I now (thanks to the ACA) pay half of what I was paying with COBRA for similar coverage. The thing that made COBRA a rip-off (potentially a rip-off -- it's all about personal circumstances) is mostly that you were stuck with whichever plans (usually very few) your employer had on offer, and you had to pay what your employer was paying for it. Now when you need to get insurance outside of an employer plan, you have choices in insurance companies and coverage levels, no discrimination based on previous health, and limitations on the exorbitant amounts they can charge you for it. I think that's an overall win, even if there needs to be far more changes made.
