[dredmorbius]

Where are you located?

COBRA is the standard answer. The ACA provides for coverage, though the general enrollment period has closed for this year. I'm not sure if a job transition counts as a qualifying event for a new enrollment, but there are counsellors (free of charge) in some states who can answer your questions on that.

My experience is that there tend to be a few tiers of coverage, and that you'll want to balance your anticipated healthcare needs with the dues. From what I've seen, middle-tier coverage tends to be the best bet.

[tptacek]

COBRA is not a great answer. The better your benefits were on the job, the worse a deal COBRA will be for you; you'll be paying the employer's costs as well as your own. COBRA also has a time limit, which isn't a great property for an insurance plan.

As I understand it, you can in fact file a special enrollment with HEALTHCARE.GOV if you've recently lost your insurance. That's probably going to be a much better option.

Consider signing up for a "bronze" plan --- the cheapest available with a provider network you like --- and setting up an HSA. High-deductible insurance and an HSA is probably always a better deal than premium insurance: you take the money you'd plow into higher premiums and stick it in the HSA, which rolls over year over year. If you don't, say, lose your appendix this year, you get free money.

[bestnoodles]

I'm 24, male, living in the bay area. Any rough estimates on how much COBRA would cost?

[dredmorbius]

That will be specified in the COBRA paperwork you receive, talk to your benefits coordinator / HR person.

You'll want to compare costs with what you might be able to purchase outside of COBRA. I'd suggest taking a look at the Covered California website or getting a quote from Kaiser:

open https://individual-family.kaiserpermanente.org/healthinsuran...

I've tried doing that with the information you've provided but find the websites aren't cooperating with me (that's been an ongoing failing of the health plan(s) in general).

I suspect you'll be paying under $300/mo for a silver plan.

See also:

http://www.healthpocket.com/individual-health-insurance/silv...

[idlewords]

My guess is you'll find plans in the 200-300/month range unless you have hereditary boneitis.

One thing to watch out for is that teeth and eyes are often covered seperately, for some unknown reason.

[tptacek]

Pedantry:

That's because teeth and eyes have predictable and often high maintenance costs that general medicine doesn't. It's hard to cost-effectively insure teeth, for instance, because you're almost certain to incur routine and expensive costs. Expensive general medical interventions are much less predictable and frequent and so that risk pools nicely.

That's also why private dental insurance is often not a good deal.

[idlewords]

This is one reason why I think the concept of private insurance, vs state-provided health care, is insane. It's not like teeth and eyes are fancy upgrades that some of us blinged out on.

Clearly the first step towards nationalized health care is me commenting on a message board. Avanti!

[tptacek]

I agree that it's a stark illustration of the limits of the insurance model. Nationalizing the health care industry is itself fraught, though.

I remember a Gladwell New Yorker essay that related dental care to poverty and economic mobility, so I'll add right away that this isn't a small problem.

[mechanical_fish]

Nationalizing the health care industry is itself fraught, though.

I wonder: How much would our national dental health improve if we merely offered universal coverage for the simple stuff: cleanings, photographs, and X-rays?

The standard of care for these things doesn't seem like it varies wildly: Everyone should get a cleaning and inspection from a dental hygienist every six or twelve months. Obviously, once we get into treatments the judgement calls begin, and then it does become fraught.

But speaking as someone who might have saved a small fortune on fillings, crowns, and root canals if he hadn't just stopped going to the dentist regularly for several years – because, by the time your teeth start hurting, it is way too late for the inexpensive interventions – I wish we had national dental coverage for checkups, such that it was economical to station people in malls and on street corners begging passersby to step inside a door and spend thirty minutes getting their "free" dental cleaning. Yes, the hygienists would probably try to up-sell you. But that's a relatively nice problem to have.