COBRA coverage in Illinois costs about $793 per month for individual coverage and about $2,294 per month for family coverage, based on 2025 national averages. Those figures come from the way COBRA is priced: you pay 102% of your former employer’s full group health premium, meaning your old payroll share, the share your employer used to cover, and a 2% administrative fee on top.1Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. COBRA Continuation Coverage Your actual bill depends on the plan your employer picked and the coverage tier you had the day you left.
How the 102% Formula Produces Your Number
Most employees never see the full premium. Employers typically pay 70% to 80% of it behind the scenes, and only the employee share shows up on a pay stub. Under COBRA you take over the whole thing, and the plan administrator adds a 2% administrative surcharge that is the legal maximum.2U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Employers and Advisers
Here is the math. If your pay stub showed a $300 monthly deduction and your employer was paying another $1,200, the base premium is $1,500. Multiply by 1.02 and your COBRA bill is $1,530 per month. To find your own number, pull your last pay stub and the benefits summary from your most recent open enrollment. Together they show the full premium that was being split.
Typical Monthly Costs
The 2025 Kaiser Family Foundation employer survey put the average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance at $9,325 for single coverage and $26,993 for family coverage. At 102%, that works out to roughly:
- Individual coverage: about $793 per month
- Family coverage: about $2,294 per month
These are national averages, so your plan could sit above or below them depending on the insurer, the industry, and the specific plan design. The coverage tier you held when you left locks in your category. Individual-only coverage costs less than employee-plus-spouse or full family coverage, and you cannot upgrade to a more expensive tier when you elect COBRA.3U.S. Department of Labor. COBRA Continuation Coverage
Your premium is not frozen either. When the insurer raises group rates at the employer’s annual renewal, the 102% calculation applies to the new total and your monthly payment rises with it.1Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. COBRA Continuation Coverage You do get the same open enrollment rights as active employees, so if your former employer offers multiple plans you can switch to a cheaper one during the open enrollment window.4eCFR. 26 CFR 54.4980B-5 – COBRA Continuation Coverage
If You Worked for a Small Illinois Employer
Federal COBRA only applies to employers with 20 or more workers.2U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Employers and Advisers If your employer was smaller than that, Illinois has its own continuation coverage law, sometimes called mini-COBRA, built into the Illinois Insurance Code. Employees at small group employers who lose coverage through termination or a reduction in hours can continue the group plan for up to 12 months.
The monthly price is the same formula: up to 102% of the total plan cost. The practical difference is the length. State continuation runs 12 months instead of federal COBRA’s 18. The Illinois Department of Insurance handles complaints about small employers that fail to offer continuation coverage, rather than the U.S. Department of Labor.
When the Monthly Bill Jumps to 150%
If you or a covered family member is determined by the Social Security Administration to be disabled, COBRA can extend from 18 months to 29 months. During the 11-month disability extension (months 19 through 29), the plan is allowed to charge up to 150% of the applicable premium instead of 102%.5eCFR. 26 CFR 54.4980B-8 – Paying for COBRA Continuation Coverage On a plan with a $1,500 base premium, that moves the monthly bill from $1,530 to $2,250.
The timing rule is strict. SSA must find the person disabled within 60 days of the COBRA qualifying event for the extension to apply.6Social Security Administration. Processing Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) Disability Cases Disability claims often take months to decide, so filing early matters if you expect to need the extension.
Is a Marketplace Plan Cheaper?
COBRA is rarely the cheapest option. Losing employer-sponsored coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period on the health insurance marketplace, letting you buy an individual or family plan outside the normal open enrollment window.7HealthCare.gov. Special Enrollment Period Marketplace plans qualify for premium tax credits based on household income, and if your income dropped when you lost your job, those subsidies can cut the monthly cost substantially. A silver-level marketplace plan in Illinois runs roughly $490 to $800 per month before subsidies, and potentially far less after them. COBRA offers no subsidies.
The trade-off is continuity. COBRA keeps you on the exact plan you had, with the same network, the same doctors, and the same deductible you have already been chipping away at. A marketplace plan resets the deductible and may use a different network. If you are mid-treatment or already deep into your deductible for the year, the higher COBRA premium can still come out ahead. If you are generally healthy and qualify for subsidies, the marketplace almost always wins on monthly cost.
Tax Deductions That Lower the Real Cost
COBRA premiums can reduce your tax bill, which effectively lowers the monthly cost. Self-employed workers can deduct health insurance premiums, including COBRA, as an above-the-line deduction on Schedule 1, which reduces adjusted gross income directly.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 7206 (2025) The deduction is only available for months you were not eligible for a subsidized employer plan.
If you are not self-employed, COBRA premiums count as a medical expense on Schedule A, deductible only to the extent your total medical expenses exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income. Either way, keep every payment record. Over 18 months of COBRA the amounts add up fast, and the tax benefit is easy to overlook.