In 2024, Medicaid providers in Columbus submitted $132,007,084 in claims for services falling under the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 13.4% rise compared with 2023, when claims in the same category totaled $116,389,009.
Medicaid is a government health insurance initiative operated by states and funded by both federal and state governments. The program insures low-income people and families, seniors, children and people with disabilities, making it a significant portion of national health care.
Since Medicaid is funded by taxpayer dollars, shifts in billing volumes demonstrate how public health spending is distributed locally.
The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category includes a group of Medicaid services identified by the nature of care provided, relying on standardized HCPCS and CPT code grouping. This analysis assigned each billing code to only one service category, using consistent prefixes and numeric ranges, to help compare related services, prevent double counting and maintain accurate trend rankings.
Although spending increased in several categories, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fourth-largest Medicaid payment category in Columbus in 2024.
Statewide, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment ranked second in Ohio by total Medicaid payments in 2024.
During the five years before 2024, Medicaid payments for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category in Columbus grew by $52,875,858, or 66.8%. Some periods saw faster growth, with significant annual increases in 2021 and 2023.
Payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services were spread throughout the city but concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, top ZIP codes for spending included 43213 with $27,571,857, 43207 with $16,475,444 and 43215 with $16,418,089. These three ZIP codes together accounted for 45.8% of Medicaid payments for this category in Columbus in 2024.
Within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, most Medicaid payments were linked to a small set of billing codes.
Between 2024 and 2023, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in Columbus increased by 13.4%, while payments for all categories combined rose by 6.1% in the city over the same span.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, total state and federal Medicaid spending reached roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of all U.S. health expenditures. This is up sharply from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This rise marks approximately 40% growth in a few years, driven primarily by increased enrollment and higher service use during and after the pandemic.
Major federal budget bills under the Trump administration have aimed to reduce Medicaid funding and adjust the program’s framework. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid support over the next 10 years and includes policies like work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which may reduce coverage and funding for some recipients. These policy shifts are anticipated to move more costs to state governments and reduce future federal funding even as the program continues to serve tens of millions of people nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $79,131,225 | 10.2% |
| 2021 | $95,950,960 | 21.3% |
| 2022 | $103,176,782 | 7.5% |
| 2023 | $116,389,009 | 12.8% |
| 2024 | $132,007,083 | 13.4% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $177,456,158 | 17.4% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $170,262,747 | 16.7% |
| 3 | Procedures / Professional Services | $149,127,380 | 14.6% |
| 4 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $132,007,083 | 13% |
| 5 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $124,544,123 | 12.2% |
| 6 | Radiology Procedures | $69,730,866 | 6.8% |
| 7 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $40,352,655 | 4% |
| 8 | Surgery | $33,977,267 | 3.3% |
| 9 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $29,826,718 | 2.9% |
| 10 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $29,303,642 | 2.9% |
| 11 | Chemotherapy Drugs | $24,656,915 | 2.4% |
| 12 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $11,938,530 | 1.2% |
| 13 | Dental Services | $7,096,408 | 0.7% |
| 14 | Durable Medical Equipment | $4,633,940 | 0.5% |
| 15 | Enteral and Parenteral Therapy | $3,810,610 | 0.4% |
| 16 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $2,655,417 | 0.3% |
| 17 | Anesthesia | $1,686,375 | 0.2% |
| 18 | Temporary Codes | $928,092 | 0.1% |
| 19 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $864,385 | 0.1% |
| 20 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $821,138 | 0.1% |
| 21 | Pathology and Laboratory Services | $655,716 | 0.1% |
| 22 | Diagnostic Radiology Services | $548,508 | 0.1% |
| 23 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $491,428 | <0.1% |
| 24 | Vision Services | $426,878 | <0.1% |
| 25 | Outpatient PPS | $367,693 | <0.1% |
| 26 | Coronavirus Diagnostic Panel | $37,952 | <0.1% |
| 27 | Prosthetic Procedures | $7,593 | <0.1% |
| 28 | Hearing Services | $5,869 | <0.1% |
| 29 | EOM (Enhancing Oncology Model) Enhanced Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H0015 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $42,159,557 | 1,592 |
| H2019 | Ther behav svc, per 15 min | $20,959,852 | 3,170 |
| H2020 | Ther behav svc, per diem | $13,933,179 | 430 |
| H0020 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $9,490,496 | 215 |
| H2036 | A/d tx program, per diem | $8,995,597 | 58 |
| H0011 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $8,968,422 | 49 |
| H0006 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $6,720,617 | 1,678 |
| H0036 | Comm psy face-face per 15min | $5,870,299 | 1,072 |
| H0038 | Self-help/peer svc per 15min | $3,225,116 | 525 |
| H0005 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $2,711,504 | 475 |
| H2017 | Psysoc rehab svc, per 15 min | $2,164,803 | 340 |
| H0048 | Spec coll non-blood:a/d test | $1,900,078 | 891 |
| H2015 | Comp comm supp svc, 15 min | $1,002,000 | 11 |
| H2034 | A/d halfway house, per diem | $789,735 | 24 |
| H0010 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $698,669 | 10 |
| H0014 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $666,865 | 11 |
| H0012 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $648,662 | 12 |
| H0035 | Mh partial hosp tx under 24h | $552,004 | 5 |
| H1000 | Prenatal care atrisk assessm | $151,726 | 61 |
| H2000 | Comp multidisipln evaluation | $126,895 | 30 |
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.
