Changing Jobs, Insurance

I am thinking about changing jobs, so that would mean new health insurance. It makes me nervous because I think you can only be without insurance for 61 days, after that pre existing applies. Anyone else deal with this? I of course will not mention any cancer stuff in my interview, but worry about the insurance switch.

On a side note I had someone tell me they were told by an insurance company they had to be cancer free for 15 years (not the 5 I had thought) before they could get insurance, since their COBRA ended. When the hell did that start?