In 2024, providers in Aiken billed $2,818,437 to Medicaid for services within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented a 1.1% rise over 2023, when $2,786,926 in claims were recorded for the same services.
Medicaid, administered by states and jointly funded by federal and state governments, serves low-income households, the elderly, children and individuals with disabilities, making it a major component of U.S. health care.
Since Medicaid dollars are derived from taxpayers, shifts in local billing demonstrate how public health care resources are distributed in an area.
The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category consists of a range of Medicaid-reimbursed services defined by care type and based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Each billing code was mapped to a single service group using set code prefixes and ranges, enabling analysis of related services together, maintaining unique counts and consistent ranking methods over time.
Medicaid spending rose in multiple service groups, with Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment standing as the fourth-largest category in Aiken by total payments for 2024.
At the state level, South Carolina ranked the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category as sixth in total Medicaid payments in 2024.
During the five years through 2024, Medicaid payments linked to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in Aiken rose by $1,249,900, or 79.7%. Growth in spending accelerated in certain periods, with particularly significant annual increases in 2022 and 2023.
Although payments covered care provided throughout Aiken, the majority were concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 29801 accounted for $2,818,437 in Medicaid payments for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, making up 100% of the city’s total Medicaid expenses for these services that year.
Within this category, Medicaid payments were focused among a select set of billing codes.
Comparatively, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Medicaid payments in Aiken increased 1.1% from 2023 to 2024, while total Medicaid payments covering all claim categories in the city grew by 13.7% in the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion in the 2023 fiscal year, representing around 18% of total national health expenses, a substantial increase from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This jump reflects growth of roughly 40% in a few years, driven mainly by expanded program enrollment and higher usage during and following the pandemic.
Recent federal budget laws under the Trump administration have featured notable proposals aimed at cutting federal Medicaid funding and reshaping the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade and introduces work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could lower coverage and federal funds for some groups. Such measures are projected to shift more costs onto states and restrict the growth of federal Medicaid support, even as the program continues to cover tens of millions nationally.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1,568,537 | -26.4% |
| 2021 | $1,551,933 | -1.1% |
| 2022 | $2,371,914 | 52.8% |
| 2023 | $2,786,926 | 17.5% |
| 2024 | $2,818,437 | 1.1% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $16,647,319 | 49.4% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $5,119,177 | 15.2% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $4,433,900 | 13.2% |
| 4 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $2,818,437 | 8.4% |
| 5 | Surgery | $1,591,232 | 4.7% |
| 6 | Radiology Procedures | $862,979 | 2.6% |
| 7 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $774,606 | 2.3% |
| 8 | Procedures / Professional Services | $682,445 | 2% |
| 9 | Dental Services | $253,585 | 0.8% |
| 10 | Durable Medical Equipment | $158,290 | 0.5% |
| 11 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $133,278 | 0.4% |
| 12 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $82,585 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $66,096 | 0.2% |
| 14 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $41,206 | 0.1% |
| 15 | Temporary Codes | $8,023 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $2,397 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $0 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Outpatient PPS | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2026 | Supp maint employ, per diem | $1,223,210 | 12 |
| H2037 | Dev delay prev dp ch, 15 min | $953,255 | 11 |
| H0031 | Mh health assess by non-md | $458,500 | 11 |
| H2025 | Supp maint employ, 15 min | $146,275 | 12 |
| H2017 | Psysoc rehab svc, per 15 min | $25,450 | 11 |
| H0038 | Self-help/peer svc per 15min | $6,839 | 2 |
| H0001 | Alcohol and/or drug assess | $2,066 | 1 |
| H2011 | Crisis interven svc, 15 min | $1,771 | 1 |
| H0002 | Alcohol and/or drug screenin | $563 | 1 |
| H0032 | Mh svc plan dev by non-md | $502 | 1 |
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.