economic decisions in california?

i live in southern California and i work at a dead end job. i only stay at my job due to the fact that it has benefits like life insurance and medical/ dental care. im trying to find a better job with benefits but i was told that you have to wait 3 months in order to receive benefits. i am scared of the fact that if i quit my dead end job with benefits, and work at another job, not knowing how well it could go, and not promising benefits, then i will not have a job. is this true?? would should i do in this situation?
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Yes well you always take on certain risks when you quit a job. Welcome to planet Earth. That's why risk averse people stay in lousy jobs and lead miserable lives. These are the problems we get for adopting the very stupid custom of expecting employers to pay you in benefits instead of just in cash. Different companies have different policies as to how soon you are eligible for benefits once you start working there. 3 months might be normal, but some companies will cover you from the first day. It just depends on what they want to do. In my experience a small company is likely to be more flexible about these things. Also there is no guarantee you can find a job with benefits, of course. As for health care, when you quit a job there is a government law called COBRA that requires your employer to leave you on the same insurance coverage if you request it, but you independently pay the premiums, and you can maintain that for 18 months. Assuming you are willing to pay out of pocket, that is the way to go until you have other coverage. Or you can just risk not having coverage temporarily. People do it all the time. As for life insurance, you should NOT rely on employer-provided coverage. Individual term life policies are very cheap and you should have your own policy as your primary coverage -- any coverage at work is just gravy.
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