Lost your job? A checklist for benefits and health coverage

The short answer

In your first week:

1. Apply for unemployment benefits with the state where you worked. In California, a claim starts on the Sunday of the week you apply, so waiting can cost you.
2. Find out the exact day your health coverage ends. You usually have 60 days to choose what comes next, but applying before coverage ends helps you avoid a gap.
3. Check your final paycheck. In California, if you are fired or laid off, your final wages, including earned vacation, are generally due on your last day.

Then compare a spouse's or parent's plan, COBRA, a marketplace plan (Covered California in California) and Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California). If you are too sick or injured to work, apply for disability benefits instead. Retirement savings can usually wait; cashing out in a hurry can cost you taxes and penalties.

The printable first-two-weeks checklist after a job loss puts these steps in order, with space for your own dates.

Step 1: Pin down when your coverage ends

Your coverage may not end on your last day of work. Ask your human resources (HR) office by email, so the answers are in writing:

• What is the last day of my health, dental and vision coverage?
• When will my COBRA notice arrive, and what will it cost each month?
• Is our health plan insured or self-funded? (This matters for Cal-COBRA in California.)
• What is the last day to send claims to my flexible spending account (FSA)?
• Who runs my retirement plan, and how do I reach them?

The COBRA election notice generally should be sent within 44 days after your job ends. If it does not come, contact your former employer; for Cal-COBRA, contact the health plan. In California, employers must give written notice right away when they fire or lay off a worker. Keep it.

If you take medicine every day, ask your pharmacy whether you can refill before coverage ends. A health savings account (HSA) stays with you when you leave a job; an FSA works differently. HSA or FSA? How each works explains both.

Step 2: Choose your health coverage

COBRA and Cal-COBRA

COBRA keeps you on the same group plan, but you pay the full cost plus a fee. Losing a job for any reason other than gross misconduct qualifies, and so does a cut in hours.

• Length: usually 18 months. Some people can extend to 29 months because of a disability, or 36 months after a second event such as a divorce. During a disability extension, COBRA and Cal-COBRA can charge up to 150 percent of the plan's cost.
• Payments: you get at least 45 days after signing up to make the first payment, and a grace period of at least 30 days for later ones.
• Coverage reaches back: if you sign up within the election period and pay, COBRA covers you from the day your plan ended. If the deadline passes, the chance is gone.
• In California, Cal-COBRA can last up to 36 months. After 18 months of federal COBRA, you may be able to get up to 18 more months of Cal-COBRA.

Marketplace plans and Covered California

• Apply early. You can apply up to 60 days before your job-based coverage ends. You may be asked for proof that you lost coverage.
• Estimate the whole year's income. Premium help depends on expected household income for the year, not on whether you have a job. Count pay already earned this year, unemployment benefits and most 401(k) or IRA withdrawals. Since 2026, the federal premium tax credit has generally been limited to incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Report changes as they happen.
• Compare beyond the premium. How to compare two health plans beyond the premium shows how to price a likely year and a bad year, including COBRA against a marketplace plan.
• In California, paying the first bill is part of enrolling. You can pay online or wait for the insurer's bill.

Timing traps if you start on COBRA:

• Within 60 days of losing job-based coverage, you can still switch to a marketplace plan. After that, dropping COBRA or not paying does not open a new chance to enroll; you would need open enrollment or another qualifying life event.
• When COBRA runs out at the end of its term, you have 60 days to enroll in a marketplace plan.
• Open enrollment for 2027 runs from November 1, 2026, to January 15, 2027, on HealthCare.gov, and to January 31, 2027, at Covered California.

Medicaid and Medi-Cal

For most applicants, Medicaid looks at current monthly income, while marketplace help looks at the whole year. If your income just dropped, you may qualify for Medicaid now. You can apply any time, and coverage can start right away if you qualify. If you have COBRA, HealthCare.gov advises waiting for a final Medicaid decision before ending it. Starting October 1, 2026, a federal law limits Medicaid for some lawfully present immigrants: with some exceptions, federal funding now generally covers only green card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants and certain Pacific Island (COFA) migrants.

In California, the Medi-Cal limit for most adults ages 19 to 64 is 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Covered California's October 2026 chart lists $1,836 a month for one person, $2,490 for two, $3,143 for three and $3,795 for four. Children and pregnant people can qualify with higher incomes. Unemployment benefits count as income. One application checks both programs: apply online through Covered California or BenefitsCal, by mail, or at your county social services office.

Medi-Cal is also changing, according to the state Department of Health Care Services. Since January 1, 2026, some adults cannot newly enroll in full-scope Medi-Cal because of immigration status. Adults affected by the October 2026 federal change, such as refugees and asylees without a green card, get state-funded Medi-Cal until June 30, 2027. Since January 1, 2026, people 65 and older or with disabilities also face asset limits. Starting January 1, 2027, Medi-Cal will pay for fewer months of bills from before you applied, so apply soon, and some adults ages 19 to 64 must work, volunteer, go to school or train to keep coverage unless exempt. See Medicaid work requirements in 2027 and Medi-Cal in plain language.

If you are 65 or older

If you had job-based coverage through your own or your spouse's current work, sign up for Medicare Part B within 8 months after that work stops, even if you choose COBRA. Missing it can mean months without coverage and a monthly penalty for as long as you have Part B.

Step 3: Apply for unemployment benefits

Each state runs its own program. File with the state where you worked, as soon as possible; if you moved or worked in several states, your current state's agency can explain where to file. CareerOneStop, from the U.S. Department of Labor, lists every state's program. Generally, you must be out of work through no fault of your own and have earned enough in a recent period called the base period.

In California (EDD)

• Apply right away through myEDD online, or by phone on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time (number below).
• Have ready your Social Security number, photo ID, every employer's name, address and dates for the past 18 months, your pay, and why you stopped working.
• Amounts: $40 to $450 a week, based on past earnings. The total is 26 times your weekly amount or half your base-period wages, whichever is less.
• Timing: a new claim takes about three weeks to process, and the first eligible week is an unpaid waiting week.
• Keep it active: post a résumé in CalJOBS within 21 days of the date on EDD's notice, unless EDD says you don't need to. Certify every two weeks, look for work, and report all work and pay.
• Quit or fired? Apply anyway; there is no penalty for applying. If you quit, you must show a good reason; if you were fired, your employer must prove misconduct. To appeal a denial, mail the appeal within 30 calendar days of the decision's mailing date.
• Vacation pay: if you have no return-to-work date, vacation or holiday pay you get when the job ends does not reduce your benefits.
• Taxes: benefits are subject to federal income tax, not California income tax. You can have 10 percent withheld for federal tax.

If you are too sick or injured to work

In California, you cannot get unemployment for days you are too sick or injured to work, or unemployment and disability benefits for the same days.

In California, State Disability Insurance (SDI) may help if:

• you cannot do your regular work for at least eight days because of an illness or injury not caused by your job, or surgery, pregnancy or childbirth,
• you were working or looking for work when it began,
• you earned at least $300 with SDI taken out of your pay (CASDI on your pay stub) in your base period, and
• a licensed health professional certifies your condition.

Apply no earlier than 9 days and no later than 49 days after your disability begins. Benefits run $50 to $1,765 a week, based on 70 to 90 percent of past wages, for up to 52 weeks. If you need to care for a seriously ill family member, ask about Paid Family Leave. Outside California, ask your state labor department whether it has a disability program.

Step 4: Check your final paycheck

In California

• Fired or laid off: all wages earned, including vested vacation, are due immediately. The Labor Commissioner applies this to a layoff without a set return date in the normal pay period.
• You quit with at least 72 hours' notice: pay is due on your last day. Without notice: within 72 hours, and you can ask for it by mail.
• Late pay: an employer who willfully pays late can owe a day's pay for each day late, up to 30 days.
• Disputes: the employer must pay the undisputed part without making you sign a release.
• Unpaid? File a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner's Office, whatever your immigration status. Time limits apply.

Elsewhere, final-pay deadlines vary by state; ask your state labor department.

Before you sign a severance agreement: if you are 40 or older and it asks you to give up age-discrimination claims, federal rules generally give you at least 21 days to consider it (45 when a group is let go) and 7 days to cancel after signing, and require written advice to see a lawyer. Legal aid or an employment attorney can review it.

Step 5: Slow down on retirement savings

This is general information, not advice about your account.

• Four choices, says the IRS: leave the money in the old plan, move it to a new employer's plan, move it to an IRA, or withdraw it. If your balance is small, the plan may move or pay it out without asking, so read its notices.
• Move it directly. A direct rollover avoids withholding. If a check comes to you, the plan usually withholds 20 percent; to avoid tax, deposit the full amount within 60 days, using other money to replace what was withheld.
• Cashing out costs more than it looks. Withdrawals are usually taxed as income. If you are under 59½ and leave your job before the year you turn 55, a 401(k) withdrawal usually also owes an additional 10 percent tax unless another exception applies. Most withdrawals also count as income for marketplace premium help.
• Plan loans. An unpaid loan may be subtracted from your account. If that happens because you left the job, you have until your tax-filing deadline, including extensions, to roll that amount over.
• In California, a pension or other retirement pay from past work may reduce unemployment benefits; report it to EDD.
• HSA money can pay for COBRA, and for health coverage premiums while you receive unemployment benefits.

Your plan must explain your rollover choices in writing. Department of Labor benefits advisors (below) answer plan questions; a tax professional can explain tax effects.

Where to get free help

Correction, October 26, 2026: The Cal-COBRA sign-up window now reads 60 days from the later of your notice or the day coverage ends (it said 60 days after you are notified), and we added that COBRA and Cal-COBRA can cost up to 150 percent during a disability extension. We also added the October 2026 federal Medicaid change for some immigrants.

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