Alcohol and drug abuse Medicaid reimbursements in Baltimore reached $411,128,494 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Baltimore billed a total of $411,128,494 for services categorized as Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This signifies a 20.5% growth from the prior year, when claims for the same services amounted to $341,256,353.

Medicaid, a public health insurance system managed at the state level with joint federal and state funding, serves low-income residents, families, seniors, children and people with disabilities and represents one of the largest parts of the country’s health care framework. More information is available from the Commonwealth Fund.

As the dollars for Medicaid come from public funding, fluctuations in local billing offer insights into how government money supports health care services in different areas.

The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category spans a collection of Medicaid services, categorized by care type using standardized HCPCS and CPT code clusters. Each code was systematically grouped to a unique service category to compare related treatments, maintain clarity, and prevent any double counting across years.

Spending for Medicaid increased in several service sectors, with Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment accounting for the highest payments in Baltimore in 2024.

On a statewide basis, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category also topped the Medicaid payment categories in Maryland in 2024.

Between 2020 and 2024, Medicaid payments related to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Baltimore climbed by $213,938,310, or 108.5%. The pace of growth accelerated in certain periods, seeing substantial yearly increases in both 2023 and 2022.

Although payments in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment group were seen citywide, they were heaviest in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP codes with the largest Medicaid payments in this category were 21218 at $41,553,236, 21202 with $38,113,453, and 21215 at $37,921,136. The top 3 ZIP codes comprised 28.6% of all such Medicaid payments in Baltimore that year.

Further, within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, payments were focused among relatively few individual billing codes.

When compared with the citywide total of Medicaid categories, payments connected to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category in Baltimore advanced by 20.5% between 2024 and the previous year, whereas the increase across all claims was 3.5% in the same interval.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, state and federal Medicaid spending reached around $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which accounts for nearly 18% of overall national health costs—significantly up from about $613.5 billion in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This 40% growth over just a few years stems mainly from expanded enrollment and greater service use in and after the pandemic period.

Recent national spending bills during the Trump administration included measures to trim federal Medicaid spending and overhaul the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, aims to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over 10 years, introducing requirements like work obligations and higher cost-sharing that may limit access and funding for some beneficiaries. These policy changes are anticipated to place more cost responsibility on states and restrict the federal contribution’s growth, though Medicaid continues to serve tens of millions of Americans.

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.

This article’s data comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database, which can be accessed here.