Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows that Medicaid providers in Costa Mesa billed $8,690,691 for services classified under the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category in 2024. This represents a 31.2% rise from 2023, when claims for these services reached $6,622,623.
Medicaid operates as a public health insurance system managed by states and jointly financed by state and federal governments. The program supports low-income individuals and families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, composing a major segment of the overall U.S. health care infrastructure.
Because the funding for Medicaid is sourced from taxpayers, shifts in community billing patterns help track the flow of public health funds within the area.
The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category includes a defined set of Medicaid-billed services, grouped by care type using standard HCPCS and CPT code ranges. In this review, service codes were assigned exclusively to one category by consistent use of code prefixes and numeric intervals. This method allows for evaluation of related services together, prevents any service from being counted twice, and provides accurate category comparisons over time.
While overall Medicaid expenditures rose across various service groups, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment placed third among all service categories in Costa Mesa for 2024 in total payments.
In the greater state of California, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fourth-ranking service category by Medicaid payment total in 2024.
Looking at the five years preceding 2024, Costa Mesa saw an increase of $2,609,833, or 42.9%, in Medicaid payments tied to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment. The most pronounced spending growth occurred in specific years, with marked gains reported in both 2023 and 2021.
Though payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment covered providers across the city, the majority were concentrated in just two ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 92626 saw $6,748,345 in Medicaid payments, while 92627 had $1,942,345. These two areas together made up 100% of Costa Mesa’s Medicaid payments for this category during the year.
Within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment group, payments were further concentrated among a few individual billing codes.
For context, the 31.2% increase in Medicaid payments for this category in Costa Mesa between 2024 and 2023 compares to a 69.5% change across all claim categories in the city over the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled around $871.7 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, making up about 18% of all national health care spending. This is a significant rise from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This growth equals an approximately 40% increase within just a few years, mainly due to expanded enrollment and greater service use during and following the pandemic.
Recent federal budget laws signed during the Trump administration have included major suggestions to lower federal Medicaid funding and change the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion across the coming decade. The law introduces policies like work requirements and increased cost-sharing, potentially limiting coverage and financial support to some beneficiaries. These adjustments are likely to increase financial responsibility for states and may restrain growth in federal Medicaid contributions, even as the program continues to serve millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $6,080,857 | 3.4% |
| 2021 | $6,984,542 | 14.9% |
| 2022 | $5,300,174 | -24.1% |
| 2023 | $6,622,622 | 25% |
| 2024 | $8,690,690 | 31.2% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $47,969,927 | 59.4% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $8,721,725 | 10.8% |
| 3 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $8,690,690 | 10.8% |
| 4 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $7,149,142 | 8.9% |
| 5 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $3,957,176 | 4.9% |
| 6 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $1,729,550 | 2.1% |
| 7 | Dental Services | $1,366,575 | 1.7% |
| 8 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $686,283 | 0.8% |
| 9 | Procedures / Professional Services | $135,953 | 0.2% |
| 10 | Anesthesia | $132,436 | 0.2% |
| 11 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $114,169 | 0.1% |
| 12 | Surgery | $48,132 | 0.1% |
| 13 | Radiology Procedures | $28,225 | <0.1% |
| 14 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $23,282 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $7,620 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $2,653 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $791 | <0.1% |
| 18 | Durable Medical Equipment | $761 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Temporary Codes | $727 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Vision Services | $364 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2019 | Ther behav svc, per 15 min | $5,839,201 | 40 |
| H0032 | Mh svc plan dev by non-md | $1,755,221 | 93 |
| H0046 | Mental health service, nos | $417,962 | 12 |
| H2012 | Behav hlth day treat, per hr | $167,775 | 12 |
| H2014 | Skills train and dev, 15 min | $144,715 | 34 |
| H0031 | Mh health assess by non-md | $135,597 | 11 |
| H1001 | Antepartum management | $132,922 | 12 |
| H0004 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $49,006 | 5 |
| H0005 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $37,944 | 6 |
| H1000 | Prenatal care atrisk assessm | $10,343 | 5 |
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.
