Ask for three things in writing before you accept: the Summary of Benefits and Coverage for the plan you would actually be offered, the dollar deduction per paycheck, and the date coverage starts. The gap between the two jobs is where the money goes, and the fallback is smaller than most people think: the Department of Labor's COBRA page limits continuation coverage to group health plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year, and allows the plan to charge up to 102% of the cost to the plan. The condition that changes the answer is employer size. Under 20 employees, COBRA is not your bridge and the Marketplace is.
Ask for the document, not the benefit name
A benefits list on a careers page is a headline. The document behind health coverage is the Summary of Benefits and Coverage, and HealthCare.gov says plans must give you a short, plain-language SBC and a Uniform Glossary, with coverage examples showing what the plan would cover in two common medical situations: diabetes care and childbirth. Ask for the SBC for your hours and your location, not the company-wide one.
Two more documents finish the picture. The contribution schedule shows the deduction and how often it is taken. The retirement plan document sets when employer money becomes yours. Ask who administers each. A recruiter who cannot answer a plan question can almost always name the administrator.
Employer size decides whether COBRA is your bridge
COBRA is the plan people assume they have. That same Department of Labor page sets the 20-employee threshold and the 102% ceiling, and 102% is measured against the cost to the plan, not against your old payroll deduction. Those two numbers are rarely close, because the employer was paying most of the premium.
The Marketplace runs on a clock instead of a threshold. HealthCare.gov gives you 60 days from losing job-based coverage to enroll in a Marketplace plan, and another 60 days when COBRA itself ends, and that page also states that you pay the full cost of COBRA because your former employer stops contributing. Ask your current employer for the plan's total monthly cost now, while you can still ask.
The six answers worth writing down
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| Question | Who answers it | Document to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Which plan would I be offered at these hours? | Recruiter, then the plan administrator | SBC for that plan |
| What is deducted, and how often? | Payroll | Contribution schedule |
| What day does coverage start? | HR | Written offer or enrollment notice |
| What does the current plan cost the plan? | Current employer | COBRA rate notice |
| When does employer retirement money become mine? | Plan administrator | Plan document |
| What must I submit, and by when? | HR | Enrollment instructions |
Date every answer and note who gave it. When a spoken answer and a document disagree, ask which governs.
Example: two offers priced on the same paycheck
Offer A deducts $62.00 a paycheck, paid every other week: 26 paychecks means $1,612.00 a year. Offer B deducts $140.00 a paycheck, paid twice a month: 24 paychecks means $3,360.00 a year. The gap is $1,748.00 a year, on the deduction alone — before you have even compared the hourly rates. The pay frequency is part of that gap: 26 deductions a year against 24, so the two per-paycheck figures do not compare side by side until you take them out to a year. Cost alone does not settle it, because HealthCare.gov's minimum value standard says a job-based plan qualifies if it is designed to cover at least 60% of medical costs and the SBC is where you see what sits above that floor.
One message covers it
One message covers it: "Before I give notice, please send the SBC for the plan I would be offered at 32 hours, the per-paycheck employee contribution with its pay frequency, and the date coverage would start. I also need the COBRA rate from my current plan." Ask the same questions about hours in the interview itself, price the two rosters in a full-week comparison, and keep the pay, procedure and job-protection questions apart when you ask about PTO, sick leave and FMLA.