Free · 2026 tables · No contact to see your result
The COBRA cost calculator that shows you a second number.
Enter what COBRA quoted you and see what it actually costs you for 2026, free, with no name, email, or phone. Most COBRA calculators stop at that number. This one keeps going, to what the same coverage costs inside a real group plan run through your own business.
Generated from your inputs. Nothing is stored or shared until you ask for the full report.
No salesperson. No one calling you. If COBRA or another option is still your cheaper move, the result says so.
We only make money when an owner we connect actually comes out ahead. If COBRA or a spouse's plan is your cheaper move, the screen tells you, and so do we.
Why this calculator shows two numbers, not one.
Every COBRA cost calculator answers the same question: how much does it cost to keep your old plan now that the whole premium is on you, after tax, plus a fee. That is a real number and you get it here. But it is only half the story, and the lists that follow it, the marketplace, short-term plans, do not help if you earn too much for a subsidy. So there is a second number this one runs: what that same coverage costs inside a real big-company group plan, through a business you own or are forming. Most calculators never tell you the second number exists. This one runs both.
The COBRA bill is the full price your employer was hiding for years. Your business is the door back to group terms. You already left. The plan plugs into what you are building next.
How the second number works.
What made your old coverage affordable was never the plan. It was the group your employer put you in, where the rate is set by the pool and not by your age, and the premium came out before tax. COBRA let you keep the plan but not the deal. A 500-person company still gets that deal because it buys as one large group. Your business can join a group like that, even if the only employee is you. 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.
If you earn too much for a marketplace subsidy, the usual COBRA alternatives do not save you much, which is why the articles never quite fit. The group route is the one built for the owner above that line. The calculator shows whether it beats what COBRA quoted you, before you tell us anything.
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.
A business of one qualifies the same as a business of fifty.
What it asks, and what you get back.
A few quick questions: what you earn, what COBRA is quoting you per month right now, your entity and state, and your team if you have one. Nothing else, and nothing that identifies you. It runs live on the real 2026 federal and state tables. You get two numbers back, free: your personal finances, what COBRA is costing you today against the same coverage inside the group plan, tax treatment included, and your company's payroll costs, the same way. If COBRA or another option is still your cheaper move, the screen says so.
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.
The plans behind the second number.
Representative composite rates, set by the group and not by your age. Your actual rate is set at enrollment, and your own number, against what COBRA quoted you, comes from the calculator above.
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.
The calculator works for a specific owner.
Clear all three and the second number 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 it quoted you, 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. 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 qualify for a marketplace subsidy, or you net well under that line, the alternative routes below will likely serve you better than this one. We would rather tell you that for free than sell you a yes.
You came for the COBRA number. Take the second one too.
Run it 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 numbers, free. The full CPA audit report when you want it.
Want the deeper read on getting group terms back after you went independent? Read the full account. Earn under the subsidy line, or not sure the group route is yours? Start here.
COBRA is a clock. For most people it runs 18 months, then ends, and every month on it is the full price after tax. When it runs out you are back buying alone at a rate set by your age. The structure that changes that is decades old.
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 cost questions, answered straight.
How much does COBRA cost?
COBRA costs the full premium your employer was paying most of, now entirely on you, after tax, plus an administrative fee, so it often more than doubles what your share used to be. The exact number depends on your old plan. This calculator shows what COBRA costs you, then a second number: the same coverage inside a real group plan through your own business.
How does a COBRA cost calculator work?
It takes what COBRA quoted you per month, plus what you earn, your entity, and your state, and runs the 2026 tables to show what COBRA actually costs you for the year, after tax. This one adds the number other calculators skip: what the same coverage costs inside a large-group plan you can join as an owner. No name, email, or phone to see either figure.
Why are COBRA rates so high all of a sudden?
The rate was always this. Your employer covered around 80 percent and your share came out before tax, so the full number never reached you until you left. Now the whole premium is on you, after tax, plus a fee to keep the same plan. The price did not jump. You are just seeing it for the first time. The calculator shows it against a group rate.
Is there a cheaper option than COBRA if I earn too much for a subsidy?
If you own or are forming a business, you can join a large-group plan on a national PPO at a rate set by the pool, not your age, paid through payroll, instead of buying alone. The usual marketplace alternatives do not help above the subsidy line, which is exactly the gap this fills. The calculator shows whether it beats what COBRA quoted you.
Can a one-person business get group coverage instead of paying COBRA?
Yes. You join a large group that already exists, you do not build one, and being an owner is the only requirement, so a business of one qualifies the same as a business of fifty. The premium runs through your own payroll. The calculator shows your cost against COBRA before any contact.
Is this COBRA cost calculator free, and do I have to give my contact details?
No contact to see it. The calculator returns your numbers with no name, email, or phone, free, on the real 2026 federal and state tables. Contact is asked only if you want the full CPA audit report sent to you and your accountant, built to be checked line by line.