From what I have seen most people leave their job on Friday and start the new one next Monday. Almost nobody takes time off. Also, a lot of companies want you to start tomorrow. I have told companies that I want to take a month off before starting there and it seemed they couldn't even comprehend the concept.

>You end up without health insurance coverage

There's COBRA although, of course, you don't have the employer portion paid for any longer.

I'm a bit skeptical that the typical person takes a lot of time off between jobs. If you've already got a position lined up, your new employer probably wants you to start as soon as possible. You can probably negotiate 2 or 3 weeks but, in most cases, I expect a real sabbatical would be tough.

And, if you don't have a job lined up, I probably wouldn't be confident enough to just take it easy for a couple months.