Medicaid spending on alcohol and drug abuse treatment in East Petersburg climbs 45.4% in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in East Petersburg charged $228,694 for services categorized under Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 45.4% jump from 2023, when claims in this category totaled $157,271.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program managed by states with funding shared between federal and state governments. It provides coverage for low-income families and individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities and is one of the major components of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing reflect changes in how public health care funds are used within the community.

The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment classification includes a set of Medicaid-billed services identified by the type of care provided, based on established HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this report, each billing code was linked to a single service category using standardized code prefixes and number ranges, grouping related services together while avoiding double counting and ensuring consistent rankings over time.

Among the various service categories with rising Medicaid spending, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment led all categories by total Medicaid payments in East Petersburg in 2024.

Across Pennsylvania, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was also the top Medicaid category by payments in 2024.

From 2019 to 2024, Medicaid payments for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category in East Petersburg rose by $213,714, an increase of 1426.7%. Growth in spending accelerated in certain timeframes, with sharp increases seen in 2021 and 2023.

Within East Petersburg, although these services were provided throughout the city, most Medicaid payments were concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 17520 accounted for $228,693 in Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services. The leading ZIP code made up 100% of all such payments in the city that year.

A select few billing codes made up the majority of Medicaid payments within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category.

Comparatively, the 45.4% increase in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Medicaid payments between 2024 and 2023 outpaced the 37.2% growth recorded across all Medicaid claim categories in East Petersburg over the same period.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that total federal and state Medicaid spending reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, accounting for nearly 18% of all national health expenditures, a substantial increase from around $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks growth of about 40% over a few years, largely due to rising enrollment and increased service use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures passed under the Trump administration have introduced key proposals to decrease federal Medicaid funding and change how the program operates. Specifically, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over 10 years and includes changes such as work requirements and increased cost-sharing, which could affect coverage and funding for some recipients. These measures are anticipated to shift more costs to states and limit the expansion of federal Medicaid support, while the program continues to assist 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.

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.