The Right Time to Switch Off COBRA (It's Earlier Than You Think)

COBRA's 60-day election window creates a false deadline — people treat it as the moment to decide, when it's actually just the moment you're legally allowed to keep your old plan. The real decision is whether to keep paying COBRA's full, unsubsidized premium at all.

Because COBRA has no minimum commitment, you can switch to a private PPO plan the month after a job loss, six months in, or anytime before the 18-month (or 36-month, in some cases) COBRA window closes — there's no penalty for switching early, only savings.

The clients who save the most are the ones who compare options in the first 30 days, before they've settled into paying the COBRA rate as if it were fixed. If you're already on COBRA, it's worth a 20-minute call regardless of how long you've been on it.