As reported in a recent New York Times article, since 2010 three to four million people, mostly young adults, have become newly insured through this mechanism. This translates to a drop of 13 percentage points in the number of uninsured 19-25-year-olds, from 34 percent in 2010 to 21 percent in the first quarter of this year. As a result in years 2010 and 2011 health care expenditures for children and young adults (ages 0-25) grew faster than all other age groups; in 2012 expenditures for young adults ages 19-25 grew faster than any other age group, according to a report by the Health Care Cost Institute.

A recently released study on the ACA mandate found that after implementation of it, among people ages 18-25 with possible mental health disorders, mental health treatment increased by 5.3 percent and uninsured visits declined by 12.4 percentage points.

A May 2014 study on the health effects of the mandate found that the greatest improvement in health outcomes is among young males and college graduates. Insured young males had improvements in four major areas: 1) having a primary care doctor; 2) reporting excellent health; 3) having a well-patient visit; and 4) a reduction in obesity. The same study found that young males do not experience "a single statistically adverse effect" from the mandate. Still, according to another study, among adults in age groups 18-24 and 25 to 34 men were more likely than women to lack health insurance coverage.

The package of essential health benefits under the ACA will come up for review in 2017. By then additional data will have been collected on young males to support inclusion of a male package of benefits to parallel that for females already included in the law.

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