I went through layoff six months ago. ACA definitely has helped with health insurance. If you are unemployed (no income), you are most likely to get subsidy as it is income based. Our premiums after subsidy is little bit higher than what we were paying when I was employed.
I wish there was something similar to ACA for dental insurance. Most dental insurance plans on open market are expensive and with ridiculous terms, like 18-month waiting period! We had to take dental insurance plan through COBRA (almost 6 times as expensive as regular employee). Not sure what we will do with dental insurance after 18 months of coverage through COBRA.
Dental is harder, and (at least in my dentist's opinion) private dental insurance just isn't worth it. I can see the merits of that, because you're less likely to have a catastrophic dental emergency that can bankrupt you. A lot of dental insurance also seems to only cover 50% of the more expensive items.
It may be worth looking at how much you're paying each month in premiums and comparing that to the annual out-of-pocket cost for preventive / cleaning visits plus perhaps a filling or two. You may find that all the insurance is really doing is smoothing those payments out without saving you much money unless you have a "years of neglect" situation that you're still working through.
It's probably also worth asking your dentist if they have "self-pay" rates comparable to what they're getting from the insurance companies. If they bill $120 but accept $80 from insurance, will they take $80-90 cash from you instead of that $120? Also, for more expensive procedures like crowns, it's very likely that your dentist's office will let you do installments to spread the cost over at least several months. That doesn't really help when you don't have current income and aren't sure when you will have it, but it does relate to smoothing out your expenditures the way insurance premiums do.
My dentist actually mentioned that she can't charge less than what she bills to insurance company (at least on the books). It appears that if a dentist is part of an insurance network, by agreement with insurance company, s/he can't charge less to patient who don't have insurance.
I have a dentist friend whose practice doesn't accept any insurance so he is free to set his rates and charge his patient. After COBRA finishes we might go to him.
I wish there was something similar to ACA for dental insurance. Most dental insurance plans on open market are expensive and with ridiculous terms, like 18-month waiting period! We had to take dental insurance plan through COBRA (almost 6 times as expensive as regular employee). Not sure what we will do with dental insurance after 18 months of coverage through COBRA.