If it was useful, it was a very long time ago. I remember my parents being in between jobs in the late 90’s and early aughts and complaining that COBRA was extremely expensive. The only reason the law seems to exist anymore is for people who somehow have some expensive debilitating condition yet can still work (or are a worker covering a family member with such condition). And that’s a pretty small subset of all health insurance buyers.

Data seems to agree: in 2007 the usage of COBRA was 10%: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/23/cobra.health.insurance/

I thought COBRA was exceedingly expensive in 2000. Now, the cheapest HMO Bronze plan is 300% more, adjusting for inflation.