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COBRA vs. Marketplace Decision Workbook
The short answer: A job loss starts three coverage clocks that do not pause for each other, and premium-only comparisons hide most of the real price. This workbook maps all three deadlines on one page, prices COBRA, the Marketplace, and a spouse's plan over a full year with your own documents, and works one household's arithmetic to the last line, so the decision is made on numbers, not on the scariest premium.
$29One-time purchase, yours to keep
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Who this kit is for
This workbook is for anyone whose job-based health coverage ended or is ending, who is weighing COBRA against the Marketplace, a spouse's plan, or a sequence of them. It is the deeper companion to our free guide, After a Job Loss, whose health chapter covers the basics free, forever. This workbook is for readers who want the full-year arithmetic and the deadline choreography done in a structured form.
What is inside
- The guide (PDF, 59 pages): COBRA mechanics from the Department of Labor's publications, the election notice read line by line, the 102 percent premium anatomy and payment rules, Marketplace windows and start dates, premium tax credit mechanics in current terms, the spouse-plan path, the switching traps, and a full source list.
- The workbook (editable DOCX): twelve worksheets, including the deadline map, three transcription sheets, the network and prescription checks, the retroactivity worksheet, and the full-year cost model, plus a fully worked fictional example with complete arithmetic.
- Question scripts (editable DOCX): four fill-in scripts for plan administrators, a spouse's benefits office, the Marketplace, and insurers, written to get answers in writing.
How you use it
- Gather the five documents the decision runs on; the workbook tells you where each lives and how to get it if you do not have it.
- Put every deadline on the map first, before pricing anything.
- Transcribe each door's real figures from your own documents, then check the networks and the prescriptions.
- Run the full-year model, record the decision in your own words, and keep the proof of execution with the folder.
One-time purchase, yours to keep$29
Get the kit on GumroadWhat this kit does not do: Educational self-help resource only. It does not determine whether you are eligible for COBRA, a Marketplace plan, a premium tax credit, Medicaid, or any other coverage, and it does not recommend a plan or a strategy. Eligibility is decided by your plan administrator, your Marketplace application, your plan documents, and your state agency. It does not replace a licensed professional for your specific situation.
New to PocketBack? Start with After a Job Loss, the free guide this workbook accompanies, or the Everyday Money Checkup, our free checklist that uses the same method on six everyday documents.