$550 for gold level insurance is expected for someone young, which I guess you are.
You can ballpark almost anyone’s premiums based on the figures in link below. I would use Omnia Gold or Omnia Silver HSA numbers, and plus or minus 20% for your state.
https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...
Those two statements are in odds with one another. $550 is quite a large sum of money to put out each month, particularly when you don't have an income.
(I actually do not have any compulsion to drink coffee, or anything much other than tap water).
On a serious note, I cannot blame many young people for eschewing forming families of having kids when faced with the numbers I quoted.
Obviously family plans etc. will be considerably higher.
You'd get that withheld money back after filing taxes, but most people who are laid off would prefer to have that money now.
If Stripe is making regular salary-like payments instead of one lump sum, then the taxes would be pretty much the same as always.
Your taxes would only be 40% (actually 47%) if you make beyond $500k a year. Cobra rates are quite affordable. I was on Cobra when I was laid off due to covid, and it was $550 a month for top tier healthcare.