In 2024, Medicaid providers in Mobile billed $888,742 for classified Dental Services, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. That sum is 14.2% higher than in 2023, when claims for this service category totaled $778,196.
Medicaid is overseen by states and financed in partnership by both federal and state governments. The largest U.S. health coverage program serves low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities.
Because Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, changes in billing totals reflect how public health care funds are used within communities.
The “Dental Services” category comprises Medicaid-billed procedures organized according to the service type, drawing on standardized HCPCS and CPT groupings. Under this approach, billing codes are assigned to one service category each, using set prefix and number ranges, keeping related services together for accuracy while preventing duplicate counts in rankings.
Despite broader growth in Medicaid spending across multiple services, Dental Services ranked ninth by total Medicaid payments in Mobile for 2024.
Statewide in Alabama, Dental Services ranked ninth among all service categories for total Medicaid payments that year.
During the five years leading to 2024, Medicaid payments in Mobile linked to Dental Services climbed by $465,272, a 109.9% increase. Growth accelerated during specific years, with significant annual gains observed in 2021 and 2022.
Though payments for Dental Services covered locations throughout Mobile, most were concentrated within specific ZIP codes. In 2024, top ZIP codes were 36602 with $328,445, 36606 at $212,121, and 36609 at $149,950. These 3 ZIP codes comprised 77.7% of all Medicaid Dental Services payments for the city that year.
Dental Services Medicaid payments also focused on a relatively small selection of individual billing codes within the category.
Medicaid payments tied to Dental Services in Mobile grew by 14.2% from 2023 to 2024. For comparison, all Medicaid claim categories combined rose 29.4% citywide in the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state combined Medicaid spending hit about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, roughly 18% of total U.S. health expenditures—a significant rise from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This marks about 40% growth in several years, attributed mainly to increasing enrollment and higher use during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration featured major plans to scale back federal Medicaid funding and restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to cut over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid funds in the coming decade and establishes rules like work obligations and higher cost-sharing. The measures could cut benefits and funding for some enrollees by shifting greater costs to states, limiting federal Medicaid growth, even as it continues to serve millions nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $423,470 | -48.4% |
| 2021 | $636,018 | 50.2% |
| 2022 | $727,875 | 14.4% |
| 2023 | $778,195 | 6.9% |
| 2024 | $888,742 | 14.2% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $19,987,391 | 42.4% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $7,657,031 | 16.3% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $5,522,126 | 11.7% |
| 4 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $5,470,937 | 11.6% |
| 5 | Durable Medical Equipment | $1,486,807 | 3.2% |
| 6 | Procedures / Professional Services | $1,315,478 | 2.8% |
| 7 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $1,091,990 | 2.3% |
| 8 | Radiology Procedures | $1,080,592 | 2.3% |
| 9 | Dental Services | $888,742 | 1.9% |
| 10 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $860,517 | 1.8% |
| 11 | Surgery | $390,094 | 0.8% |
| 12 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $366,979 | 0.8% |
| 13 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $331,282 | 0.7% |
| 14 | Anesthesia | $261,528 | 0.6% |
| 15 | Vision Services | $227,698 | 0.5% |
| 16 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $82,715 | 0.2% |
| 17 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $35,045 | 0.1% |
| 18 | Enteral and Parenteral Therapy | $18,374 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Coronavirus Diagnostic Panel | $9,188 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $3,898 | <0.1% |
| 21 | Temporary Codes | $3,525 | <0.1% |
| 22 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $0 | <0.1% |
| 22 | Pathology and Laboratory Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $287,682 | 217 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $193,171 | 139 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $150,765 | 186 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $116,303 | 103 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $66,964 | 90 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $47,176 | 82 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $19,705 | 69 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $5,702 | 14 |
| D0210 | Intraor comprehensive series | $713 | 1 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $556 | 3 |
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.
