When you take money from a retirement account, it will appear as income - there really isn't a way around that.
The only workaround I can think of is taking a loan from your 401(k) plan to pay for the premiums (the loan is not taxable to you as income).
However, since you are no longer an employee, I don't know if you would qualify for one in your plan (you would have to ask). This also presents the difficulty of paying the loan back, because if you can't, you default on the loan and the entire amount becomes taxable to you.
Hmmn, there is another possibility, depending on your age and job:
"Separation from Service
the employee separates from service during or after the year the employee reaches age 55 (age 50 for public safety employees of a state, or political subdivision of a state, in a governmental defined benefit plan)** " See https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distri...
Any chance you are 55+ or 50+(if a public safety worker)? If so, you could take the distribution directly from the 401(k) plan with no early distribution penalty.
If not, you have already identified the next best option: rollover an amount from your 401(k) plan to an IRA and take the distribution from the IRA.
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