How to get individual medical insurance when quitting the employer

Here are tips on how to quit a job and still protect yourself/your career. #5 is on COBRA health insurance.
http://careerplanning.about.com/od/quittingyourjob/tp/quit_your_job.htm

Definitely shop around. Buying individually is often less expensive than COBRA. There are several places to shop for medical insurance online. Here are a few:
www.ehealthinsurance.com
www.gohealthinsurance.com/
www.kaiserpermanente.org/
www.bcbs.com/

I don't disagree with what skyDancer says but would add that before you "shop around" make sure you clearly understand the difference pre-existing conditions make between COBRA and starting a new policy. The key to understanding insurance is knowing what you're losing when you get a better price.


Below is the US Dept Labor FAQ on The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Note that it's implementation is different from state to state.

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_hipaa.html