How Will the Affordable Care Act Affect the Use of Health Care Services?

In January 2014, the ACA extended access to health insurance coverage to an estimated 30 million previously uninsured people. This issue brief provides state-level estimates of the increased demand for physician and hospital services that is expected to result from expanded access and assesses the sufficiency of the existing supply of providers to accommodate the anticipated increase in demand. Increases of the magnitude likely to be generated by the Affordable Care Act will have modest effects on the demand for health services, and the existing supply of providers should be sufficient to accommodate this increased demand.