OBJECTIVES: To estimate medical cost burden of Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) in a large commercial administrative claims database. METHODS: Retrospective analysis was conducted using Truven Health MarketScan database from 2008-2014. One-year medical expenditures of newly diagnosed CD and UC patients were summarized and compared with the expenditures among propensity score matched patient cohorts. Regression analysis was also used to adjust for sociodemographic and comorbidities differences between two groups.  RESULTS: Annual medical expenditures were significantly higher for commercially insured CD and UC patients compared to matched patient group ($25,837 vs $6,368 for CD patients, $20,478 vs $ 7,349 for UC patients). CONCLUSIONS: CD and UC are diseases associated with significant cost burden to healthcare utilization.