross in the mail, and coverage gets suspended and reinstated while you wait. You pay more than an active employee did, for a plan that keeps going dark on you.
More money than an active employee paid, for worse service.
COBRA is temporary by law. For most people it runs 18 months, then ends. When it does, you are back buying alone, on a narrower plan, at a rate set by your age. COBRA is not the problem. It is the warning that the problem is coming.
The exit you build now is the one you would have to build anyway, later, on worse terms.
COBRA is not a scam. It is a legal right to keep your plan, and for a short gap it can be the right call. The problem is what it reveals. Buying coverage alone, after tax, at full price, on a clock, is just what the individual market is. COBRA is only the first time anyone showed you the bill.
Two things made your old coverage work. This gives you both back.
What made your employer plan affordable was never the plan itself. It was the group and the pre-tax treatment. You lost both the day you left. You get both back here, attached to your own business this time instead of someone else's. You join a pool of thousands that already exists, so the rate is composite, set by the group and not by your age or your medical history. The plan is a national PPO on Cigna, your doctors stay the same, and the premium runs through your own payroll, before tax, the way it did on the job.
We are not the plan provider. A separate licensed provider runs the coverage. We run your numbers and connect you.
The believability clause
You do not build a group. You join one that already exists.
Being an owner is the only thing that was ever required, and a business of one qualifies the same as a business of fifty.
The coverage a big company gets
Do not take our word for it. Run your number against COBRA.
Enter what you earn and what you pay for COBRA right now, plus your team if you have one. You get two numbers back, free, with no name, email, or phone. Your personal finances: what COBRA is costing you today against what the same coverage costs inside the group plan, with the tax treatment included. And your company's payroll costs, the same way. It runs live on the real 2026 federal and state tax tables. If COBRA or another option is still your cheaper move, the screen says so.
No name, no email, no phone to see your result.
Want it in writing? The full CPA audit report, generated for your exact numbers, is yours to hand your accountant, built to be checked line by line.
What you get back.
The group plan and the pre-tax treatment are the half you already saw. The rest is everything else your old employer ran for you, now attached to your business instead of theirs.
A real national group plan on the Cigna PPO, the kind a large employer offers, your doctors unchanged. Dental and vision through MetLife. A retirement account through Vestwell, with room far above the individual limit.
- Payroll run for you every cycle, W-2s and filings included
- Workers' comp pay-as-you-go, no big deposit, no year-end audit
- Compliance handled, multi-state included
- HR support from a person you can actually reach
The plans, behind the structure.
Representative composite rates, set by the group and not by your age. Your actual rate is set at enrollment, and your own number comes from the calculator.
The fee
One flat fee per person, month to month, no long-term contract. The fee does not climb when you pay yourself more or add a person.
This is built for the person becoming an owner.
Clear all three and the math usually works in your favor.
The moment you incorporate and pay yourself, you are in range.
COBRA for a family clears that easily, and the more you pay, the bigger the move.
Taxed as an S-corp or C-corp, or willing to elect. A single-member LLC elects at onboarding, and your CPA handles the filing.
The honest turn-away
If you are filling a gap before your next W-2 job, this is not for you. It is built for the person becoming an owner, not the person between salaried jobs. If you are going back to an employer plan in a few months, ride out COBRA and take the new job's coverage. If a spouse's plan can pick you up, that is usually cheaper than any structure, so do that. And if you net well under the line, the flat fee will cost more than it saves. We would rather tell you that for free than sell you a yes.
Close to the line but expect your income to climb as the business ramps? Setting up early means it is running when the income arrives. Worth a look.
You see your number before we see you. Your own CPA gets the final word.
The full CPA audit report we generate for your exact figures is built for your accountant to check line by line. We tell you when it does not fit, because we only earn when it does. This is not a loophole. It is an established structure big companies have used for decades, run through a NAPEO-member, ESAC-accredited provider on the Cigna national PPO, on the real 2026 tax tables.
You have seen the way out. Now see your number.
Run the math free. No call, no email, no salesperson. If the structure does not beat what COBRA is costing you now, the screen tells you so and you owe us nothing, because we only make money when an owner we connect actually comes out ahead.
Your exact 2026 number, free. The full CPA audit report when you want it.
COBRA is a clock, and every month on it is the full price after tax. When it runs out you are back in the individual market on worse terms. The sooner the structure is running, the fewer months you pay the hidden price in full.
In the news
The 2026 cost shock made national news.
When the 2026 subsidies ended, the squeeze on owners and the self-employed was covered across the major networks. The cost structure was always there. The news just put it on everyone's screen.
Millions face the ACA subsidy expiry
The quiet fallout from higher ACA premiums
How the end of ACA subsidies is squeezing owners
Premiums set to skyrocket Jan. 1
Millions of Americans in limbo
Health premiums set to soar
Unedited segments from each network's own coverage. USA OPS is not affiliated with or endorsed by these outlets.
The questions freshly-independent owners ask first.
Is there a cheaper alternative to COBRA if I just went independent?
Often, yes. COBRA is the full price your employer was hiding. As an owner, you can rejoin a large group on composite rates and pre-tax treatment, frequently well below COBRA. The free calculator shows your own number, COBRA today against the same coverage inside the group plan, before you give any contact details.
Why is my COBRA so expensive all of a sudden?
The price was always this. Your employer covered around 80 percent, and your share came out before tax, so the full number never reached you. The day you left, the whole premium landed on you, after tax, plus an administrative fee to keep the same plan. Nothing got more expensive; the real cost just became visible.
I earn too much for an ACA subsidy. What are my options?
If you own or are forming a business, there is a third door. You can join a large-group plan on a national PPO at composite rates, paid through payroll, instead of buying alone on the marketplace. The calculator shows whether it beats what you pay now, free and with no contact required.
Can a one-person business get a real group health plan after leaving a job?
Yes. You join a large group that already exists, you do not build one. Being an owner is the only requirement, and a business of one qualifies the same as a business of fifty. Once you take a W-2 salary through an S-corp, you can be placed inside the group as the owner.
Should I keep COBRA or set up coverage through my own business?
If you are going back to a W-2 job soon, or a spouse’s plan can cover you, COBRA or that plan is usually the cheaper move. If you are becoming an owner for real, the group structure usually wins. The free calculator tells you which, on your own numbers, with no salesperson.
Do I have to give my contact details to see my number?
No. The calculator returns your numbers with no name, email, or phone. Contact is asked only if you want the full CPA audit report sent to you and your accountant. Nothing is stored or shared until you request that report.