“think I’ll get a cheap plan rather than the $900/month COBRA”
Good move! I did just that when I retired in 2017. I stuck with COBRA until the end of the year, then I went on a cheap Obamacare plan. I had to cough up a few grand for carpel-tunnel surgery, but overall, it worked out great. Just keep your income under that magic number, which was ~$45K. One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the cheap plans are HSA compatible. You can squirrel an extra ~$4500 and take it off your MAGI. I have just now finally drained the HSA after going on Medicare 2 years ago. Most of it is in my mouth, but at least it was tax free.
My base retirement income (I’m 62, hubby is 54) annually is $46,800. Does that mean I can dump $2K (1,800) into an FSA?