So I retired Dec. 1 and enrolled in Covered California (ACA, Obamacare) today for my husband and me. Thought these figures might be useful. We're in our early 60s. I had worked for a giant company, self-insuring, where payroll deduction was $259.32/month for the 2 of us. According to the 2013 W-2, the company paid $10964.72 for health insurance. Not sure if that includes my payroll deduction or if it was just the company's part. COBRA, for Kaiser HMO, is $1013.42/month for the 2 of us.
Covered California is $1598/month for the 2 of us for Kaiser HMO Silver plus. With the $1484/month credit we'll pay $114/month based on our taking $2250/month from our IRAs (not planning to take SS or having other earned income.)
Coverage looks slightly worse (higher deductibles) but the giant company coverage was reduced in the same way next year, so they look about the same in the end. If we had to take COBRA we would have, as my husband has minor health issues and I don't think we would have been able to get coverage any other way. Most likely I would not have been able to retire yet as COBRA coverage would have expired before he was eligible for Medicare.