In the US this doesn't make sense (for most people), unfortunately. Employers offer group plans which tend to be much cheaper and offer substantially better be

In the US this doesn't make sense (for most people), unfortunately. Employers offer group plans which tend to be much cheaper and offer substantially better benefits than individual plans. The larger the company, the better the arrangement tends to be. COBRA is designed to fill in that coverage gap when you leave, but as others have noted in this thread, it is not always economical.