COBRA alternative
What is the cheaper alternative to COBRA for a high earner?
The short answer
There is a third option besides COBRA and buying alone on the marketplace. If you own a business, or are forming one, you can get group terms back as the owner: a national group plan priced on a large pool instead of on you, paid through your own payroll, before tax. That is usually well below COBRA. Run your own number to see where it lands against what COBRA costs you now.
We are not the plan provider. A separate licensed provider runs the coverage. We run the math and connect you.
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.
You were shown two roads. There are three.
When you left the job, you got pointed at two doors. Keep your old plan on COBRA at the full, after-tax price, or buy alone on the marketplace where you earn too much for a subsidy. Both feel like your only choices because both are the default answer for a household buying its own coverage. But you did not just become a household shopping for a plan. If you started a business, or are forming one, you became an owner, and an owner has a third door the marketplace will never show you.
The two roads you were shown are both about buying a plan alone. The third is about joining a group that already exists.
Why COBRA costs what it costs.
The shock is not that the price went up. The price was always this. On the job, your employer paid most of the premium, your share came out before tax, and the full number never reached you. The day you left, the whole bill landed on you, after tax, plus a fee to keep the exact same plan. On most plans the employer covered around 80 percent, so the number more than doubles. COBRA did not raise the price. It just showed you the price for the first time.
That is the short version. The full account of the COBRA trap, the clock, and the way out is on the page for owners who just went independent. Just went independent →
The third door, in plain words.
Two things made your old coverage affordable, and neither was the plan itself. It was the group your employer put you in and the pre-tax treatment. You lost both the day you left. As an owner you get both back, attached to your own business this time. You join a large pool 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. Your CPA confirms the treatment for your situation.
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.
Where COBRA or another option still wins.
A third option that beat everyone every time would be a pitch. This one has a clear line. Here is where COBRA, or something else, is the smarter move, said plainly so you do not waste a call finding out.
This is built for the person becoming an owner, not the person between salaried jobs. Going back to an employer plan in a few months? Ride out COBRA and take the new job's coverage.
That is usually cheaper than any structure. Do that.
The flat per-person fee usually costs more than the structure saves. The calculator shows you that on your own numbers rather than make you guess.
We would rather tell you to keep COBRA for free than sell you a yes. That is the whole reason the yes is worth trusting.
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.
How you know it holds up.
This is not a loophole and not a new idea. It is an established structure that 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 see your number before we see you, and your own accountant can verify every figure in the full audit report. We tell you when COBRA is your cheaper move, because we only earn when an owner we connect actually comes out ahead.
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.
COBRA alternative questions, answered straight.
Why is my COBRA so expensive all of a sudden?
The price was always this. On the job your employer paid most of the premium, your share came out before tax, and the full number never reached you. The day you left, the whole bill landed on you, after tax, plus a fee to keep the same plan. On most plans the employer covered around 80 percent, so the number more than doubles. COBRA did not raise the price, it just showed it to you.
I earn too much for an ACA subsidy. What are my options?
If you own or are forming a business, you are not limited to COBRA or the full-price marketplace. As the owner you can join a large national group plan on a Cigna PPO, priced on the whole pool at composite rates and paid through your own payroll, instead of buying alone and age-rated. You join a group that already exists, you do not build one. The calculator shows whether it beats what you pay now, free and with no contact.
Is COBRA or a spouse's plan cheaper for me?
If a spouse's group plan can cover you, that is usually cheaper than COBRA or any structure, so take it. If you have no spouse's plan and you are becoming an owner, getting group terms back through your own business usually beats COBRA, because the rate is set by a large pool and the premium runs pre-tax through payroll. Run your own number to see which is cheaper on your actual figures.
Should I keep COBRA or set up coverage through my own business?
It depends on where you are headed. If you are going back to a W-2 job in a few months, ride out COBRA and take the new plan. If a spouse’s plan can pick you up, do that. If you are becoming an owner for real, getting group terms back through your business usually wins on price and gives you a national PPO paid pre-tax. The free calculator says which fits, with no contact.
What does coverage through my own business cost versus COBRA?
Representative monthly rates on the Cigna national PPO run about $589 for an HSA-qualified plan, $732 for a balanced plan, and $879 for a low-deductible plan, set at enrollment. The back office is a flat fee per person, $150 a month full stack or $75 compliance only. Whether that beats your COBRA bill depends on your numbers, which the free calculator shows against what COBRA costs you now.
Do I have to give my contact details to see my number?
No. You run the calculator with no name, email, or phone and see your result on screen: what COBRA costs you today against what the same coverage costs inside the group plan, free. You only share contact details if you choose to unlock the full CPA audit report to hand your accountant. Nothing is stored or shared until you request that report.
You have seen the third door. Now see your number.
COBRA and the bare marketplace are not your only two options. As an owner you can get group terms back, on a real national plan, paid through your own payroll. 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.
Just left a job and hit with COBRA? Read the whole account for owners who just went independent →
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 structure that changes it is decades old. The sooner it is running, the fewer months you pay the hidden price in full.