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Honest comparison

Private PPO vs. COBRA Coverage

COBRA keeps the exact plan you already had. The question is whether keeping it is worth the sticker price.

A couple working out what a month of coverage costs at their kitchen table
The short version

COBRA is the right answer more often than people expect, and it is also the single most over-paid-for product in American health insurance. Both things are true.

The deciding factors are usually mid-year deductible credit, whether you are mid-treatment, and how big the unsubsidized number actually is once your employer stops paying their share.

At a glance

Cost basis

COBRA continuation
102% of the full group premium
Bright Health Savings
Priced on your own health

At a glance

Acceptance

COBRA continuation
Guaranteed
Bright Health Savings
Subject to health review

At a glance

Your doctors

COBRA continuation
Identical network
Bright Health Savings
Broad PPO, usually overlapping

At a glance

Deductible already paid

COBRA continuation
Carries over
Bright Health Savings
Resets
The alternative

COBRA continuation

The legal right to keep your former employer's group plan, at full cost plus a 2% administrative fee, for up to 18 months.

Where it wins

  • Identical plan, identical network, identical doctors — nothing changes clinically.
  • Deductible and out-of-pocket amounts you have already paid this year usually carry over.
  • Guaranteed — there is no health review and no possibility of being declined.
  • Covers pre-existing conditions and ongoing treatment without interruption.

Where it costs you

  • You now pay the employer's share too, which is typically the larger half of the premium.
  • It is time-limited — generally 18 months, then it ends regardless.
  • The election window is short: 60 days from the qualifying event.
  • For a healthy household with no deductible spent, it is frequently the most expensive option available.
What we do

Private PPO coverage

Medically underwritten PPO coverage you can apply for at any point, including the day your group plan ends.

Where it wins

  • Typically a fraction of an unsubsidized COBRA premium for a healthy applicant.
  • No 18-month cliff — the coverage continues as long as you keep paying.
  • Broad national PPO networks, which often means your existing doctors are still in-network.
  • Can start on the first of the month after your group coverage ends, with no gap.

Where it costs you

  • Your deductible resets — anything you have already paid this year does not carry over.
  • Acceptance depends on a health review, which COBRA never requires.
  • Mid-treatment, changing carriers is genuinely disruptive and often the wrong call.
  • Benefits will differ from your group plan in ways you need to read carefully.
Row by row

The differences that actually change your bill.

Cost basis
COBRA continuation102% of the full group premium
Bright Health SavingsPriced on your own health
Acceptance
COBRA continuationGuaranteed
Bright Health SavingsSubject to health review
Your doctors
COBRA continuationIdentical network
Bright Health SavingsBroad PPO, usually overlapping
Deductible already paid
COBRA continuationCarries over
Bright Health SavingsResets
How long it lasts
COBRA continuationUp to 18 months
Bright Health SavingsOngoing
Window to decide
COBRA continuation60 days from the event
Bright Health SavingsAny day of the year
Pre-existing conditions
COBRA continuationCovered, uninterrupted
Bright Health SavingsDepends on carrier and condition
Mid-treatment
COBRA continuationUsually the safer choice
Bright Health SavingsUsually the riskier choice

Actual premiums, deductibles, networks and benefits vary by age, location, health history and the plan selected.

The questions people ask

Answered properly, not in one line.

Why is COBRA so much more expensive than what I was paying?

Because you were only ever seeing part of the bill. Employers typically cover the majority of the premium for an employee, and a smaller share for dependents. COBRA is the same plan with that subsidy removed, plus up to 2% for administration.

Nothing about the coverage got worse. The full price was simply always this, and now you are seeing it.

I am halfway through my deductible. Does that change the math?

Substantially. If you have already paid several thousand dollars toward a deductible and out-of-pocket maximum this plan year, walking away resets that to zero on a new plan.

A rough test: compare the remaining COBRA premiums for the rest of the plan year against the new plan's premiums plus the deductible you would be starting over on. If you are mid-treatment, that comparison usually favors staying put.

What happens when the 18 months run out?

COBRA simply ends. Exhausting COBRA is a qualifying life event, so it opens a special enrollment period on the marketplace, and a private PPO plan is available to apply for at any time.

The thing to avoid is arriving at month 18 without a plan. Start the conversation around month 15.

Can I take COBRA now and switch later?

Yes, and for people mid-treatment this is often the sensible sequence: elect COBRA to keep continuity, finish the episode of care, then have an advisor look at private options once you are stable.

Do check whether dropping COBRA voluntarily affects your marketplace options in the year you do it — your advisor can walk through the timing.

COBRA continuation is better for you if

You are mid-treatment, you have already spent meaningfully toward this year's deductible, you have a condition underwriting would likely decline, or you only need a couple of months of bridge coverage.

Private PPO coverage is better for you if

You are in reasonable health, you are early in the plan year, or you need coverage that lasts longer than the 18-month COBRA window.

The verdict

COBRA is insurance for continuity, not for price. If continuity is what you actually need — a treatment in progress, a specialist you cannot change, a deductible half paid — elect it and do not look back. If you are healthy and starting fresh, a medically underwritten PPO will usually cost dramatically less for comparable access. Decide inside the 60-day window either way, because it closes quietly.

Put your numbers on it

Five questions. A real answer for your household.

A licensed advisor takes what is on this page and works it out against your state, your household and your health history — including telling you when the option we do not sell is the right one.

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