There are a couple of options for health insurance. If you have a spouse who has health insurance through their job, you can join their health insurance plan. If you want to go solo, I've had good success with using ehealthinsurance.com.
When I was laid off from a job a few years ago, I compared the COBRA price to ehealth, and I found COBRA to be priced about 4 times higher than if I chose a similar plan from ehealth. And, with the same brand insurer.
I've been worried about getting labeled with "pre-existing conditions" that won't be covered if I go that route, for things that I'm currently covered for. Can anyone comment on that?
We'll see what the outcome of ObamaCare in regards to pre-existing conditions, but the way things are right now, if you go with an individual insurance(i.e. not part of a larger company's group plan), should you develop a medical condition, you will eventually be priced out of cheaper "risk categories", i.e. your insurance costs will be increasing year after year and you wont be able to change plans into other competitive healthcare plans because they will deny you due to these pre-existing conditions.
Many states, including california, provide special plans for those who are denied coverage elsewhere, but they are ridiculously expensive(think over a $1k per month per person).
If you have a family and your spouse doesnt have insurance, healthcare could be an expensive gamble...
When I was laid off from a job a few years ago, I compared the COBRA price to ehealth, and I found COBRA to be priced about 4 times higher than if I chose a similar plan from ehealth. And, with the same brand insurer.