In 2024, Medicaid providers in Lakewood billed a total of $597,507 for services within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, as shown in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount reflected a 50% rise from 2023, when providers submitted $398,321 in claims for these services.
Medicaid, a public health insurance program managed by the states and financed through both federal and state funds, covers low-income residents, seniors, children and people with disabilities. This makes it a key component of the national health care landscape.
Local billing variations for Medicaid, which is taxpayer-funded, highlight how public health resources are distributed across communities.
The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category includes a suite of Medicaid-billed services grouped by care type, as identified via standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this analysis, codes were assigned to a specific service group using consistent prefixes and numeric ranges, so related services are tallied together. This method avoids double counting and maintains precise historical rankings.
While Medicaid spending expanded across several categories, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the sixth highest by total payments in Lakewood for 2024.
Statewide in California, this category ranked fourth by overall Medicaid payments for the year.
Over the five-year period ending in 2024, Medicaid spending for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Lakewood grew by $85,554, or 16.7%. Certain years, including 2022 and 2020, saw especially strong year-over-year growth.
Although these Medicaid payments were distributed citywide, the majority was concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 90713 accounted for $597,506 in payments. The top ZIP code represented 100% of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Medicaid payments in Lakewood for the year.
Spending in this category was also focused on a small number of individual billing codes.
When compared to a 50% increase for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Lakewood from 2023 to 2024, total Medicaid claim spending in the city grew by 29.7% during the same time frame.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which made up about 18% of all national health costs, climbing from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, pre-pandemic.
This overall increase of almost 40% in several years is attributed largely to expanded enrollments and greater service use during and after the period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures during the Trump administration included proposals to reduce federal Medicaid spending and adjust the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by over $1 trillion in the coming decade, and introduces work requirements along with higher cost-sharing. These changes could result in narrowed coverage and less funding for some groups, likely shifting costs to states and capping federal Medicaid growth while the program remains vital for millions.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $511,953 | 0.2% |
| 2021 | $472,881 | -7.6% |
| 2022 | $538,638 | 13.9% |
| 2023 | $398,321 | -26.1% |
| 2024 | $597,506 | 50% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $2,690,918 | 31.7% |
| 2 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $1,188,281 | 14% |
| 3 | Anesthesia | $1,076,581 | 12.7% |
| 4 | Dental Services | $1,044,831 | 12.3% |
| 5 | Radiology Procedures | $761,468 | 9% |
| 6 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $597,506 | 7% |
| 7 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $254,181 | 3% |
| 8 | Surgery | $207,416 | 2.4% |
| 9 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $170,958 | 2% |
| 10 | Hearing Services | $131,824 | 1.6% |
| 11 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $110,791 | 1.3% |
| 12 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $87,029 | 1% |
| 13 | Temporary Codes | $65,041 | 0.8% |
| 14 | Coronavirus Diagnostic Panel | $46,087 | 0.5% |
| 15 | Procedures / Professional Services | $38,279 | 0.5% |
| 16 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $11,482 | 0.1% |
| 17 | Vision Services | $7,058 | 0.1% |
| 18 | Chemotherapy Drugs | $2,839 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $2,511 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $217 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2019 | Ther behav svc, per 15 min | $368,112 | 21 |
| H0032 | Mh svc plan dev by non-md | $171,294 | 22 |
| H0031 | Mh health assess by non-md | $58,100 | 9 |
Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.
Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.
