COBRA costs more than my rent, what did you do?

The COBRA quote for my family is $500 a month and I do not know how to afford it. It has been weighing on me all week. I saw that marketplace plans might cost less. Did anyone switch mid-year?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 12 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.