COBRA Alternatives in Georgia (2026)

Your options after leaving a job in Georgia

When you leave a job in Georgia, you usually have three choices: federal COBRA, Georgia's own continuation rules, or a new plan on Georgia Access. COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more workers and lets you keep the same plan for up to 18 months, but you pay the full cost plus up to 2%.

If your employer is smaller than that, Georgia's state continuation law lets you keep an insured group plan for the rest of the month plus three more months, at the group rate with no extra fee. You need to have been on the plan for the six months before it ended.

Georgia also has an unusual rule for older workers. If you are 60 or older when COBRA-type continuation begins at an employer with 20 or more workers, you may keep the group coverage after COBRA would end, until you qualify for Medicare, at up to 120% of the group cost. It does not apply if you quit voluntarily for reasons other than health.

Losing job-based coverage also opens a special enrollment period on Georgia Access, so you do not have to wait for open enrollment. If your income dropped below the poverty level, Georgia Pathways may cover you if you can show 80 hours a month of qualifying activity, such as job training or volunteering.

How federal COBRA works

Federal COBRA lets you keep your former employer’s group plan if the employer had 20 or more employees. Coverage usually lasts up to 18 months, and you can be charged the full premium plus a 2% administrative fee, because your employer stops paying its share.

You generally have 60 days from your election notice to choose COBRA. Coverage is retroactive, so some people wait and only elect it if they need care during that window. Talk to an agent before relying on that, because missing the deadline ends the option.

Georgia state continuation (O.C.G.A. 33-24-21.1) and age-60 continuation (O.C.G.A. 33-24-21.2)

If you work for a small employer that federal COBRA does not reach, Georgia lets you keep the group plan for the rest of the month plus three more months, paying the same group rate with no 2% add-on. Separately, if your employer has 20 or more workers and you are 60 or older when COBRA-type continuation starts, Georgia lets you keep the group coverage after COBRA would end, at up to 120% of the group cost, until Medicare or another ending event. The age-60 rule does not apply if you quit voluntarily for reasons other than health or were fired for a reason that forfeits unemployment benefits.

• Who it covers: Group health insurance policies issued in Georgia, including employers too small for federal COBRA, if you were covered for the 6 months before your coverage ended. The age-60 rule applies to insured group plans of employers with 20 or more employees.
• How long: Rest of the current month plus 3 months; if you are 60 or older when continuation begins (at a COBRA-size employer), you may keep coverage until you become eligible for Medicare or another event ends it

Marketplace plans and your special enrollment period

Losing job-based coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, so you don’t have to wait for open enrollment. In Georgia, Georgia Access is Georgia’s official, state-run health insurance marketplace. We’re an independent, licensed insurance agency, not part of Georgia Access or any government agency, and we can help you compare Marketplace plans and enroll. Georgia Access replaced HealthCare.gov starting with the 2025 plan year. Unlike most state exchanges, it lets you enroll through certified agents and approved enhanced direct enrollment partners (web brokers and insurers) as well as the state's own portal, and there is no early window-shopping period for 2027 plans.

Marketplace premiums are based on your expected income for the year, not last year’s. If you’re between jobs, a lower income estimate can mean a much larger premium tax credit. The enhanced premium tax credits expired on December 31, 2025, and Congress did not extend them. For 2026 coverage, help is again limited to households between 100% and 400% of the poverty level (about $62,600 for a single person), and the average Georgia enrollee's monthly cost after subsidies roughly doubled, from $74 in 2025 to $164 in 2026. Starting with the 2026 tax year, there is also no cap on paying back excess advance credits at tax time.

If your income dropped

Georgia did not adopt full Medicaid expansion, so most working-age adults without minor children do not qualify for regular Medicaid. Instead, Georgia Pathways to Coverage covers adults 19 to 64 with income up to 100% of the poverty level ($15,650 a year for one person in 2025) who show at least 80 hours a month of work, school, job training, volunteering or other qualifying activity, verified at application and at annual renewal.

If your income is below the poverty level and you cannot document the Pathways hours, you may fall into a gap: you earn too little for Georgia Access subsidies, which start at 100% of the poverty level, and you do not qualify for Medicaid. Pathways rules change on January 1, 2027 to line up with new federal Medicaid work requirements, and its current federal approval runs through December 2026.

What coverage costs