DH retired at 60, but I was still working so I carried the insurance. I retired last year at 60 (DH was 62), and we did some heavy investigating on this exact subject. Our options were COBRA for the first 18 months and then see what was available, retiree medical from a former employers, and private insurance (aka "Obamacare"). I was uncomfortable with the term limitation of COBRA, plus it was quite expensive. The private insurance had so many options that it took a long time to evaluate. We found there were very few offered in my state that had national coverage so that helped the winnowing process. We finally went with the retiree plan ($6,000 deductible but relatively low premiums). It was about the same price as the equivalent private plans but I didn't have to re-enroll every year. It was also a national BC/BS plan. Note our financial advisor said we really needed to plan on $12,000-$14,000 a year in total medical costs, so we put that into the budget before pulling the trigger on my retirement. Note that all these numbers are for a couple, no kids. Even though we have a daughter still under 26, she has a real job and her own insurance.