COBRA Cost Calculator

The COBRA Cost Calculator shows what continuing your employer health coverage actually costs once your employer stops subsidizing it, and compares that to a marketplace alternative over the number of months you'll need coverage. Under COBRA, you take over the full premium — both the share your employer used to pay and the share deducted from your paycheck — plus a 2% administrative fee, a charge the Department of Labor's EBSA caps at 102% of the plan's total premium cost, which is why COBRA Monthly Premium is almost always dramatically higher than Your Previous Monthly Share alone; the employer's contribution, not just your own, is what you lose. Monthly Increase and Premium Increase (%) quantify that jump directly against what you were used to paying as an employee.

Total COBRA Cost multiplies the monthly premium by Months of Coverage Needed (COBRA runs for up to 18 months under federal law for most qualifying events, such as job loss or reduced hours, longer in specific cases like disability or divorce), and the calculator compares that total against Marketplace Alternative Total — the same number of months at a comparable ACA marketplace plan's premium, entered before any subsidies. Difference (COBRA vs Market) and Better Option report which path costs less over the exact period you need coverage; marketplace premiums shown here are pre-subsidy figures, so if you'd qualify for a premium tax credit on the ACA marketplace, the real-world marketplace cost could be substantially lower than what's compared here. Family Members Covered is informational only — COBRA and marketplace premiums are both driven by the actual plan premium you enter, not recalculated per person by this calculator.