Pent-Up Health Care Demand after the ACA: Does It Exist and Will It Go Away?

This project aims to inform state agencies, insurers, and providers about the long-term costs and health care needs of the newly insured. The researchers will use enrollment and claims data from Medica, a regional health plan in Minnesota with 1.5 million members, to examine health care utilization among newly enrolled members of private individual and family plans in Minnesota's marketplace and in the state's Medicaid program. The analysis will determine whether there is evidence of pent-up demand among new members and, if so, whether the high level of demand subsides or persists over time.