Losing employer insurance, where should I look? (update)

My family's coverage ended with the layoff and we have a prescription we cannot skip. The COBRA notice arrived with a very high price. How fast did coverage start?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 8 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Call your pharmacy too. Mine knew of a discount card that helped while coverage was being sorted out.