In 2024, Medicaid providers in Bethesda billed $174,165 for Dental Services, based on records from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount reflects a 0.1% increase from 2023, when providers recorded $173,968 in total claims for these services.
Medicaid operates as a state-administered public health insurance program financed through a combination of federal and state funds. It serves low-income residents and families, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, and remains one of the largest components of the U.S. health care network.
Since Medicaid expenditures are funded by taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing amounts indicate how public health care resources are distributed within each community.
The “Dental Services” grouping encompasses certain Medicaid-billed services defined by type of care, as distinguished through fixed HCPCS and CPT code sets. For this report, each billing code corresponded with a specific service category, organized by unique code prefixes and number ranges. This method enabled collective review of related services while preventing duplicate counts and supporting consistent rankings over time.
While Medicaid spending rose for multiple categories, Dental Services finished sixth among all service sectors in Bethesda for 2024 by overall Medicaid expenditures.
At the state level in Maryland, Dental Services stood at seventh place statewide for total Medicaid payments in 2024.
During the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid spending linked with Dental Services in Bethesda climbed by $151,752, an increase of 677.1%. The pace of expenditures accelerated during select intervals, with substantial year-over-year gains evident in 2023 and 2021.
Although spending under the Dental Services grouping was spread across Bethesda, most funds were focused in just a handful of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 20814 accounted for $107,922, and 20817 accounted for $66,243 in Medicaid Dental Services payments. Together, these two ZIP codes made up 100% of such Medicaid payments in Bethesda that year.
Within Dental Services, Medicaid recoupments were also concentrated in several key billing codes.
In perspective, spending on Dental Services in Bethesda rose by 0.1% between 2024 and 2023, while Medicaid payments for all claim categories in the city saw an 8.4% shift during that period.
Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicate that combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures hit approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This figure represented about 18% of national health spending, a steep rise from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
This growth amounts to nearly 40% in several years, largely due to the expansion in enrollment and increased use of services during and following the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration featured major recommendations for shrinking federal Medicaid funding and changing how the program operates. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to trim more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid contributions over the next 10 years. New elements such as work requirements and raised cost-sharing are projected to curb benefits and federal funding for certain populations, shifting additional financial pressure to states even as millions continue to rely on the program.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $22,413 | -42.2% |
| 2021 | $29,162 | 30.1% |
| 2022 | $25,827 | -11.4% |
| 2023 | $173,968 | 573.6% |
| 2024 | $174,165 | 0.1% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $7,727,208 | 60.4% |
| 2 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $2,749,003 | 21.5% |
| 3 | Evaluation and Management | $1,102,363 | 8.6% |
| 4 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $755,394 | 5.9% |
| 5 | Surgery | $184,797 | 1.4% |
| 6 | Dental Services | $174,165 | 1.4% |
| 7 | Procedures / Professional Services | $41,598 | 0.3% |
| 8 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $27,296 | 0.2% |
| 9 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $11,906 | 0.1% |
| 10 | Radiology Procedures | $10,988 | 0.1% |
| 11 | Anesthesia | $2,030 | <0.1% |
| 12 | Vision Services | $1,659 | <0.1% |
| 13 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $1,230 | <0.1% |
| 14 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $0 | <0.1% |
| 14 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $69,241 | 48 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $36,768 | 31 |
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $23,443 | 32 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $18,150 | 20 |
| D0210 | Intraor comprehensive series | $9,405 | 10 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $8,159 | 21 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $4,791 | 14 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $3,496 | 19 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $708 | 4 |
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.
