COBRA is equally or even more expensive than private insurance at times. COBRA just guarantees that you get to keep the same insurance/coverage that you had with your employer but now you pay all costs out of pocket including employer portion which usually is a lot. To add to this, some employers charge an admin fee of 1-2% because they are managing this for you even after employment. So in total, you could pay upto 102% of the total cost of premiums.