Quick answer How much is COBRA insurance in Texas? At Texas average employer premiums, about $726 a month for one person, about $1,416 for employee-plus-one, and about $2,130 for a family. COBRA costs up to 102% of the full premium: your old share, plus the share your employer was quietly paying, plus a 2% fee. Texas runs a touch below the national average, and Texas law adds its own continuation rules on top of the federal ones: nine months for small-employer plans, and six more months after federal COBRA runs out. Your exact number is on your election notice, and there are three ways to find it sooner. I educate, you decide.

I'm Dick Tracy, an independent health insurance broker licensed in Texas (NPN 20414610), one of 25 states, working with 80+ carriers. I came from the healthcare side of this business, so there's no gag clause on me. Most people have never seen the real price of their employer plan until the COBRA notice lands. Here's the math, the Texas rules, and the traps.

How much does COBRA cost per month in Texas?

Cost math: Texas average annual employer premiums for 2025 of $8,543 single, $16,654 employee-plus-one, and $25,053 family, divided by 12, times 1.02. Source: federal MEPS Insurance Component survey (AHRQ), published by KFF State Health Facts: single, employee-plus-one, family. The 102% rule: U.S. Department of Labor.

These are averages. Your old plan could be richer or leaner than average, and your notice will have the real figure. Want your own number and the total over the months you actually need? Use my free COBRA Cost Calculator.

Is COBRA cheaper in Texas than the rest of the country?

A little, because the plans underneath it cost a little less here. In the same 2025 federal survey, the average Texas employer plan cost $8,543 a year for one person against $9,025 nationally. That's about 5% lower. Family coverage averaged $25,053 here against $26,281 nationally, also about 5% lower. COBRA is 102% of whatever your old plan really cost, so a slightly cheaper plan means a slightly cheaper COBRA bill. Don't let "cheaper than average" fool you. It's still the full freight.

Here's the part that stings. While you were working, the average Texas employer paid $6,905 of that $8,543 single premium, and the employee paid $1,638. That's roughly $137 a month out of your paycheck. On COBRA the same coverage is about $726 a month. Same plan, same card, more than five times the price, because the employer's share is now yours. The math doesn't math for most healthy people.

Three ways to find your exact COBRA price

1. Ask HR for the total premium. Ask for the full monthly premium for your tier, both shares combined, and multiply by 1.02.
2. Check your W-2, Box 12, code DD. That figure is the total annual cost of your employer health coverage, your share and theirs. Divide by 12, multiply by 1.02, and you have a close estimate. Larger employers are required to report it; smaller ones may leave it blank. Source: IRS.
3. Read the election notice. It states the exact premium and the deadline. That's the number that counts.

The Texas rules that change the bill

Under 20 employees: Texas state continuation, 9 months. Federal COBRA only applies to employers with 20 or more employees. Texas has its own law for fully insured group plans. Per the Texas Department of Insurance, if you aren't eligible for COBRA you can continue your coverage with state continuation for nine months after your job ends, as long as you had the coverage for the three months before your job ended. You usually can't get it if you were fired for cause. Your employer has to tell you about it within 30 days of the day your job ended. It doesn't apply to self-funded plans, because the state doesn't regulate those.

The paperwork and the price. You must ask for state continuation in writing within 60 days of the later of the day your coverage ended or the day you got the notice, per Texas Insurance Code section 1251.253. The premium is the group rate plus 2%, the same 102% as federal COBRA, with the first payment due within 45 days of electing and later payments on time if paid within 30 days of the due date, per section 1251.254.

Six more months after federal COBRA. Federal COBRA gives 18 months after a job loss or a cut in hours. Texas law then requires some fully insured group plans to continue your coverage for six months after COBRA coverage ends, per the Texas Department of Insurance guide linked above. That's up to 24 months total. Longer isn't cheaper, though. At the Texas family average, 24 months is roughly $51,000 in premiums.

The clock. Under federal COBRA you have 60 days to elect and then 45 days after electing to make the first payment, and coverage is retroactive to the day your job plan ended. That first payment can cover more than one month, so budget for it. One more trap: if you start COBRA and later just stop paying, that does not open a special enrollment window elsewhere. Decide on purpose, not by default.

Is COBRA worth that price in Texas?

Sometimes, and I'll say it plainly. If you're mid-treatment, pregnant, scheduled for surgery, or you've already met a big deductible this year, the continuity is worth the money. Same if you had a serious diagnosis in the last few years. For a healthy person or family, COBRA is usually the most expensive door in the hallway, because it's one plan at one price and you can't shop it.

Texas gives healthy people more doors than most states. Texas allows medically underwritten private plans, which means a carrier can ask about your health and price you on the answers instead of on the sickest person in a pool, usually with a true PPO network on the big national footprints. Another door almost nobody mentions is merging into a pre-established ERISA group plan: group rates, a true PPO, and a policy you own and take to the next job. Some people layer a lean medical plan with accident and gap coverage and come out well under the COBRA number. The healthcare.gov marketplace is one more tool: it takes everyone at the same price with no health questions, and it's the only place a premium tax credit lives, which matters if your income for the year lands under the 2026 subsidy cliff. It also comes with trade-offs, mostly HMO and EPO networks in much of Texas and a subsidy built on income you have to guess. I walk through every door, including when COBRA wins, in the alternatives to COBRA and in my Texas self-employed guide. Use the 60 days to price them all. Pack the parachute before the plane goes down.

Common questions about COBRA cost in Texas

Who you'll be talking to: me, Richard "Dick" Tracy. Real name, real job.

Independent health insurance broker · NPN 20414610 · Licensed in 25 states · 80+ carriers · Buffalo, NY

No call center, and no lead form that sells your name to ten agencies. The person who answers 716-503-1113 is the same person in this photo. I educate, you decide.

Your Insurance Detective is a trade name of Your Broker DT Inc, independently contracted with USA Benefits Group. More about me and how I work