COBRA costs more than my rent, what did you do? after 8 years as a customer-service rep

The COBRA quote for my family is $1100 a month and I do not know how to afford it. I have been trying to stay organised about it. I saw that marketplace plans might cost less. Is the decision time really that tight?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.