According to Hewitt Associates, COBRA enrollment has doubled since the enactment of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) earlier this year.

One of the provision of the ARRA provides COBRA premium assistance for employees who are involuntarily terminated from Sept. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2009. Qualified participants pay 35 percent of the COBRA premium, with the remaining 65 percent subsidized by the employer and reimbursed by the federal credit to the employer’s payroll taxes.

“From March 2009 to June 2009, monthly COBRA enrollment rates for Americans eligible for the subsidy averaged 38 percent, up from 19 percent for the period of September 2008 through February 2009,” Hewitt said. Industrial manufacturers experienced an 800 percent increase in COBRA enrollments following enactment of the subsidy, while construction, leisure, and retail businesses experienced a 300 percent increase in enrollments, Hewitt found.

Find out more about the analysis here.