I read a horrifying description by a American of their employment and health insurance situation. Some details I don't understand, and I may be misremembering,

I read a horrifying description by a American of their employment and health insurance situation. Some details I don't understand, and I may be misremembering, but the gist was: - they were (under?)-employed within their field, at an okay job - they had health benefits - they had had a major health condition which caused them to now have a pre-existing condition (cancer? I don't recall.) - they were now in a situation where-in if they lost their job, or COBRA coverage for 2+ months, they lapsed out of their existing policy - they would then have to apply for health insurance coverage with a "pre-existing condition" which would not be covered (by the normal policies?) So now they were very clearly and palpably tied to their health insurance and by extension to the company that employed them, and felt very uneasy about going through the hiring / probation period somewhere else. I may have the major details wrong there, feel free to correct me if I do.