Expensive as it is, I think it unlikely that you will be able to find anything more than catastrophic private insurance for less. The whole point of COBRA is that you get to maintain insurance at the group rates (with a small admininstration fee), and group rates are going to be less than a private policy (unless the private policy has an enormous deductible and covers very little). Trust me, I've been researching this myself recently as my husband's insurance ended and he was not eligible for COBRA.

But it's all in what you need. Since we don't know what your insurance needs are, we can't make a recommendation. Do you have doctor's appointments coming up? A child who is prone to asthma? Multiple prescriptions? A spouse with a medical condition? A son on the baseball team who may throw out his shoulder on the next pitch? A daughter who participates in gymnastics or ballet or figure skating and has occasional stress fractures?

If none of the above, and you only want to make sure you don't go bankrupt if you get hit by a bus, you might want to consider a cheap private policy. If any one or more of the above, you're probably better off with COBRA.