Kensington Medicaid Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment spending rises to $2.9 million in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Kensington billed $2,927,964 for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This total represents an increase of 112.6% from 2023, when claims submitted for these services reached $1,377,296.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program operated by states and funded through both federal and state resources, covers low-income residents, families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities. It is among the largest components of the U.S. health care structure.

Since Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, shifts in local claims highlight how those public health care dollars are distributed throughout a community.

The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” designation accounts for various Medicaid-billed services grouped by care type, structured with standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this report, each billing code was placed in a single service category using specific code prefixes and numeric boundaries, keeping related services together and maintaining the integrity of year-over-year comparisons without duplication.

While several service categories saw Medicaid spending rise, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fourth-highest by total Medicaid payment in Kensington for 2024.

Across Maryland as a whole, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment led all service categories in total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in Kensington increased $2,081,432, or 245.9%, during the five years before 2024. The highest spending growth occurred in select years, including notable jumps in both 2020 and 2023.

Although service spending was distributed across Kensington, the majority of Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment were concentrated within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 20895 accounted for $2,927,963 in Medicaid payments—representing 100% of the city’s total Medicaid payments for this treatment category during the year.

Payments within this category were also largely allocated to only a few individual billing codes.

In comparison, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Kensington climbed 112.6% from 2023 to 2024, whereas the overall increase across all Medicaid claim categories in the city for the same time period was 2.7%.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled roughly $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of total national health care spending—a significant increase from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change reflects an expansion of about 40% within a few years, primarily fueled by broadened coverage and higher service consumption during and following the pandemic.

Federal budget measures during the Trump administration featured key initiatives to scale back federal Medicaid support and alter the program’s funding structure. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years, introducing provisions such as work requirements and greater cost-sharing. These changes may decrease federal coverage for some recipients and shift additional costs to states, even as Medicaid continues to provide services for many Americans.

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.