In 2024, South Burlington Medicaid providers billed $4,489,695 for services within 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 65.2% jump from 2023, when $2,718,327 in claims were submitted for the same type of treatment.
Medicaid operates as a public health insurance program run by individual states with funding from both federal and state governments, as explained by the Commonwealth Fund. The program provides coverage for low-income people and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a major component of the nation’s health care system.
Since Medicaid relies on taxpayer contributions, fluctuations in local billing reflect changes in how public health care funds are apportioned locally.
The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category represents a selection of Medicaid services defined by the nature of care and standardized HCPCS and CPT coding. For this review, each billing code was matched to one service category using unified code prefixes and numeric ranges, allowing for a consistent analysis without overlap between categories for accurate tracking across years.
While Medicaid expenditures climbed in other categories, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment saw the highest total Medicaid payments in South Burlington for 2024.
Statewide, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category ranked second by total Medicaid payments in Vermont during 2024.
Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid spending in South Burlington on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment rose by $161,756, an increase of 3.7%. Accelerated growth occurred in several years, with significant jumps reported in both 2021 and 2022.
Medicaid payments in this category were distributed across the community, but a small number of ZIP codes accounted for most spending. In 2024, ZIP code 05403 alone saw $4,489,695 tied to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, making up 100% of related Medicaid payments in the city for the year.
Funds allocated for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment within Medicaid were also concentrated among a few individual billing codes in 2024.
Over the period from 2023 to 2024, South Burlington experienced a 65.2% increase in Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment, while overall Medicaid claims for all service categories in the city rose by 23.7% during the same interval.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, representing around 18% of nationwide health spending. This was up from about $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic onset.
The roughly 40% growth in spending over this period has been largely driven by expanded enrollment and increased service use during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration proposed substantial reductions in federal funding and significant program restructuring for Medicaid. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to decrease federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, introducing work requirements and greater cost-sharing that could reduce program funding and some beneficiaries’ coverage. These proposals are anticipated to move more expenses to states and curb federal Medicaid growth, even though the program continues to provide coverage for tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $4,327,938 | -5.1% |
| 2021 | $4,361,139 | 0.8% |
| 2022 | $3,673,388 | -15.8% |
| 2023 | $2,718,327 | -26% |
| 2024 | $4,489,695 | 65.2% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $4,489,695 | 48.5% |
| 2 | Dental Services | $893,193 | 9.6% |
| 3 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $664,879 | 7.2% |
| 4 | Evaluation and Management | $607,168 | 6.6% |
| 5 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $583,950 | 6.3% |
| 6 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $558,512 | 6% |
| 7 | Durable Medical Equipment | $522,668 | 5.6% |
| 8 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $482,603 | 5.2% |
| 9 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $222,800 | 2.4% |
| 10 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $64,731 | 0.7% |
| 11 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $64,666 | 0.7% |
| 12 | Radiology Procedures | $46,011 | 0.5% |
| 13 | Surgery | $41,097 | 0.4% |
| 14 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $13,545 | 0.1% |
| 15 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $3,795 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Procedures / Professional Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H0046 | Mental health service, nos | $4,489,695 | 22 |
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.
