Health insurance gap after a layoff after 13 years as a copywriter

My employer coverage ended at the end of the month and I am trying to work out what to do as a copywriter. Any experience at all would help. I do not want a gap in coverage. Is there help filling out the forms?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 10 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.