[Noah930]

Can't offer any NYS-specific advice. But you might not want to avoid COBRA this time. $200-300 per month is nothing. If it makes you feel any better, on my family COBRA plan, I'm paying $1300 per month. Granted, we're expecting a child in a couple months, so a few months of COBRA is worth it for us.

Also, reconsider your wife quitting until she has something (with health insurance benefits) lined up. I suppose that's easier said than done, though.

Finally, if you're healthy, those HSAs might be another good option.

In my cynical voice: why bother with health insurance at all? If you get sick, just do what alot of my (usually uninsured and unemployed) patients have done: plead that you have no money, ask for free care, give a fake address/phone to make it hard to be tracked down, and if all those fail, then arrange for some payment plan based upon the cheapest (usually Medicare) insurance rates accepted by the hospital/physician. It'll be a fraction of what a normal bill would be. It's like eating at Spago and then asking to pay Olive Garden prices--only it actually works in the medical world. Finally, if you don't care about your credit, just don't pay.